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March Madness coming to a Tablet or Smartphone near you

March 7, 2012 by

Selection Sunday is just a few days away and the day after is National Bracket Day (sadly not a day off where I work), two important days as fans prepare for the annual March Madness; the NCAA Basketball Tournaments are upon us!

There are of course a wide range of viewing options available for a fan, starting with calling in sick and staying home, but for many that will not be a viable option, but what is an option is to buy into March Madness Live- formerly March Madness on Demand and watch the game anywhere, on tablet, phones or computers.

The goal of this program, launched by the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports is to make available for viewing every minute of all the games in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship Tournament.

Viewing options will range from smartphones, both Apple iOS and Android powered, as well as iPod Touch and iPads as well as broadcast the games on-line so that viewers in an office can catch the action.

While a quick glance online the day of games will tell a fan that is staying home what is on and where, the online and mobile world is a little different, and has a price tag attached as well.

The Turner Sports Interactive produced NCAA March Madness Live is a suite of live products that are designed for those without the luxury of watching from home or the local watering hole. Starting today, Wed. March 7, it will make available to subscribers access across multiple screens and devices including online, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch app and, for the first time, on Android phones, all for $3.99.

Even if you have the ability to watch at home you can subscribe and stream a version, an alternate games, over Wi-Fi. Live video is not all a user will gain. The app also features video highlights from games, game alerts and a radio option from Westwood One/Dial Global Radio Network, for all 67 games.

The app will feature live streaming video of every broadcast for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship as they are televised by TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV, starting with the NCAA Basketball Selection Show on Sunday, March 11, and continuing through the Men’s Final Four and National Championship Game from New Orleans on March 31 and April 2.

For years I have seen articles written around this time of year cited some massive number as the amount of productivity that American businesses lose due to the NCAA Tournament. Most of them I just discount because people simply shift their goof off/idle time at work from one area to another rather than cease work. This year it could be different!

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, CBS Sports, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, NCAA Hoops, Smartphone, Tablets, truTV, Turner Sports, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Video Streaming Tagged With:

Can ‘Gridiron Grunts’ Grow? App That Lets Players Talk to Fans Getting Pictures, Videos for 2nd Season

March 6, 2012 by

After a self-proclaimed successful rookie year, the team behind the “Gridiron Grunts” app — which lets NFL players and fans talk to each other via recorded voice messages — is beefing up for its second season with plans to add picture- and video-sharing capabilities.

According to ex-NFL lineman Jeb Terry Jr., who is co-founder and CEO of Grunts parent company Gridion Ventures Inc., adding picutre and video sharing is just another way of adding value to an app that was “built just to talk about football.” If you’re not familiar with the Grunts app, a “Grunt” is a short (less than 45 seconds) audio message that can be recorded from a phone to the app.

The big attraction are “Grunts” left by NFL players, though fans who download the app can send Grunts to players, as well as “Grunt” to other fans. Fans pay 99 cents per month to listen to grunts of a specific player, or $4.99 a month to listen to all pro grunts. Fan-to-fan grunting is free, and the app is available for both iPhone and Android devices.

The “Grunt” label comes from the way football players talk on the field, a language Terry and his co-founder Ryan Nece used often as teammates on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “We used to knock heads in practice and then go out and have steaks afterward,” said Nece, who was a linebacker for Tampa from 2002-07.

After leaving the NFL following the 2008 season Terry went back to school to get an MBA, and then hit his old training partner with an idea for bringing fan-player interaction to a wider audience.

“It’s all about giving the fans the ability to engage with a player at their convenience,” said Nece. Terry said the pick-up-a-phone-and-grunt also makes it easy for players to participate.

“It’s convenient and easy to do, and gives players another way to control their own brand,” Terry said. “And fans can listen to a grunt at their leisure. You can’t always listen to radio talk shows when they are on the air.” The Grunts app can also deliver alerts to a fan’s phone when there is a new grunt to listen to.

Nece added that Grunts is a way for players who aren’t Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers to get some air time.

“There are a lot of players like we were, with shares of the limelight that were pretty small,” Nece said. “You could be a big fan of a certain player but never hear from him on ESPN. Now everyone can develop their own personality.”

According to Terry the Grunts app kicked off the season with just 15 pros participating, but ended with almost 80 players at the end of the season. One grunter who Terry really liked was Green Bay Packers breakout star Randall Cobb, who scored on both a kickoff return and a punt return last year.

“After that first game when he scored on the kickoff return he was very engaging, with some great postgame grunts,” Terry said. “He was perfectly candid and very excited for the fans.”

The Grunts team said it attracted 20,000 paying customers during the first year, a “beta” season total that Terry is happy with. For this year, after adding photo and video sharing later this spring, the Grunts team is still considering where to expand next, with perhaps a Grunt website and other sports on the drawing board. But first and foremost, the Grunt app will remain simple and powerful, like a blitz: A place to talk and listen football.

“Twitter is fun but tweets might be from friends or associates [of an athlete], so you never know,” Terry said. “We built our app to talk about football, and not about shopping or going to the club. We just wanted to erase the clutter and bring fans content that’s strictly from the players.”

Filed Under: Apps, ESPN, iPhone, NFL, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , ,

The Big Ten Network expands to Mobile Devices with BTN2Go

March 2, 2012 by

Fans of Big Ten sports who are on the road can now take a piece of the conference with them, a sporting piece as the conference has expanded its Big Ten Network (BTN) presence to cover both mobile users as well as expanding its footprint on the Internet.

The BTN2Go features the live sports feed of the programming that fills BTN, it is simply made available to users of smartphones, tablets or access the site via the Internet. The BTN has done a staged rollout of the program, it debuted with the start of the football season last year as an Internet-only feature and then expanded to the iPad and iPhone quickly afterwards. A version for Android-based phones is expected within the next month or so.

The goal of the effort to provide fans of Big Ten sports access to games anywhere, at any time on any device, said Michael Calderon, BTN’s vice president of digital and interactive media. The network is currently looking at other platforms such as Windows Phone and connected devices including game consoles and expects to launch a new platform with the start of next year’s football season, Calderon said.

Users have to be subscribers of the participating cable or broadband providers, a list that includes Bright House Networks, Charter, Cox Communications, DIRECTV, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable and Verizon.

If you fall into that category then BTN2Go is free with no addition subscription needed and this gives you access to a huge amount of both current and past programming. First and foremost for many fans is the ability to watch live games. However games that are broadcast by BTN’s partners such as ABC and ESPN will be available the following day on-demand.

Calderon noted that a real benefit the program brings is for fans that do not live in the Big Ten area, where a game that are interested might not be broadcast, it will still be available on BTN2Go. Also when an event runs long, say the first of a basketball doubleheader, a user can still go to BTN2Go to watch the opening of the second game if that is the one they are interested in viewing.

The BTN has benefited from its founders foresight. When it was founded five years ago in ensured that it had control of all its digital rights so that the licensing issues that have the potential to stymie a program such as this do not exist.

Then there is also access to archival footage from earlier this season broadcast by both BTN and its partners. Of course there is highlight reels and coaches shows on a regular basis. The BTN also creates home grown series such as Original series such as The Journey, Big Ten Icons, Big Ten’s Best and The Big Ten’s Greatest Games that are also available for viewing.

Going forward the network is looking to add additional features to BNT2Go including possibly a social media module for Facebook and Twitter users, but for the first generation of the platform it focused on delivering a top video experience, Caldera said.

Filed Under: ABC, Android, Apple, Apps, Big Ten Network, ESPN, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, Time Warner Cable Television Tagged With: , , , ,

Sprint brings Streaming TV to iPhone –Including Live Sports!

February 29, 2012 by

Apple iPhone users have finally caught up with smartphone users powered by Android and Windows phone users – they can now get a wide package of streaming TV offers that include both free and premium channels from Sprint on their phones, if they are Sprint users of course.

The basic program is free with most data plans and additional packages will range from $4.99 to $9.99 a month and come in wide range of options tailored for everybody from news junkies, sports and comedy fans and also has 20 stations for the Spanish speaking market.

The basic Sprint TV has 15 channels including live sports and news as well as daytime, primetime and kids entertainment channels. Included are ESPN Mobile TV ABC and NBC News, Disney Channel, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, The Weather Channel and a variety of shows such as CSI, NCIS, The Office, and 30 Rock.

On top of the basic services are a number of premium offerings with Sprint TV Xtra, that includes a number of cable and news programming such as FOX Sports, FOX News, ABC Family, MTV, Discovery Channel, , Nickelodeon and more, all for just $9.99 monthly.

It is servicing the business market with a $5.99 monthly package that includes live and on-demand business and financial news and a $7.99 Spanish language package that has 20 channels including programming from Univision, Telemundo, ESPN Deportes, Azteca America and others. There are a number of additional packages available as well.

Now iPhone users have an additional option for live sports and news streaming to their phones, previously they only had the option of AT&T’s U-Verse app, which comes with a basic fee. There are also carrier specific sports deals available.

The video can be streamed over Wi-Fi or via cellular connections.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, ESPN, Fox Sports, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Smartphone, Sprint Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Android Bug Found?

February 27, 2012 by

Proview now sues Apple in US
A week after being dealt a setback in court in Shanghai, Proview International has taken its trademark battle with Apple to US courts. The company is seeking to block Apple from shipping iPads into or out of China.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple purchased the trademark rights to IPAD from the company in 2009 and Proview is now seeking to have that sale canceled and has filed its case in California Superior Court, Santa Clara County.

Smartphone sales determined by age and income report says
Market researcher Nielsen has published a survey it conducted with 20,000 mobile consumers that gives some interesting insight into how the US smartphone market has grown broken down by age and income.

The report shows that overall smartphone penetration has reached 48% in January, but that the age group of 25-34 far outpaced the nation as a whole with 66% penetration. However when income is added into the equation the results start to change. Head over to take a look at the results.

AT&T loses data throttling suit
AT&T’s efforts to throttle, or slow down, data use by the top 5% of its customers has hit a minor bump as a California man has won a small court claim against the company. He was awarded $850 for his effort.

While he has an unlimited account AT&T the telecommunications company has started slowing down data downloads to heavy users, often despite the fact that they are using less that people with capped programs.
The judge ruled that it wasn’t fair for the company to purposely slow down his iPhone, when it had sold him an “unlimited data” plan. AT&T said it will appeal the ruling.

Motorola forces Apple to disable iPhone Push Email in Germany
As a result of one of the various rulings between Apple and Motorola Mobility, this one pertaining to a Motorola victory Apple will disable the push email function in its iOS devices in Germany. Apple is continuing to appeal the ruling.

The decision will affect users of Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe email. The programs have the ability to automatically send emails to the devices automatically when they are received at the mail servers rather than wait for the user to manually check for new mail.

LG in talks with Google on next generation Nexus device
Seeking to get a leap on its competitors and a prestigious title LG is in preliminary talks with Google that would enable LG to be the next device manufacturer to create a Nexus device. Rivals Samsung with its Galaxy Nexus and HTC with the Nexus One have already partnered with Google.

LG could use the partnership to burnish its faded image in the mobile phone market, whch has seen its once more prominent position fade a bit. According to Cnet which broke the story, the deal would also help assure other handset manufacturers that they would have a level playing field with Google’s Motorola holdings.

Panasonic developing virtual safe house for Android
With the growing concerns that app developers are intentionally stealing user data off of smartphones and other devices it was only a matter of time before someone developed an app to stop other apps. OK, there have been security programs in the past but the latest to join the herd is Panasonic which announced new technology to secure your mobile devices.

The company has teamed with Red Bend Software to develop a technology that prevents loss of data from smartphones both from apps seeking to exploit the phones and from outside users that might find a lost phone.

The core of the technology features a fold that is separate from the Android operating system and in which data, photos, emails and contact information can be stored securely. Panasonic claims that the technology, which utilizes Red Bend’s mobile virtualization software, will still allow Android apps to run normally.

New Android bug found?
It looks like there is a flaw in the Android operating system that could enable a hacker to take control of devices, according to a report from Reuters. The flaw was discovered by startup security firm CrowdStrike and they say that using the flaw they have found a way to take control of users Android devices

CrowdStrike said that it will be displaying its finding at RSA Conference in San Francisco later this week but said that the gist of matter is that by sending an email or text message that appears to be from a trusted source that urges the recipient to click on a link, which if done infects the device. I get emails like that from Nigerian princes all of the time- are they fake?

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Google, HTC, iPad, iPhone, Motorola, Smartphone, Startup Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dear Cell Companies: Event Upgrades Aren’t News. They Tell Us Your Network Stinks.

February 23, 2012 by

Portable cellular tower on light truck -- aka a "COLT." Credit: Verizon Wireless

Are you getting as tired of this as we are? Every time there is a big sporting event now, the major wireless carriers in the U.S. are racing each other to put out press releases saying how the companies are rushing extra gear to the event stadium and surrounding area, all to ensure good performance of their customers’ devices. We hear tales of new antennas, new infrastructure equipment and the now-ubiquitous COWs, aka cell trucks on wheels. Is this news?

No. What it means is that the wireless networks stink, and the companies are trying to make a positive out of what is really years of neglect and shortsightedness in network design and deployment. This week’s offender is Verizon Wireless, which wants you to know that among other things it has “installed powerful base station equipment for both the 4G LTE and 3G networks inside the arena” for the upcoming NBA All-Star Game in Orlando, and “recently completed high-tech in-building systems at various hotels and other facilities in the Orlando area.”

Wow, “high-tech” systems! What will they think of next?

And for the Daytona 500, an event that has roughly been going on since cars were invented, Verizon needs to truck in a couple COWs (“each featuring a 75-foot telescoping antenna and advanced hardware for both 4G LTE and 3G voice and high-speed data channels”) because apparently the existing network in the greater Daytona area will fall to its knees when the hundreds of thousands of “race fans” gather there later this week for the NASCAR season opener.

Leaving aside the offensive tone of the press releases, which assume a level of ignorance on the customer/press part (what exactly is a “high-tech” system, and how does that differ from the old stuff? Was that all coal-fired?), the bottom line is that Verizon and other carriers who put these press releases out are glossing over the fact that their standard cellular system deployment is way behind the times, especially in areas surrounding big sporting arenas. Even though the iPhone revolution has been going on now for almost 5 years, it seems as though carriers are still being caught by surprise by fans showing up at games wanting to use those whizzy phones that Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are selling them.

Get over it. Get out there and rebuild those networks, and make the necessary extra improvements around stadiums. You’re certainly charging folks enough to be do so, since your execs are all pulling down Prince Fielder paychecks. So spare us the “news” about having to compensate for bad network design and deployment. And get more of that “high-tech” stuff out there.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Daytona 500, iPhone, NBA, Sprint, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , ,
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