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Friday Grab Bag: 30 on 30 Returns, Arena Bowl Tonight

August 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Avitae Arena Bowl XXV

The Arena Football League will crown a champion this weekend when the Arizona Rattlers take on the Philadelphia Soul in New Orleans at 10:30 ET on Aug. 10 for all of the marbles.

Philadelphia reached the championship game by decisively defeating the Jacksonville Sharks 89-34 while the Rattlers reached the final round with a much closer victory over the Utah Blaze, 75-69. The Rattlers will be playing in their second consecutive championship and seventh overall, quite an accomplishment in a 25-year-old league.


What do the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and NCAA have in common?
Apparently it is an extreme hatred of a new sports betting lottery game that has been long talked about in New Jersey. The bill would permit gambling on both pro and college sports, and that is something that has the said sports leagues very upset.

From a look at the discussion at ProFootballTalk it looks like New Jersey has a very tough challenge ahead of it. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, relies on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, and the window that would enable New Jersey to allow gambling has long since closed. In addition the state of Delaware has already tried this and lost.

It seems that if the bill does make it past the courts the NFL will retaliate by “punishing” New Jersey by not allowing it to host another Super Bowl. I wonder if a win would open the floodgates to other states also allowing sports betting and what the NFL will try and do about that?

Apple expected to exclude YouTube in iOS 6
Apple is expected to no longer include the popular video viewing app YouTube in the next version of its mobile operating system iOS 6 when that OS is released. The app has been a standard feature included with Apple’s products for the past five years.

Apple said that its license to include the standalone version of YouTube app in its operating system has ended. It can still be used via the Chrome browser and Google is working on a version for the App store. What will the world do without its morning fix of cute animal videos?

Will NBA backpedal on Under-23 rule for Olympics?
NBA Commissioner David Stern had advocated that future Summer Olympics only allow players that are under 23 into the competition. This move would have the affect of saving the NBA’s team owners the angst of worrying about their star players’ health prior to the start of the season.

However it appears that there is a great deal of pushback from the rest of the basketball playing world. It seems that many nations want to send their best athletes, not just the ones that are convenient for the NBA. Who would have guessed?

Anyway it now sounds as if the NBA may just leave well enough alone, at least until a new commissioner replaces Stern, who is running out his term as commissioner.

AT&T Shared data plan on the horizon
AT&T has said that it will launch its mobile share plans, which allow a user to have a data plan that can be used with multiple devices, eliminating the need for a separate plan for each device, on Aug. 23.

The plans will range in size from 1GB to 20GB each and requires at least one smartphone with a unlimited talk and text plan as part of the overall bundle. A user can have a maximum of nine devices on a single plan.

ESPN re-ups 30 for 30 for second season
ESPN’s 30 for 30 series will make a reappearance this year as the sports giant has a new slate of topics that will get a full blown film treatment. The series is scheduled to start on Oct. 2, 8 pm ET with an episode entitled “Broke” about athletes who have burned through their fortunes. The series will run through December and you can head over to ESPN to get the synopsis for the fall offerings.

Google to add voice activated services
Google is once again firing a shot across Apple’s bow as it launches a voice activated service that will run on Apple’s iPhones and so directly compete with Apple’s Siri. The company will also be pushing the app, called “voice search” on the Android platform.

The company expects to release the app for iPhones within the next few weeks and then it will release it for the Android at a later, unspecified date.

Instagram on your camera?
It makes sense on the face of it. You might have a camera that has much greater capabilities compared to the one in your smartphone. Now at least one camera manufacturer is working to deliver both Android in its cameras, but Instagram along with the operating system.

Mashable has reported that Nikon is working on just this solution in its next generation cameras and that one could be available soon. While the vast majority of apps would be relatively worthless, unless the camera is a hybrid of some sort, image apps such as Instagram should find an instant home.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Arena Football League, Basketball, ESPN, Facebook, FIBA, Google, Instagram, iOS, iPhone, Major League Baseball, Mashable, NBA, NCAA Football, NFL, Nokia, ProFootballTalk, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Windows 8 nears, Apple vs Samsung Rd 2 this Week

August 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit currently ongoing in a San Jose, Calif. Federal courthouse has a little for everybody, taunting, name calling, and a look into the past as the two tech rivals fight it out over the look and feel of Samsung’s smartphones and tablets and if it infringed on Apple’s designs.

The case, which started last week, provided a snapshot of how intertwined the people of Silicon Valley are during jury selection when it appeared that most potential jurors seemed to work for rivals high tech companies, but finally the jury was filled.

Apple opened predictably claiming that Samsung simply found it easier to copy than innovate and Samsung retorted that it was simply developing products along the same lines. Images of product development and prototypes have been submitted to show similarities in both companies’ offerings.

Samsung has leaked evidence that was excluded by the judge and Apple requested that the judge award it victory in the case-its request was denied. The case continues this week.

Microsoft Windows hits OEMs, on Street Oct 26
Microsoft’s tablet OEMs and other now have the final software code of Windows 8 to its hardware OEMs so that they can now start preloading the OS into their next generation products ranging from desktop and notebook computers to tablets.

The hardware OEMs, among which are Dell, Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Lenovo are expected to have products available at the official public launch of the operating system that has been pegged as Oct. 26. I expect that for a good deal of the products we will see a lot of ‘unoffical’ leaks prior to that day.

Intel bets on motion sensing as future interface
Intel Capital, along with iSource and GIMV has invested 6.5 million Euros in Movea in a Series C funding round. The company develops motion sensing and data fusion technology that will be incorporated in a wide range of devices ranging from set top boxes, tablets, smartphones and even car infotainment units.

Samsung’s next-gen Galaxy Note due later this month
Samsung has told Reuters that the next generation Galaxy Note, its smartphone with the 5.5-inch display. According to the report the device will be first shown to the public at the company’s Samsung Mobile Unpacked event that is scheduled for August 29th in Berlin. It is interesting to note that the date is about two weeks prior to when Apple is expected to unveil its next smartphone and tablet offerings.

Apple rules the tablet space, market research shows
Market research company International Data Corp. (IDC) has released preliminary data on the the world wide tablet market for the second quarter has found that, to the surprise of no one, Apple continues to dominate this space.

The company found that the overall market shipped 25 million units in the quarter, a 33.6% quarter over quarter increase from the first quarter’s 18.7 million units, and 66.2% over the same period a year before. Of that 25 million Apple shipped 17 million of them, up from 11.8 million the previous quarter.

Its rivals do not compare well to Apple’s numbers. Top foe Samsung managed 2.4 million units, good for a 9.6% market share followed by Amazon with 1.2 million units, good for a 5% share. No other rival broke 1 million units. I will be interested to see how Google’s Nexus 7 does in the next quarters’ results.

Google and Rovi ink deal
Google has signed an agreement with Rovi that will enable Google to use Rovi’s interactive program guide technology for set top boxes, tablets and other mobile products. It is expected that the technology will be used in Google’s rollout of Google Fiber.

Google adds handwriting recognition to search
Speaking of Google, back in its core search business it is adding a new feature for mobile users, handwriting recognition. The technology will first roll out for Android smartphones and tablets and then move over to Apple’s iOS platform as well. It will have support for 27 different languages.

AT&T to shut down 2G-in 5 years
AT&T has said that the end is in sight for its 2G network as the carrier plans to discontinue support for the wireless network in five years. The company will redeploy that spectrum as part of its effort to focus on its 3G and 4G networks, which it said are facing capacity issues due to the increasing popularity of smartphones. Currently 12% of its customers use a 2G network.


Digg is back already
Digg, the once high flying news social news site has already relaunched itself just six weeks after it was sold to Betaworks. The service now has a reworked web site and has refreshed its mobile app for the iPhone. Its main page is broken into three categories: Top stories, popular and upcoming.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, AT&T, Intel Capital, iOS, iPad, Lawsuit, Lenovo, Mashable, Microsoft, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Microsoft Ticks off OEMs, Apple to Invest in Twitter?

July 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The China Times, via Endgadget, is reporting the Microsoft is limiting the number of OEMs that can build a tablet that runs the RT version of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. This is the version that can be run on a tablet built using an ARM-based processor.

According to the piece the lucky few include Asus and Lenovo, which can use Nvidia processors, Texas instrument processors will be in Toshiba products while Samsung and Hewlett-Packard opting into the Qualcomm camp, with HP later dropping out at least in the near term.

Apple looking to invest in Twitter?
The New York Times has reported that Apple is in talks to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Twitter, according to unnamed sources familiar with the talks. It appears that the talks are informal at this point so do not cross your fingers just yet if you like the deal. However it could lead to tighter integration between Twitter and Apple’s operating systems, much like what Apple is doing with Facebook.

Google breaks down Motorola Mobility purchase
Ever wonder what $12.5 billion will get you? Well that is the price that Google paid for Motorola and the company has recently explained what each of the major components was valued. The 17,000 patents in its portfolio were worth roughly $5.5 billion. It paid $2.9 bn for the cash acquired, $2.6 bn was goodwill, $670 million was other assets and $730 million was customer relations. You can look here for more details or head over to its 10-Q filings with the SEC.

Microsoft wins around in Germany vs Motorola
Microsoft has won a round when a German court ruled that Motorola Mobility has infringed on a patent that deals with common names for long and short file allocation tables. The two sides have been battling around the globe on the issues of patents and both sides have won, and so of course lost, various patent rulings in the last six months so if this sounds like a repeat, it is close to one.

Microsoft admits hostility over Surface
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Microsoft has said that there could be potential problems with its introduction of a table that would compete with its OEMs that purchase the Windows 8 operating system.

Microsoft said that smartphones and tablets from rivals such as Apple represent a threat to its current business, in part because their increased popularity coupled with declining PC sales makes Microsoft’s existing platforms less appealing to application developers.

Kickstarter favorite Pebble to deliver late
The Pebble smart watch, one of the real success stories in regards to funding via Kickstarter, has said that it will be delivering its product later than it had originally expected, IT Business is reporting. Part of the problem, according to the company, is the very success it had with Kickstarter.

The people that funded the company were to receive watches as part of compensation for their pledge, and originally the company had expected to produce 1,000 watches to meet that demand. Since it went off the rails in terms of funding the company now needs to produce over 68,000 watches for the investors.

Major settlement in patent case brings in major mobile players
The patent holding firm NTP has reached what is possibly an unprecedented settlement with 13 major mobile technology developers over the use of a number of patents that NTP owns. The companies included in the settlement are: Apple, Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, HTC, Motorola Mobility (now owned by Google), Palm (now owned by Hewlett-Packard), LG Electronics, Samsung, and Yahoo.

According to a piece in InfoWorld the terms of the deal were not revealed but it did say that all of the tech companies could use a number of NTP’s patents and that NTP will receive a licensing fee from the firms and that in turn it has ended its patent infringement suits against these companies.

Apple vs Samsung starts today in Calif.
The on again off again suit between the two will start in front of US District Court Judge Lucy Koh today as Apple seeks to prove its damage claims against rival Samsung revolving around a number of Apple patents that it claims Samsung has infringed on. The stakes are high as Apple has claimed that it is entitled to $2.525 billion in damages.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Asus, AT&T, Google, Lawsuit, Mashable, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, SEC, Sprint, Surface, T-Mobile, Tablets, The New York Times, Verizon Wireless, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Kindle Rumors, Odd Olympic Facts

July 27, 2012 by 1 Comment

Every Olympics you see some piece about the sports that have come and gone for the games, baseball and shooting live pigeons being two that readily come to mind. However there is something much more fundamental about the games that has changed a great deal as well, mainly how you get your information.

Everybody on the Internet must know by now that this is the most social media Olympics in history (also the 1st?), but think about past games and how you got the news and how they were broadcast. A nice piece in Mashable and accompanying infographic lays it out quite well.

The first modern Olympics, in 1896 had carrier pigeons, first radio broadcasts in 1924, first live telecasts in 1936 but worldwide broadcasts had to wait until 1960. The Internet hit way back in 1996! In my opinion one of the best things is that you can now get all of the games not just the ones that the studios decide I want to see, and no tape delays!

Speaking of Pigeons — get a load of these Guinea Pigs
Ok, this rates as the dumb post of the week but it just cracked me up. It is just a series of six photos that show a set of guinea pigs competing in a number of Olympic events in London. So let the real games begin!

Record iPad sales not enough for Apple to meet expectations
Apple’s revenue for the past quarter and forecast for the current one did not meet with analysts’ expectations despite selling 17 million iPads during the quarter, up 84% compared to the same quarter a year ago and up 44% from the previous quarter. It sold 26 million iPhones, down 26% from the previous quarter.

The company did manage to have $35 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 22% from a year ago and had $8.8 billion in net profit, up 22% from the previous year. Apple plans to update its MacBook line this quarter, release a new Mac operating system and a new iOS later this fall.

Bucs bailing on iPads
The NFL seemed like the next conquest for Apple’s iPad but now a report from JoeBucsFan.com, as relayed by ProFootballTalk, makes it look like one team is backing away from the tablets. Tampa Bay is reportedly discontinuing the use of the tablets to its players according to the blog.

It seems that players were forgetting to charge them, did not update them automatically and the team could not be sure that players were using them. I wonder how they can be sure that the players are reading the 500+ page binders they issue each week?

Elemental streams Olympics
If you are watching the Summer Olympics in London on line, you can give thanks, at least in part, to Elemental Technologies. A product from the company, Elemental Alive, is the backbone to the live streams that will be seen worldwide.

While we have mentioned that NBC will be live streaming all of the events from the Olympics live in the US, it should be noted that the BBC will also be streaming the games to much of the rest of the world, and both rely on Element’s technology to send the video to computers, phones and tablets. That is quite an accomplishment for a company still in startup stage.

Apple, Motorola Mobility both appeal dismissal of patent infringement case
Well here is one thing that the two companies can agree on; both have appealed (separately) the decision from last month by a U.S. federal judge to dismiss their patent infringement case. The case was thrown out ‘with prejudice’ by Judge Richard Posner, who ruled that they could not resubmit the lawsuit.

The case has been ongoing for some time and had increasingly been drawing the ire of the judge, along with the overall US patent system. He has dismissed expert testimony and honed down the number of issues involved in previous ruling prior to his dismissal of the case.

Seattle pushing for new NBA team
After losing the Supersonics, its NBA team a few years ago, Seattle looks to be trying to be back in the mix for a team. The King County Council is about to vote on a proposal that is now in front of it regarding building a new arena, the lack of which was a core cause in losing its last team.

The proposal, from investor Chris Hansen would call for a $490 million new facility with private equity paying $290 million and the rest from bonds by the city and county that would be paid for by arena generated taxes and fees. The issue must also be passed by the Seattle City Council. No word on where the team is going to come from.

Kindle rumors galore
It seems with Google’s entrant into the 7-inch tablet space with its well received Nexus 7 and the possibility of an Apple product in the same space has cause a rise in the rumor mill about future Amazon Kindles to combat the new rivals.

Tom’s Hardware is reporting that the current Kindle’s may see a 15% drop in price, to around $150 as it prepares its new ones for market. The new ones may be here as soon as next week, according to SiliconAngle, which reports that a pair of tablets, a new 7-inch as well as its first 10-inch may be released as early as the 31st of July.

Filed Under: Amazon, Apple, iPad, Kindle, Mashable, Motorola, NBA, NFL, ProFootballTalk Tagged With: , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Are Your Apps Tracking You?

July 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

In a move that is very likely to lead to even more patent conflict Apple has patented a mobile scroll bar, a patent that appears to cover portable devices with touchscreen displays and have a disappearing vertical scroll bar.

If that sounds familiar it is because it, or something very much like it, is widely used in the Android market. According to the Verge, Android has been using features such as this since version 2.1, so prepare for the worst.

Texting passes calling in popularity in UK
Text messaging has surpassed phone calls as the most popular method of communications in the United Kingdom, according to a report from Ofcom, an independent regulator of UK communications industries, which said that it found that 2/5 of all adults in the UK had a smartphone.

The trend is driven by younger users with 96% of people aged 16-24 using text messaging daily and only 67% in that age group using a phone for calling someone. Overall the use of phones for calls fell 1% from the previous year.

Nokia’s smartphone sales slump
Nokia reported another poor quarter as it smartphones continued to lose ground to rivals such as Samsung and Apple. The company reported that its net loss nearly quadrupled in the second quarter reached $1.72 billion compared to $450 million in the same period last year. However there were some bring points, its low end phone sales were strong and its Windows phone, the Lumia series, did not perform as poorly as had been anticipated.

Study finds 98% of Americans distrust Internet
A survey conducted by Harris Interactive found that an amazing 98% of Americans distrust the Internet and almost that many believe that bad things can happen if you act on information found there. Top reasons included outdated information and self promotional information. The real question is why is it so low?

Microsoft provides ship date for Windows 8
Microsoft has said that its next generation operating system, Windows 8, will ship on Oct. 26, 2012. So gentlemen start your engines since I expect a huge number of tablets using the OS to be announced on the same stage as the OS as a number of OEMs fight to be the next hot holiday property.

Windows phone slowly gaining ground
A recent report from market research firm Strategic Analytics, as reported in Cnet, shows that Windows phones moved from 3% of the U.S. smartphone market in 2011 to 4% in 2012. The report estimates that unit sales grew from 3.5 million to 5 million over that time period.

HTC countersues Apple
HTC has gone on the offensive against Apple by suing claiming that Apple infringes on two of its patents. The patents in question were purchased from Hewlett-Packard. Apple is suing HTC for patent issues as well.


Study finds Olympics helping electronic sales
A survey by TechBargins.com found that 16% of consumers plan on buying consumer electronics devices to watch the Summer Olympics, an increase from the 13% it found with a similar survey four years ago prior to the Beijing Olympics.

19% of iPhone apps access Address Book
A study by security firm Bitdefender has found that 19% of iOS apps that it studied accessed a user’s address book, sometimes with permission and sometimes without permission, according to a piece in Forbes.

The study looked at 65,000 apps and found that not only did they look at the information but also uploaded it. A whopping 41% used the location based services features to track the users position, also without the users consent in most cases.

Microsoft posts first loss
After an enviable 26 year run as a profitable company Microsoft has posted its first loss in its most recently completed quarter. While the company reported that its revenue increased 4% year to year, reaching $18.06 billion it reported a loss for the quarter of $492 million compared to $5.9 billion for the same period a year ago.

The driving force behind the loss was a massive $6.19 billion write-down on its 2007 purchase of aQuantive. The company appears optimistic about its outlook for the rest of the year which will see at least two major launches, Windows 8 and Office 15.

Samsung Galaxy S3 sales soar
Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S3 has already hit 10 million in unit sales, and accomplished the feat in under two months, company executives said. As reported in Yonhap News, the company is selling 190,000 phones every day. The S3’s predecessor the S2 took five months to reach that sales figure.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, HTC, iOS, Lawsuit, Mashable, Microsoft, Samsung, Smartphone, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Pete Rose Reality TV, Olympic Tidbits

July 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

NHL Lockout in September?
It is new contract time for the players and the league and according to a piece in Sports Business Daily things might be looking very bad for fans of hockey. Apparently the league has sent its first proposal to the players and it reads like it wants to get baseball’s reserve clause back for hockey.

Players could be tied to a team for ten years before free agency according to this piece in Sports Business Daily. The league also wants to cut down the amount of both hockey revenue and non-hockey revenue that the players will receive. It looks like this could be an ugly fight.

Samsung buys CSR’s mobile chip technology
Samsung Electronics has spent $310 million to purchase chipmaker CSR’s mobile phone connectivity and location technology. Included in that deal will be its Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and location based technology. CSR said that it was at a disadvantage in these spaces because while it believed its technology was leading edge, it did not provide an integrated solution like some of its rivals like Intel, according to a piece in The Business Recorder.

Samsung said that the technology, and CSR’s research and development in these areas, will help it to enhance its applications processors that are the heart of its smartphone and tablet business and so be able to better compete against rivals such as Apple.

The connected viewer now a reality?
We have log talked about the growth of second screen sports viewing here at MSR, where fans watch a game on a primary device and yet watch or communicate using a second such as a smartphone or a tablet. I expect the upcoming Olympics to set new records in this area with all sports action being available on-line.

Anyway the good people at Pew Internet & American Life Project have done a survey that shows just how much this occurring. This synopsis shows how this trend is now and the full report makes very interesting reading.
• 38% of cell owners used their phone to keep themselves occupied during commercials or breaks in something they were watching
• 23% used their phone to exchange text messages with someone else who was watching the same program in a different location
• 22% used their phone to check whether something they heard on television was true
• 20% used their phone to visit a website that was mentioned on television
• 11% used their phone to see what other people were saying online about a program they were watching, and 11% posted their own comments online about a program they were watching using their mobile phone
• 6% used their phone to vote for a reality show contestant

Olympic tidbits

Some Olympiads get bad first impression of London
Several buses carrying Olympic athletes headed to the Summer Games apparently got lost on the way to the Olympic Village earlier this week, taking as long as four hours to reach the destination that was a mere 24 miles away.

Kerron Clement, an American participating in the 400 meter hurdle possibly sent the first athlete-based Tweet from the Olympics but it is probably one that the IOC wants to forget, according to Newser.Com He said “Athletes are sleepy, hungry and need to pee. Could we get to the Olympic Village please,” “We’ve been lost on the road for 4hrs. Not a good first impression London.”

Speaking of the Olympics- Ancient Greek roots to modern games
Pretty much everybody knows that the root of the modern Olympics comes from Ancient Greece, where from 776 B.C to 393 A.D a series of competitions were held between athletes from a variety f the city states that populated the area at that time.

What is not as widely known is the roots of some of the sports that are played today go all the way back, I mean the Sports Pickle would not lie! How a single Korean managed to arrive in Greece is still unclear.


Border security strike in England next week?
In a move that could have very bad consequences for travelers to the London Olympics next week, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) voted yesterday in favor of strike action in a row over jobs and pay.

If you are wonder who or what the PCS is, it is the union that represents approximately half of the UK Border Force and staff such positions as passport control and customs at the airport.

All Athletes are not equal
A sad item from Japan, where it appears that the Men’s soccer team will be traveling business class to London while the Women’s team, fresh off its Gold Medal in the Woman’s World Cup, will get stuck back in economy.

Kickstarter Results might not be what you expect
Mashable has published a nice infographic developed by Jeanne Pi and Ethan Mollick at Appsblogger that shows how Kickstarter projects perform on a number of measurable data points including delivery on time and successful reaching funding goals.

The piece delves into the numbers and gives what looks like a very accurate and interesting view of who wins, who loses across a number of categories. One interesting finding was that the more a project is overfunded the more likely that it will be late.

A sign the apocalypse is upon us?
TLC is planning a new reality series and Pete Rose, baseball’s all time hit leader is scheduled to be the star. According to a piece in Entertainment Weekly the working title of the show will be “Pete Rose and the Kiana Kim Family Project”

It will follow 71 year old Rose and has 30 something fiancé Kim as they go on about their daily lives and the interaction between his four grown children and her two young ones and their take on the relationship. Doubt this will be on my active roster of TV shows.

Filed Under: Baseball, Mashable, Olympics, Samsung Tagged With:
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