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Yahoo! Sports’ Tournament Pick’Em Comes with Possible $10K Payoff

March 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment

yahoo.

Yahoo! Sports is one of the major online sports sites and so it is of no surprise that it is also one of the major hosting sites for NCAA Tournament contests with a series of options for fans to compete against friends and strangers.

At first blush it has the features that you would expect a site that is hosting tournament pools to have including the ability to create a private group to play against your friends and the ability to join preexisting groups in the open group section. You do need a Yahoo account, which is free, to participate.

A nice touch is the ability to compete against Facebook friends, or after the tournament maybe just people that used to be friends. Yahoo! Sports will create a customized leaderboard that permits you and your Facebook friends to compare brackets, even if you are not in the same pool. Good for bragging rights if nothing else. The way I pick I fall into the nothing else category.

One of the features that is sure to capture the eye of almost anyone entering the contest is the fact that the best bracket is again eligible to win $10,000. There are of course certain eligibility rules including being over 18 years of age. To participate you must opt in when creating your bracket in the basic game portion of the site and you must have a valid Yahoo!, Google or Facebook ID.

Yahoo provides a guide to the tournament and can even fill out your brackets for you, if you so desire. Fans need to remember that time is tight and that to qualify for the tournament, and the prizes, they need to register prior to the first game of the Round of 64 that tips off tomorrow.

Filed Under: Contests, Facebook, Google, NCAA Hoops, Yahoo Tagged With: , ,

New 2013 ESPN Bracket Bound app for Smartphones and Tablets now available

March 18, 2013 by 1 Comment

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It comes as no surprise that ESPN is reaching out to mobile users to offer leagues for users to enter for the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournaments, but it is nice to know that there are features that will appeal to the diehard basketball fan as well as to people that only pay attention at this time of year.

The free “ESPN Bracket Bound” app, designed for use with both Android and Apple’s iOS mobile devices provides fans with the chance to enter both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments with either the ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge, presented by Allstate, Acura and Taco Bell or the ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge presented by Capitol One.

The app also allows fans to participate in the ESPN College Hoops Pick’Em challenge that allows fans to predict the winner of each tournament match up, with bonus points for correctly picking games where the lower seeded team wins.

The app can be customized to allow fans to follow individual teams and specify games that they are interested in following by providing the scores and schedules. Other features of the ESPN Bracket Bound app include game clips, video analysis from ESPN’s college basketball experts and analysts, bracketology, game previews, recaps, analysis and highlights

ESPN.com also provides several levels of support and information to help fans select their teams. Available for all fans is access to its college basketball experts and analysts. For members of ESPN Insider there are additional predictor and analysis tools available.

The tournaments are not just for bragging rights. When the Men’s tournament is over the top 1% are entered into a random drawing to win a $10,000 Best Buy Gift Card and the top 1% in the Women’s bracket will be in a drawing to take home a $5,000 card from Best Buy.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Basketball, ESPN, Fantasy Sports, iOS, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com Tagged With: , , ,

CBSSports.com Delivers Updated Mobile App in time for March Madness

March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

cbs

CBSSports.com has updated its mobile app with enhanced features that enables avid fans of the NCAA’s March Madness tournament, and even just casual observers, to follow the tournament, get insight into games and map out their bracket strategy.

This is not its first shot at delivering an app for the tournament but the company has completely redesigned the program to provide an enhanced experience for people that follow the event on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as well as via a web site.

At the most basic level the redesigned CBS Sports mobile app provides instant access to brackets and access to insight from experts on which teams to pick, which as even the most casual fan knows is of all importance during the tournament, for bragging rights if nothing else.

However the app, available for both Android and Apple iOS device users is not just a static data program but provides a host of other features including featuring live access to all CBSSports.com bracket games (iOS users only), tweets from other game that are currently ongoing as well as updates and final scores as they are warranted.

It provides fans with several options in the area of brackets including allowing a user to enter the Bracket Challenge where a user can have as many as three brackets and competes with others who enter the event. There is also a tool called Bracket Manager that is designed to help create and manage bracket groups that you might want to form with friends or coworkers. For Users whose picking skills are similar to mine there is also something called Round by Round that permits fans to pick each of the six rounds, eliminating “busted” brackets.

For those who cannot wait for the tournament the app also provides coverage of this weekend’s Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament Semifinals and Championship on Saturday and Sunday.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Basketball, CBS Sports, Contests, iOS, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com Tagged With: , , , , ,

BuddyTV Seeks To Ease March Madness Viewing

March 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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BuddyTV, a developer that creates apps that help provide television viewers with up to date guides of what is and will be on has updated its app to help viewers looking to chart out their March Madness viewing agenda.

With conferences just finishing their tournaments the NCAA selection committee will announce its selections on March 17 and then the chaos begins, along with the grousing about how tough your teams bracket is and how weak your arch rivals’ bracket looks.

To help fans sort through the various channels and times that the games will be played BuddyTV has developed the March Madness Quick List as a tool to help fans find their way and not miss games that they want to see.
The feature, part of an upgrade to its mobile app that is available for Android and iOS devices, will list all the upcoming game air times, channels and stations in chronological order as well as the few remaining regular season games as well.

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The app will update the schedule the day after games are finished to keep it up to date for users. It also has the ability to be customized so that fans can track the teams or conferences that interest them in the tournament including adding reminders in case you forget an important starting time.

The feature is part of the latest release of the free app that now has an updated user interface, a few bug fixes and support for Apple’s iPhone 5, as well as performance enhancements that has made it a speedier app to use.

The app lists not only broadcast television but also cable such as Comcast and Time Warner as well as Dish, Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon. There is also a web site that features information on the tournament as well as television news, program spoilers and other listings.

Filed Under: NCAA Hoops Tagged With: , , , , ,

March Madness Online: Free, if You Have a Cable Contract

February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Once again, the epic sporting event known as March Madness, aka the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, will be available online for free… as long as you have a cable contract that includes the Turner channels.

HERE IS THE LINK TO MARCH MADNESS ONLINE.

Broadcast by both CBS and the Turner cabal of TNT, TBS and truTV, the tournament is probably the biggest online sports time-waster, given that the balance of games take place during the day on Thursday and Friday, March 21 and 22 this year. For the second year, all 67 games will be on TV, though sometimes that requires the challenge of actually finding the truTV channel on your cable box.

For online watchers, there will be the usual cable-system confirmation, which should allow you to watch on “the digital device of your choice,” according to the press release. There will also be a “preview option,” which will allow for up to four hours of online viewing for free — good if your team is a one and done.

Here’s some more goodness from the official press release:

This year’s NCAA March Madness Live® product offers several enhancements including:

— Redesigned for optimization across platforms – With improved navigation, NCAA March Madness Live® will have a completely new look and feel while also providing users with the same levels of access and a consistent user experience across all devices
— Available on new devices – NCAA March Madness Live® will be available on more devices than ever before including smart phones and tablets with the Android 4.0+ operating system, the iPhone 5 and iPad mini
— Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge – The official bracket game of March Madness includes new designs and feature enhancements on smart phones and tablets, along with expanded social functionality across all devices allowing fans to join groups, share brackets and chat with friends and other passionate fans via Facebook
— Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena – A forum to extend the conversation surrounding all of the games within NCAA March Madness Live® products, fans can follow game and tournament tweets, participate in fan chats, watch the games and keep a pulse on all the key moments of every game via the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena. Fans can participate in the social commentary by using the hashtag #marchmadness

Additionally, NCAA March Madness Live® will once again provide video highlights, full game replays and real-time game alerts, as well as fan-favorite features, including live game scoring, real-time tournament brackets, personal channel lineup features, live stats, live social companion views and the return of the “Boss Button.” Fans will have direct access to live radio broadcasts, courtesy of Westwood One/Dial Global Radio Network, for all 67 games across the collection of digital products.

Sounds good to us… may the best bracket win!

Filed Under: Basketball, CBS Sports, NCAA Hoops, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Atlantic 10 Inks Broadcast Deals — Microsoft Surface/Windows 8 Date Unveiled

October 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Atlantic 10 Conference has just closed a pair of broadcast deals that will enable it to maintain a strong presence on broadcast television. The 9-year deal with NBC Sports calls for the network to nationally televise men’s and women’s basketball games on the NBC Sports Network, as well as select local games on NBC Sports Regional Networks. Included will be the ability to live stream games on NBCSports.com for mobile users starting next year.

ESPN has also reached a new agreement with the conference, one that will extend the existing agreement to broadcast the conference’s men’s and women’s basketball games, including each conference championship. The agreement will begin with the 2013-14 season and conclude in 2021-22 and will continue to include extensive action on ESPNU.

ESPN’s Atlantic 10 programming will be available across the network’s multiple properties including ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com.

Google/Motorola drops a patent claim against Apple
Motorola Mobility has withdrawn a patent infringement claim against Apple that it had filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission two months ago according to a report in Bloomberg. However it has said that it does reserve the right to refile and that the withdrawal is not due to any agreement between the two companies.

Tablet Global Market sales expected to top $40B this year
Market research firm Global Information has estimated that the worldwide revenue for tablets this year will reach $40.4 billion and that due to a forecast growth rate of 29% year over year it will reach $181.5 billion by 2018.

Tablets have been in the news a great deal lately, with a bevy of new devices hitting the shelves soon from Amazon and Barnes & Noble while the Windows 8 and Apple iPad launches are in the near future. With all of this news it is probably no surprise how well they have been selling.

Samsung wins a small victory over Apple in U.S.
Samsung has convinced the trial judge that heard the case with Apple in the United States to lift the ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. The tablet was one of many devices that Apple sought to have banned after it prevailed in its copyright and patent win in US District Court earlier this year.

Major League Baseball reaches 8-year TV deals with Fox and Turner
Earlier this week Major League Baseball announced an 8-year national media rights agreements with FOX and TBS, which coupled with the deal signed with ESPN earlier will make the teams’ owners very happy. The three contracts will deliver $12.4 billion over their life.

The new deals with Fox and Turner will start in 2014 and allows Fox to keep the All Star game as well as the World Series while the League Championship Series and Division Series will be shared across FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG), TBS and MLB Network. A plus for mobile fans is that the deals include a digital “TV Everywhere” rights to stream televised games and other MLB-related programming online and through mobile devices.

Microsoft confirms Oct. 25 for Windows 8 launch
So mark your calendar and prepare your ‘Is this the iPad killer’ story as Microsoft and its allies will be taking center stage in New York City to show you everything from Intel’s Clover Trail microprocessor to Microsoft’s Surface Tablet.

Intel has said that there are over 20 designs in works with its processor for the platform and showed a few last week, with Hewlett-Packard taking the wraps off of its offering earlier this week. Expect more details by the time of the event from other OEMs.

Microsoft to open pop-up stores next to Apple Stores
If imitation is the highest form of flattery Apple should be pleased with Microsoft. It was reported in Computerworld that Microsoft will start opening ‘pop-up’ stores at malls starting Oct. 26. Interestingly that is the day after it introduces Windows 8.

What makes it interesting is that all of these 32 temporary stores, which will be selling the Surface tablets, 29 are in sites that already have an Apple store. I guess customers will be able to get a good comparison that way.

Filed Under: All Star Game, Android, Apple, Baseball, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Fox Sports, Intel, iOS, iPad, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NBC Sports, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Surface, Turner Sports, WatchESPN, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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