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San Jose Sharks Enlist Wayin for Twitter Hub

May 15, 2013 by 1 Comment

sjsharks


ESPN’s deal with Twitter the other day was an expected development as there is a growing desire to hook into social media by sports franchises and broadcasters and another that is following on that same path is the San Jose Sharks Hockey team.

The Sharks have teamed with a Denver-based startup called Wayin using that company’s social media engagement hub to create a Twitter hub for fans of the team and of the National Hockey League.

The Shark’s Wayin hub, called the Sharks Game Day Hub, is more than just a central depository for all of the twitter activity that naturally follows a team when it is in the playoffs. It serves the fans a central site where they can gain a degree of control over what they are following.

The hub features both team generated content as well as a variety of other information including tab on Tweet volume, Twitter activity from players, coaches, broadcasters and Sharks staff, imbedded broadcast video interviews, and fan Tweets. The hub also supports Instagram so that fans can also follow along on images and photos posted by others.

While the casual fan may not have heard of Wayin, in part because it’s a startup and secondly by being located in Denver it is off the beaten paths for most new tech companies. However it has a prestigious foundation starting with co-founder and Chairman Scott McNealy, former top honcho of Sun Microsystems. Anyone from the Bay Area could tell you that McNealy is a huge hockey fan and that once for April Fools played hockey with former pro hockey players with Sharks players in attendance.

It will be interesting to see how a hub such as this will compete with the emerging class of apps that put fans in connection with athletes. A number have emerged over the years in the app space but none seem to have caught the attention of the mainstream. By bringing a team into the mix fans might be able to connect more directly with players using this type of hub.

Filed Under: Apps, Athlete to Follow, Instagram, NHL, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Stanley Cup, Startup, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Zynga makes a bet with RocketPlay’s virtual Sports Casino

September 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

Zynga

Once the darling of the online set with its Farmville and other mobile and online applications, Zynga has hit hard times of late as its stock has dropped 72 % since its IPO in December and recently its executives have been fleeing the building, with seven gone since August.

The company is the largest maker of games for Facebook, and it is known for programs such as Mafia Wars, CastleVille, CityVille, Words with Friends and of course FarmVille is now looking to partnerships to help bolster its brand and hopefully bring in additional customers and revenue.

The latest move is to promote developer RocketPlay and its Sports Casino and will be bringing the app to Facebook and Zynga.com. This is the first time that Zynga has promoted a third party app, in the past all of the content in is lineup has been homegrown. It will be interesting to see if in the future Zynga takes on a much larger role as a publisher, and if that will cause complications due to conflicts of interest.

Sports Casino imitates real life in many ways; you check the odds and place bets, and then root for the results that will bring you in the cash. It is not just a sports book but also will have video poker, slots and blackjack and other casino games. You can even enjoy a nice cocktail while doing so. The difference is that you do so by simply logging into Facebook while sitting at home, and of course no real money changes hands.

Out just a week it already has 10,000 followers, which is a nice start but far from the heady numbers that some of the more established games have such as Words with Friends that has 13 million players, but it is still new.

One feature that it has that I greatly dislike is that it may post on my behalf mentioning achievements high scores etc… Thanks but that is not really something I want, and that feature has prevented me from using other apps that do this. However others seem quite happy in broadcasting to the world their ups and downs playing online games.

The game will initially only present odds for NCAA football, the NFL, MLB and a variety of soccer matches but expects to expand to cover a number of additional sports including the NBA and NCAA basketball and others.

Zynga already has a virtual gambling game, Zynga Poker, which was its first game. However Business Insider has suggested that the reason for the partnership is that RocketPlay’s platform could be the basis for a real-money gambling at some point in the future. RocketPlay’s management team has experience in that area.

Filed Under: Apps, Betting, Facebook, FIFA, MLS, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, NHL, RocketPlay, Zynga Tagged With: ,

SportsPicker Challenge Provides Cyber Bragging Rights with Real World Prizes

September 5, 2012 by

SportsPicker

Want to show that you know your stuff about the upcoming NFL season, or possibly on one of the other major sports ranging from NBA, MLB to MLS and EUFA Championship soccer to your Facebook friends?

Well the SportsPicker Challenge, developed by OHK Labs might just be the app that you have been looking for as it not only covers those sports but also others such as NCAA basketball and football among others.

Everybody has friends that like to brag about how well they pick winners in sporting contests but a little digging often shows that they tend to do so without taking the odds into consideration, something that would have made the task considerably harder. And that is one feature that sets the app apart from others.

Users select the sport that you want to follow and make predictions about how a week’s slate of games is going to turn out, using the odds that have been established for that event. The apps scoring system takes the odds into account so that a victory by the favored team earns 100 points, and underdog team wins earn between 125 and 200 points, depending on the odds of winning.

The importance of the points is due to the apps challenge periods that feature prizes. The nice thing about the prizes is that they are real ones and not a cyber award that only is usable on the app. The company is offering gift cards from a variety of companies including Amazon, Sports Authority, Best Buy and others.

In addition, for the opening week of the NFL (which starts tonight) three fans will win an EA Sports Madden 13 for picking the most winners in the opening week of the season. The OHK has said that it plans to have approximately $10,000 in prizes. Users do not have to participate in sponsored events. They can get friends to join and compete with them via your own challenges.

There s no cost to play and fans have two options; they can play on Facebook or via their iPhone using a free app available at Apple’s iTunes store. It has just emerged from beta testing in time for the start of Football.

There are a growing number of apps that do some of what SportsPicker Challenge does, but as far as I know none use the odds as part of the equation. There are plenty of apps that allow for bragging rights and even some that have prizes, but as far as I have seen the prizes are mostly cyber ones- points for contests and to get extra privileges. This is the one of first that has real world prizes, something I think that fans can appreciate as much as bragging rights.

There are single sports ones that provide prizes including the cool $1 million that the NFL is now offering but that is a fantasy league and so really a horse of a different color. PickMoto is also a one sports play, at least currently.

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Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Baseball, Facebook, iOS, iPhone, Major League Baseball, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, NFL, NHL, SportsPicker Challenge Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Samsung, Lenovo Tablets-Seattle bickers about stadium

August 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We mentioned last week that there is now an ongoing attempt to build a new basketball arena in Seattle and then land a new team. From this article in the Seattle PI it looks like the Seattle City Council could be a roadblock.

While the county commissioners are expected to give approval to an $80 million contribution to the building, the city looks like it might want a better deal for the $120 million that it is being asked to throw in as well. The city wants better protection from financial fallout among other issues.

Microsoft wants broad patent licensing deal with Motorola
After winning cases at home and abroad regarding its patent portfolio Microsoft has said that it wants to sign a deal with Motorola that will end the legal disputes between the two companies. Microsoft already licenses its ActiveSync technology to others including Samsung and HTC, according to IT World.

However in the case of Motorola, Microsoft is looking for a more all-encompassing deal, one that will include not just a select few patents but rather a great deal of their respective portfolios in order to achieve what Microsoft calls “A solid foundation for patent peace.”

Larger tablets can be heavy

Samsung thinking big with next-gen tablet?
Kudos to the Verge for digging into all of the documents from the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung trial in San Jose, Calif. Among the nuggets it has mined is the revelation that Samsung has a 11.8-inch tablet on the drawing board.

Code named P10 it would have the equivalent of Apple’s retina display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and among its other features is LTE connectivity.

Google investing in YouTube effort
It looks like Google is going to invest $200 million in marketing its YouTube channels as it continues its transition of that platform from one in which the majority of content is user generated into one where there are a wide range of professionally created content.

It has over 100 channels now and currently is teamed with NBC to show the Summer Olympics. According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, Google currently has already earned $150 million in ad commitments for this year.

Google to delay its Nexus Q digital streaming device
Google announced its Nexus Q music and video streaming platform to great fanfare a few weeks back at the company’s annual Google I/O conference in San Francisco. Expected to be quickly delivered to the market it looks like it has hit a bump in the road and its delivery is now delayed.

The people that preordered have been told that there is an indefinite delay but has offered them a free product. Multiple sources report that the device was beset by poor reviews and that the company will be seeking to enhance the device.

A Bikini Hockey League?
Sounds like the follow up ads after the Swedish Bikini Team that Old Milwaukee Beer ran years ago but no, someone is actually trying to launch a Bikini Hockey League. Actually it is a reality TV show that is based on a developer’s purported plan to create such a league.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet leaked
It appears that the ever vigilant Verge has scored again, this time with details on the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 that will be using Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system. The devices will feature an attachable keyboard and pen input as well as the usually features that users have come to expect.

Among the listed features for the tablet are that it will be powered by an Intel Clover Trail microprocessor, have 2GB of RAM and a 64GBs of storage with a 10.1 inch WXGA display. It will have a fingerprint reader and they keyboard will have trackpoint navigation.

MLB’s Powers that be endorse Expanded use of Instant Replay
Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball said last Friday that the sport plans to implement the extended use of instant replay. It will now also be used for trapped balls in the outfield, and to determine if balls down the first and third base line are fair or foul.

The league is now assessing the camera angle issues in each park to see what, if any difficulties it will have in placing cameras that have the needed angles. It is not likely that the extended replay will make an appearance prior to the start of next season

Cleveland Browns sell for $1 billion
At least that is what ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeting yesterday. It seems that James Haslam will be buying the Browns from Randy Lerner for that figure, with a $700 million initial payment and then a second one sometime down the road for $300 million more.

The team just underwent a major shakeup in top management a few years ago, notably luring Mike Holmgren into the front office by giving him the position of team president. Usually new management likes its own people in place so he could be back looking over some other execs shoulder in the near future.

Cleveland Browns

I do like the comment on the tweet that questioned why anyone would pay that much for such a poor franchise noting that a Hawaiian island just sold for $600 million, implying that might have been the better deal.

Filed Under: Baseball, Cleveland Browns, ESPN, HTC, Lawsuit, Lenovo, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, NBA, NFL, NHL, Tablets, Twitter, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

PrePlay Takes Next Step with $3.1 Million Venture Funding

July 12, 2012 by 3 Comments

If the first step is developing an app that will catch on with your target audience the next step is to have the funding to promote the original work — expanding your team, funding marketing activities and developing next generation products. PrePlay Sports has just made that second move.

The developer, which creates predictive game apps, has landed a $3.1m Series A funding round. The round is led by “wine guy” Gary Vaynerchuk, a well-known social media entrepreneur, and Matt Higgins who is the CEO of RSE Ventures, as well as additional unnamed angel investors.

PrePlay said that it intends to use the additional cash to flesh out its operations with additional staff, and develop additional content for its suite of games while also looking at additional opportunities in the entertainment space.

The company has done well without a major infusion of venture cash. It landed a major deal with the NHL, a real coup for a start up app developer, which included a host of content from Molson Canadian, a major sponsor. The company also had a big Super Bowl push with partner Subway.

Currently the company offers apps that enable predictive game participation. Players predict the next play just moments before it occurs and can compete with friends or just other users. They can gain bragging rights as well as points for correct predictions.

The free app is currently only available for Apple’s iOS platform and it has two apps available. With football season approaching I suspect we might see a NCAA or NFL focused version soon. However the company has said that it wants to expand out of the sports arena and also include areas such as reality, contests and award shows on television.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, iOS, NHL, PrePlay Sports, Venture Capital Tagged With:

NHL FanCam to Engage Fans at home and at Stanley Cup Games

May 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I think everybody knows at least one sports fan that is always claiming that they were at any number of prestigious events, but oddly never seems to have the ticket stub or any other evidence. Well if you are attending the Stanley Cup Finals in the upcoming days you will have a unique way to prove you were there.

A second round of the NHL FanCam presented by Ticketmaster will make its appearance for both games 1 and 3 that will be played on May 30 and June 4 respectively. It is as simple as it is high tech, but you have to be in your seat at the right time. The first time the NFL broke out the FanCam was earlier this year for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.

The FanCam takes a high-definition, 360 degree photo of the inside of the arena. All a fan has to do is find their image in the photo at the FanCam website, and any friends that might be along for the games as well. You then ‘tag’ yourself and you can share it with friends via email, Twitter and Facebook. Proof for everyone to see and believe!

The NHL is also using the FanCam to engage fans in another way. It is holding a contest called Hunt for the Cup in which fans can search for a picture of the Stanley Cup that will be in the FanCam and posted at the website. The advantage to this is that for the unfortunate fans that cannot attend the Stanley Cup Finals they may still participate in this event.

All of the fans that find the cup are entered into a drawing for a chance to win two tickets to the 2013 Bridgestone NHL WinterClassic, two roundtrip airfare tickets, two New Year’s Eve Party passes,
as well as transportation, accommodations and fan apparel for the event. This sweepstakes is open to US and Canadian citizens 21 years or older and the sweepstakes closes July 31.

This is an interesting use of this type of technology and much better than the relatively static approach of just showing fans in the stands so that they can cheer for themselves. By using a bit of high technology and a simple approach it can really engage fans into visiting the web site. By creating a contest that fans that cannot attend the games the NHL helps expand the experience for them as well.

Filed Under: NHL, Stanley Cup Tagged With: , ,
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