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Beyond the Box App Seeks to Provide Customized Sports News

April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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Sports fans always seem to have dozens of apps dedicated to specific areas of sports that they are interested in. Apps that provide baseball broadcasts or NFL draft information are two examples and now Beyond the Box is seeking to break into that field as a sports news aggregator.

One of the knocks that some of the news services have is that they provide old news, unless you are hooked into the latest twitter feed you might be reading something that is outdated and now not relevant.

The app, designed for iPad and iPad Mini tablets promises to bring together real time, up to date news from 1,000 media sources. It also taps into 2,000 players to provide not just news but also commentary, analysis, insights, rumors, video and photos of sports figures and events.

The app enables fans to customize it according to their tastes allowing them to select teams or players to follow. It presents the news and other information in a timeline format that enables you to get either the most up to date information or pick a point at which you want to start tracing a select piece of information.

Beyond the Box is also being positioned as a perfect second screen for fans that are already watching an event and are looking for additional information, commentary or images regarding that event, or possibly on one that they are not/cannot view at the same time. It also has a Facebook, blog and twitter presence.

As the company notes it is trying to be a one stop shop for fans, but there are a number of others that also seek to provide the same type of service, from other fresh startups such as Recapp to some of the more established players in the broadcast market such as ESPN and Turner Networks’ Bleacher Report. Then of course there are specialty apps that seek to provide news for a specific sport such as Bantr for soccer.

The Beyond the Box app is from Murphy Ave. Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif. and has its roots in a program out of Stanford University called StartX Accelerator program that is designed to help new startups by exposing them to successful startup founders and an educational program that will help them succeed.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, ESPN, Facebook, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Sports Social Media Opinion Column, Startup, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Apple Refutes Multiple Product Rumors

April 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Market research firm Strategy Analytics is reporting that Apple had a 48% market share of the estimated 40.6 million tablets that were shipped in the first quarter of 2013, followed by tablets that ran the Android operating system which own a 43% market share. Tablets that ran Windows had a 7.5% market share.

Overall the market has seen tremendous growth, surging 117% compared to the 18.7 million tablets that were sold in the same period a year ago.

Will Windows 8 Refresh Refresh Microsoft?
Microsoft has taken a beating in recent weeks as analysts and OEMs have pointed a finger at the company’s Windows 8 release as being a disaster and hurt both PC and tablet sales by Windows licensees.

The refresh of the operating system, called ‘Blue’ is reported to have changes to the UI and some subcomponent fixes. How it does will be very important, analysts told IT World, but it also needs to address a host of other issues including app shortage, pricing and enterprise adoption rates.

Apple’s Cook fries rumors
Apple has long been one of the companies that is always surrounded by a host of rumors. Will there be a new, cheap iPhone, is a new tablet coming out this month? You know the drill.

Now the company’s CEO Tim Cook refuted a few during his comments during Apple’s Q2 earnings call. So do not expect a new iPhone or iPad release soon, don’t look for a cheap iPhone and don’t expect a large format iPhone any time soon. For a fuller explanation of his comments head over here.

Speaking of Apple the company’s most recent earnings report showed that profits declined for the first time in almost 10 years. While that is bad the company did have $9.5 billion in profits from a total revenue of $43.6 billion. Last year’s first quarter saw the company report $11.6 billion profit on $39.2 billion in revenue.

LG becoming a factor in the smartphone world
While most of the talk in the smartphone market centers around a rare few, you can now add LG to the list as a player making an impact. The company reported that it sold 10.3 million smartphones in the first quarter of this year. It could see strong additional sales in the near future as it plans to ship its flagship Optimus G Pro in the U.S. next month.

Will 2013 be the year of the Android malware app?
An interesting piece in Forbes talks about how the slow rise of malware on smartphones is starting to gain momentum and all of that momentum appears pointed at the Android market. One security company reported that the Google Play Store had 35 apps that were infected with by a malware called BadNews.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Smartphone, Surface, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Microsoft Goes Small and MLB hits it Big

April 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

People seem drawn to March Madness pools like moths to a flame, and this year ESPN’s mammoth pool, 8.15 million strong had a surprise winner, Lanny Kekua. If that name does not ring a bell it is the fake dead girlfriend of Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o.

The name was used as an alias by a fan named Craig Gilmore, who won the tournament and successfully selected Louisville to defeat Michigan in the final. He is now entered into a drawing for a $10,000 Best Buy gift card.

Reebok Spartan Race hits the baseball circuit
Last year the Sparta Race held an event at a baseball park, and it proved to be very popular. So this year it is upping the ante and will be holding a series of events at ballyards, and it has announced the first four venues.

Athletes living near The New York Mets’ Citi Field, The Philadelphia Phillies’ Citizen Bank Park, The Milwaukee Brewers’ Miller Park or The Boston Red Sox Fenway Park can start practicing for the event near you.

Did Windows 8 Launch hurt PC sales?
Market research firm IDC has reported that sales of personal computers continued a downward fall, and is ascribing part of the blame to the latest operating system release from Microsoft, Windows 8. The most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report shows that in the first quarter of 2013 there was a total average drop in PC shipments of 13.9% compared to the previous quarter.

Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays said that the company’s research showed that not only did Windows 8 not provide the hoped for boost in sales that many had been planning on, it actually served as a major detriment to sales.

At Bat Starts off with hot streak
Major League Baseball’s popular At Bat program for mobile device users has been a hot download at the start of this year’s season. The program surpassed the 4 million download mark last week, five days into the season.

Last year, when the app was also on a record setting pace, it took it 45 days to reach the 4 million milestone. For the year the app was downloaded 6.7 million times in 2012. MLB’s other two major apps At the Ballpark and Beat the Streak had roughly a million additional downloads.

The Rumor Mill

Tom’s Hardware is showing what is reportedly the next generation tablet from Acer, the Iconia tab A1-810 that had been accidentally briefly advertised by a French retailer. The 7.9-inch tablet is said to be powered by a 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor featuring 1GB of RAM.

Newly leaked images of the forthcoming iPad from Apple appear to show a device that is thinner than previous releases and has reinforced the rumor that Apple is completely redesigning the popular tablet, currently reported to have the name iPad 5.

To the surprise of no one it has been reported that Microsoft has a 7-inch tablet in the works. With the rapidly growing popularity of this form factor a better issue might be what took them so long? The Wall Street Journal, via The Hispanic Business.com said that the tablets are expected to go into production later this year.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, ESPN, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Microsoft, NCAA Hoops, Smartphone, Spartan Race, Surface, Tablets, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

March Madness Ended Like it Started for Mobile Users: Strongly

April 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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The mobile and online viewing market for the most recent MCAA Division 1 basketball tournament ended just like it started, setting records for viewership and total amount of live game video streamed to fans.

The tournament was a huge televised hit, with the final between Louisville and Michigan garnering a an average 23.4 million viewers, up 12% from last year and a 19 year high, the online virewership was also record setting.

The overall mobile and online viewership hit 49 million live video streams, an increase of 168% from last year with more than 14 million hours of live video consumed by the fans. Both of these numbers set new records.

Not surprisingly the mobile space, with the strong growth of tablets in the last year and the powerful presence of smartphones, saw very strong growth for the tournament. Minutes were up 309% for mobile phones and 194% for tablet users.

PC users still represent a strong viewing group with broadband users represented 5.8 million unique visitors who watched games from their systems and they averaged 105 minutes of live video watched per user while mobile users averaged 70 minutes.

Social media users were also out in force, with the National Championship game netting a total of 3.5 million comments across all social media monitored, up 144% from last year. For the tournament as a whole there were 16.3 million comments, up 112% from last year.

The top ranked games across digital platforms during the 2013 NCAA Tournament, based on live video streams. Interesting to note that the final was not the top game

Valparaiso vs. Michigan State – 1,844,000
Bucknell vs. Butler – 1,784,000
Mississippi vs. Wisconsin – 1,778,000
Michigan vs. Louisville – 1,620,000
Albany vs. Duke – 1,488,000

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, Duke University, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Smartphone, Sports Social Media, Tablets, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , , ,

MLB teams with GigaPan to Engage Fans With Game Images of Crowds

April 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

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Ever looked at photos of a ball game that you attended and you searched to see if you could find yourself? Well that has just been made a whole lot easier with one of the new efforts that MLB Advanced Media and GigaPan have launched this season.

They have developed a program that shows the crowds at games in a high-definition, interactive panorama located at MLB’s TagOramic web site that allows a fan to zoom in on sections of seats and find themselves and friends. Having tried it I found several friends at a recent Giants game. You can then tag yourself, which will appear as a blue dot above your head as well as share photos via Facebook Connect.

This is part of a partnership between the two that has also given birth to a a new series of programs that are digital interactive scavenger hunts. The goal is to find a hidden object or person and you can win prizes.

The first one, called the Scotts Ultimate Home Field Advantage Sweepstakes – was introduced on March 25, and offers fans the opportunity to #FindScott and tag him in theTagOramic for a chance to win a $25,000 backyard makeover. Clues and hints are available from MLB’s Facebook and Twitter feed.

There are plans to run multiple contests over the year. MLB has been very aggressive in using mobile and social media to not only engage fans but also to enhance the experience at the park by allowing you to order food or upgrade seats with a smartphone or tablet. The league appears to be far ahead of its rival major sports leagues at this point and continues to push the envelope on what it can offer. While this program is hardly a epoch making event it does signify the leagues continual interest in providing for its fans.

Filed Under: Apps, Baseball, Contests, Facebook, Major League Baseball, Smartphone, Sports Social Media, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: The Cost of Hot Dogs and New Nexus Coming?

April 5, 2013 by 4 Comments

If you cannot get enough of Facebook on your mobile devices this will be very good news. The company has delivered an app called ‘Facebook Home’ that is an Android program which replaces your normal Android home screen.

Scheduled to be launched within the next two weeks the app will also come preinstalled on new HTC First Phones that will be available from AT&T. Facebook is working to launch a version for tablets in the near future. Head over to TechCrunch to see what the new features will be.

Next Gen Nexus rumored for July
The latest in the tablet rumors is that Google’s popular Nexus tablet will be seeing a platform refresh this coming July, according to a report in Reuters, and from the sounds of the report the company plans to be very aggressive in its pricing.

The new Nexus would feature greater screen resolution, a thinner bezel and a new processor, dropping Nvidia in favor of Qualcomm. It is reported the company will be seeking to sell 8 million tablets in the second half of the year.

Speaking of Google rumors another has it building an Android powered notebook that it is planning to launch as early as in the third quarter of this year.

Amazon Kindle Phone on the way?
Computerworld is reporting that Amazon is looking at developing and delivering a smartphone that it would deliver later this year. It is not clear of Amazon would make it a type of Kindle phone or if it would be a more traditional Android device.

Amazon recently hired Charles Kindel who had formerly headed up Microsoft’s Windows Phone application and platform developer relations. Apparently Kindel has been blogging that he was hired by Amazon to ‘do something secret” I am sure blogging will help keep it a secret.

Ematic delivers low cost Android tablet
If you are looking for a low cost tablet, possibly as a single use device or one that you are not afraid to have damaged you might want to look at the latest offering from Ematic and its $79.99 7-inch Genesis Prime tablet.

While certainly not designed to set the world on fire with its features it does have a 1.1GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 4GB on-board storage, 5GB cloud storage, 512MB of RAM, front-facing VGA camera and 4.5 hours of battery life.

No peanuts or crackerjacks here
Sports fans are always competitive and now they can see how they rank in two very important categories- how much they are spending on beer and on hot dogs at the ball yard, thanks to a survey by CNN Money.

I have to say I surprised at the differences. You can buy six hot dogs at Cincinnati’s Great American Park for the price of one at the New York Met’s Citi Field, for instance. Beer is most expensive in Washington D.C. and cheapest in Cleveland.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, Baseball, Google, Intel, iPad, Kindle, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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