Tech Tuesday on Sirius/XM PGA Tour Radio for 12/10/13 - Shirts, Shoes, and a Book

Have a listen, a lot of good info this week.

 Show Notes:

* TOPICS - Rick takes a look a his favorite golf shirts, shoes, and a great golf book - All of these would make some great holiday gifts

Shirts:

1.   Tommy Hilfiger  - the 2014 collection is now out "East Coast Prep" meets "West Coast Cool"

The Tommy Hilfiger Group is pleased to introduce the Spring 2014 men's and women's golf collections offered by The Fletcher Leisure Group. Drawing inspiration from the seasonal sportswear collections, Spring 2014 Tommy Hilfiger Golf embraces the brand's love of blending East Coast prep with West Coast cool.
The Collection draws inspiration from iconic coastal golf destinations like Monterey Bay, California. Pieces include modern golf classics such as polos and sweaters rendered in a palette of tonal blues and white highlighted by light blue and turquoise accents.
Key to the collections are designs that incorporate performance fabrics. TH Tech is a 100% polyester fabric used as the foundation for the golf collection to combine style and comfort with moisture wicking capabilities that keep garments dry and provide anti-odor properties essential in a technical garment. TH Comfort Tech is a hybrid cotton fabric that combines style and comfort with the functional properties required in performance driven garments. TH Cotton supplements the performance fabrics to ensure superior quality and comfort.

 

2. Antigua - Spring 2014 Line - Vivid Colors  35 years and going strong

"Last Spring's line was fantastic and set new sales records for Antigua. Spring 2014 looks to be even better," said Ron McPherson, president and CEO of Antigua. "The line has vivid color, sophisticated styling and luxurious fabrics...truly a winning combination."
If standard par performance on the course is 72, the standard for performance golf fashion collections internationally is Antigua's Performance 72. It's the benchmark for quality, fit, and viability of performance fabrications. It demonstrates attention to detail, highlighting just the right accents. And it's performance with style. This apparel is perfect for the course - and for off the course, as well. To boot, our proprietary Desert Dry and Desert Dry Xtra-Lite moisture management technology will wick away moisture.
Antigua's Spring '14 Performance 72 Golf Collection for men is replete with 17 shirt models, 12 outerwear tops, two shorts and seven hats.

 
Shoes:

1.  Crocs  - Rick's favorite

www.crocs.com

Comfortable, durable, look good.
If you like regular Crocs, the golf shoes will surely be to your liking
The Preston, The Bradyn, The Karlson
and even golf sandals like XTG  LoPro

 
2. ECCO Golf Shoes

www.eccousa.com

ECCO Street EVO One, a performance hybrid golf shoe that combines the award-winning ECCO Dynamic Traction System (E-DTS) with an array of proprietary stabilization features.
“The way Street EVO One looks, feels and plays puts it in a class by itself,” says Michael Waack, Head of Global Golf at ECCO. “It’s yet another example of the advantages that come with our foot-first approach to designing and producing premium golf shoes.”

As a key point of distinction, ECCO owns its factories and controls the entire shoemaking process – from raw materials to finished footwear. This dovetails with the company’s position as one of the world’s largest producers of luxury leathers.
Street EVO One is offered in high-grade cow leather and genuine camel leather versions, both of which include the exclusive ECCO HYDROMAX™ tanned-in treatment for remarkable weather resistance.
Showcasing an eye-catching, two-color outsole and modern classic upper, Street EVO One is part of the Spring/Summer 2014 men’s golf collection that will be worn in competition by Tour stars like Fred Couples, Graeme McDowell, Thomas Bjorn.

 
BOOK:

"Sweetspot" - Confessions of a Golfaholic
By John O'Hern
 
A fun golf read, check out www.sweetspotthebook.com. Sweetspot is a laugh out loud cautionary tale of substance abuse only in this case the addictive substance is golf! It’s an edgy story with lots of grown-up bite. Think Breaking Bad meets Caddyshack and you’re there.
Also available on Amazon.

Tech Tuesday on Sirius/XM PGA Tour Radio for 10/15/13 - Fishing Technology

Rick and Brian talk fishing this week.

- Rick is in Ridgeland, Mississippi this week for the Bassmasters Championships.  Golf and fishing seem to go hand-in-hand. Golfers love to fish and anglers love golf.

* Rick and Brian look at some fishing technology


1.  St. Croix Legend Xtreme  - high tech rod
Price: $390

You could grab any fishing rod for a lake excursion and hope for the best, but this lightweight model, which tips the scale at just 4.9 ounces, is designed for accuracy. The biggest improvement for this year: a new grip that St. Croix mills on a computer numerical control (CNC) machine in its Wisconsin plant. When I used this rod, the grip provided a better sensitivity for accurate casting. The graphite material uses carbon-matte scrim for extra durability and a proprietary coating for weatherproofing
 

2. Castalia Magic Flight 2000 DLX   -  Reel
Price: $147.95

Fishing can learn a few lessons from golf, right? This new open-face reel by Castalia uses dimples on the edge of the spool, similar to a golf ball's, to reduce friction. As you cast, the line touches only the top of each dimple as the line unspools. The lightweight reel weighs only 7.8 ounces. There's a brass pinion gear, six ball bearings, and a rubber knob for an easier grip.

 

3. Garmin echoMAP 70s fish finder
Price: $1050

Available now, this chart-plotter and fish-finder combo by Garmin is intended for serious angling. The echoMAP uses a large, 7-inch screen that is easy to read in direct sunlight. The sonar recorder adjusts for the position of your boat to spot fish. You can mark up to 5000 waypoints, and the ultra-accurate GPS with its 10Hz GPS/GLONASS
Receiver updates 10 times per second.

 
4. Fishpond Westwater Backpack
Price: $160

I'm not against using an old-school tackle box, but they can be cumbersome. This fishing backpack is designed to keep you mobile and focused on the task at hand. The entire pouch is welded using a thermoplastic polyurethane material for durability, and the zippers are waterproof—in heavy rain, the contents will stay dry. The backpack (shown with optional chest pouch for holding quick-access tackle) also has extra straps to keep it secure and in place.
 

5. Hobie Cat Mirage Pro Angler 12 Kayak (www.hobiecat.com) was voted the “Overall Best of Show” new product at iCAST fishing show

The 12-foot kayak has an incredible 500-pound weight capacity. It’s stable enough for stand-up fishing, stows six fishing rods, has plenty of tackle storage space, a “live well-ready” storage compartment, can accommodate a sail, and will quickly accept sonar fish-finder electronics. It has a comfortable seat designed for all-day fishing, and is powered by special “Turbo Fins” that are underneath the kayak and driven with bike-like peddles using an angler’s legs. Thus arms and hands are free for casting, landing fish, etc. It retails for about $2,500.

6. Columbia Sportswear - Fishing wear

Columbia Sportswear, which for years has been at the forefront of innovation in fishing outerwear, introduced a new line of “Omni-Freeze ZERO” clothing that effectively lowers skin temperature as a person sweats.

The company’s “Drainmaker” footwear also looks to be a winner, as the shoes offer plenty of skid-proof sole comfort, and work to keep feet dry.

 

Tech Tuesday on Sirius/XM PGA Tour Radio for 7/23/13 - Improving Your Writing and Typing Skills

 Brian and I talk about typing on our mobile gadgets and how to be quick and efficient - we also talk about the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Active

 Have a listen:

Show Notes:

**Rick is at professsional tennis in Atlanta this week.
* TOPICS - Tips for improving your online writing speed and efficiency and the latest version of the Samsung Galaxy S4

For a lot of people the longer it takes them to type something, the more frustrated they get
Do you spend a lot of time writing or replying to people online.. here are some tips

1.   Typing for speed

We all have out own typing style, but if you find yourself struggling, you might want to go back to the basics.

You can always recognize an expert typist by the position of their fingers, hovering over the center of the keyboard with the left index finger over the “F” key, and the right index finger over the “J” key.  This can change up depending on the size device your are using.
Spend a few weeks to a month using one or several of these tutorial resources to learn touch-typing, and practice it daily until you can hit typing speeds over 60 words per minute

2.    Write Fast but Also Write Well

Write something you would be proud to have somebody read.  Use correct capitalization and punctutation. Make sure what you write makes sense.

3.   Read!  - Helps you improve Reading Comprehension and your writing
It's a good sign people are reading more.  Mainly becasue of digital publishing and easy to get books.  Easy to read on our mobile devices


4.  Create and Outline before your write

Lay out an outline to cover all points you want to touch on. If this is an employee review at work for example, then create 4 or 5 section headers that touch on key characteristics about the person that you want to discuss. If this for blog, then create headers that touch on each step of the process you want to cover.  If this is a Facebook post, put down what you want to say in an short outline and see if it makes sense.


5. Find a Device You feel Comfortable Using

Certain devices - smartphones, tablets and even laptops fit the layout of our fingers better than others.  If you are going to be a power user and log a lot of typing, make sure your gadgets fit your hands and fingers.

6. Edit

Finally, you’re almost done with your masterpiece. Fix spelling and grammar by taking a minute or two and go over what you have written before you post or hit that send button. editing will take from 5-10 minutes max.  Use the editing features of your phone or tablet or word processing app.


*** The latest smartphone to arrive at Rick's house
The Samsung Galaxy S4 "Active"

The waterproof version of the popular new Samsung Galaxy S4

A toughened smartphone able to handle dust, water, and all that an active life can throw at a handset.
Take pictures underwater.  it can be submerged in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.
Only an 8mp camera on this version compared to the regular Galaxy s4

Tech Tuesday on Sirius/XM PGA Tour Radio for 7/16/13 - Where is Rick and Smartphone Camera Tips

 Rick joins Brian this week to talk about one of the best golf destinations in the U.S. and they talk smartphone camera tips and the British Open.

* TOPICS - Where is Rick?  and ... Tips for taking better pictures with your smartphone and tbe Open Championship App

*Rick is playing golf somewhere this week....
* It's Mississippi and www.visitmississippi.org

SMARTPHONE CAMERA Tips

1.   Crop, Don't Zoom

Many smartphone camera offer a digital zoom function, but you're almost always best served by pretending it doesn't exist. Even in the liveview preview, you'll be able to see how noticeably your picture blurs when you zoom.  Don't zoom.

2.    Edit, Don't Filter

If you want your images to be unique, the last thing you should do is paint them with the same filters that literally millions of other people are using. For the record, I'm not anti-Instagram. I think the sharing element is fantastic, but the the filters aren't that great.

3.   Fake Blur

Depth of field will always be one of the biggest challenges for a smartphone camera. Wide angle lenses and tiny sensors make any substantial background blur difficult to achieve. But faking it almost always makes th
If you want the viewer to focus on one specific thing, make it the central object in the frame. Try to keep your backgrounds as simple as possible, even if it means asking your subjects to turn around or move a few steps back. It's worth it.

4.  Ditch The Flash

The problem with many smartphone flashes is that they don't actually, well, flash. They're glorified LED flashlights. They are bright, but the color temperature can be gross and they miss one of the primary duties of a strobe: freezing the action in the frame. The actual "flash" duration is much too long, so you end up with an image that's both blurry and terribly-lit.
Often, your best bet is to seek out another light source. It likely won't be perfect or even flattering,.

5. Watch The Lens Flare

Adding lens flare is another trend in mobile photography right now that's getting more overdone by the minute. But, this one can actually work for you if you do it the natural way.
If you want to control the flare in your shot, move the sun (or whatever bright light source is causing the refraction-based mayhem) around in the frame. As you get closer to the edge, you'll often see the flare spread out and become more prominent


****The British Open App - Free app for the 142nd Open Championships
Put out by the R&A  for your iphone and Android

Brings you live scoring, video highlights, latest news, weather updates and Championship statistics for Muirfield.

Combined with an interactive course guide, player profiles, live radio and video highlights the app will bring you close to the action.
 

Tech Tuesday on Sirius/XM PGA Tour Radio for 5/28/13 - Bands, Bandages and Recovery

Brian and I talk about some new technology in the world of bands, bandages, and gadgets to help you cool down and recover from a long day at the course.

 Listen and enjoy:

Show notes:

* TOPICS -   Rick is at Capital City Club - Crabapple for the NCAA Men's Golf Championships and new bandages, braces and recovery products that may keep your body in one piece on the course


1.  The NCAA Men's Golf Championships in Roswell/Milton

New high tech Bandages, braces and items to help your bosy recover from exercise or a long day at the course

2.  ACE Brand

ACE, the tried and true bandage and brace company has some new high tech products out

   -  ACE Brand Elbow Strap with Custom Dial System
The unique custom dial system with a soothing gel pad that fits the shape of your arm and relieves the pain of elbow tendonitis.

   -  ACE Brand Knee Strap with Custom Dial System
Same principle as the elbow strap, but excellent pressure on knee tendon. Relieves the pain of knee tendonitis.

    --  Reusable Cold Compress
Everyone needs a cold compress at the ready and this one is comfortable and soft, so it almost feels like a part of your body. It also works. Perfect for those strains, sprains and swelling.

 
3.   Qwick Aid

Fix those nicks and cuts quickly with this little kit that includes sterile bandages that will stop bleeding in 30-40 seconds.  Bandages have 3 layers
 


4.     WrisTrainer  by Odyssey Solutions   $34.95

http://www.odyssey-solutions.net/Wristrainer.html

The WrisTRAINER was created out of a need to improve consistency off the tee. Many golfers may also notice pain in the leading wrist joint after countless rounds on the links. A visit to a leading hand and wrist institute inspired the design of the WrisTRAINER, after it was learned that hyper flexing of the wrist can result in fluid sack becoming herniated, causing a condition known as a Ganglion Cyst. This causes a lot of wrist pain and will impair wrists from normal, comfortable movement. This is highly detrimental to any golfer’s swing, and overall joint health.

The WrisTRAINER addresses the wrist motion problem without causing additional pain for the wearer. Its design makes it comfortable for golfers of all skill levels to wear and can help any golfer reduce wrist stress and improve shot accuracy. Analysis of wrist and lower forearm mechanics, including the ideal swing shape and arc, led to the conclusion that a device worn on the top or back side of the hand and forearm would be the most effective and comfortable.
 

5.  Cool down with Blue Goo  $30

www.dothegoo.com

Blue Goo Pain Relief Gel provides fast-acting relief for all types of pain including muscle strains and sprains, arthritis and stiff joints, tendonitis, backaches, neckaches and headaches.  For best results, use Blue Goo after sport activities to cool down muscles.  And now for your convenience, the new squeezable bottle features our easy-to use dispenser for mess-free application.
Secret here is Emu oil
 

6.  Recover by rolling out your aches and pains with "The Stick"

www.thestick.com    $44.50

Used by elite athletes to "roll out the aches and pains"
Great for digging into the gastroc, behind the knee, neck, rhomboid and forearms.

LENGTH: 23-inches
 

The Stick