My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 3/13/15 - Tennis and the Tech News of the Week

Rick is in Indian Wells, CA this week as the BNP Paribas Open starts it's tennis run. This is the biggest tennis tournament in the world outside of the majors. It is also the most tech-friendly tournament on the ATP Tour.  - They have their own app, tons of video screens around the grounds, 14 scoreboards alone on Stadium Court.  They even stream the action from 2 of the practice courts.

Have a listen:

listen to ‘The Sully Show March 13, 2015’ on audioBoom

 

Rick has been at the best of the pre tournament events.

1. The Wilson event with world No. 3, Simona Halep.  New Wilson racquets in the Burn and the Blade. New Wilson tennis shoes and partnering with Sony on smart technology for the racquet.  Rick did the tennis obstacle course Wilson has called the #BURNChallenge.

2.  Rick was one of the media participants in the "Tennis With the Stars" event at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa.  He played with ATP World Tour top-10 players Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer .   How was it?   -  *Spoiler... Rick won

3. Apple Watch Announcement  Apple had an event on Monday to formally introduce the Apple Watch.. Is the Apple watch viable?
 

And now it’s all here and ready to debut on April 24. (Preorders start April 10.) But do you want to pay $17,000 for it?

OK, you don't have to pay that much, but that's the top price of the premium gold option, called the Apple Watch Edition. If you're looking for something on the scale of hundreds of dollars instead of thousands, the company is offering the Apple Watch Sport (starting at $349) and the flagship Apple Watch (starting at $549). All of these watches come in two sizes, 38 mm or 42 mm; have different case colors to choose from; and have swappable bands. Depending on the band you choose, the standard Apple Watch can easily reach $1,000.

Apple claims that the watches will have about 18 hours of battery life, and they'll charge using a special MagSafe cable. As Apple previewed in September, users will navigate through the menus of the watch using a special knob that both physically turns and is touch-sensitive.
You can reply to a text message, browse Instagram, and remotely opened a garage door. The watch lets you know when you've been doing too much sitting, can track heart rate, and is also Apple Pay–enabled, so you can buy many different things.

4. Social Media Reviews Drive E-commerce

E-commerce is a booming market, and its growth is closely tied to social media engagement. This engagement from users is often in the form of posting to their networks about positive or negative experiences, or by posting reviews to ecommerce sites. An infographic from Bazaarvoice highlights how reviews can impact sales and return on social media investment.

The infographic is based on sample data collected from the Bazaarvoice network, and it analyzed 57 million reviews and more than 35 billion product pageviews.

One of the most effective tools for increasing feedback across your site, is to syndicate customer content. Featuring user-generated content across the site, encouraged others to leave reviews, which also improved product coverage compared to native content alone.

For example, featuring reviews next to consumer electronics resulted in a 324 percent increase in review volume, and a 26 percent increase in product coverage. In hardware, it caused a 259 percent increase in review volume, and an 18 percent increase in product coverage.

As the volume of reviews increase, so does the profile of the site. During early stages of growth, conversation in the reviews serves to drive traffic. Once there are more than eight reviews, sites begin to see growth in organic search traffic. When more than 100 reviews have been collected, businesses can see trends in feedback, such as sentiment or product suggestions.

And as the number of reviews ticks even higher, businesses start to see increases in the conversion rate. Just one review can increase the conversion rate by 10 percent. At 100 reviews the conversion rate can be boosted by up to 37 percent, and by the time there are 200 reviews, the rate can be boosted as much as 44 percent.

5.  "March Madness" apps

- Thuuz Sports - Provides your personalized guide to navigate through all these sports and insure that you never miss a great game or match. Make sure you have your alerts turned on so that you get the full impact of the service!

We only send you one alert per game, and only if it's truly exciting from your perspective, so you'll never be overwhelmed with notifications.

With your preferences set appropriately, you can govern which sports to follow, which teams to get heightened excitement alerts for, and how often to get alerted within a given league, from the "I don't want to miss any great game" fanatic to the "only if its the best of the best" casual fan.

- NCAA March Madness Live -
 

NCAA March Madness Live to present all 67 games across digital platforms
Completely redesigned for this year’s NCAA Tournament, the NCAA March Madness Live app – developed in partnership with the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports – will feature a sleeker design, improved navigation, an all-new GameCenter experience, a new “run” game and new sections focused on providing fans with more content than ever before.

From Selection Sunday to the cutting of the nets in Indianapolis, fans will be able to watch all of the action via March Madness Live accessible from www.ncaa.com/marchmadness, www.CBSSports.com, www.bleacherreport.com, CBS Sports App, Bleacher Report’s Team Stream, the App Store, the Amazon App Store, Windows Store and Google Play on Thursday, March 12.

As part of the industry-wide TV Everywhere initiative, pay-tv subscribers will have unlimited live streaming coverage and on-the-go access to the tournament across all screens, including online, mobile and tablets, throughout the entire championship. Fans will have access to all games airing live on TNT, TBS and truTV by logging in with their TV service provider information, and all games broadcast on CBS with no registration required.

NCAA March Madness Live will offer a temporary preview period giving users access to live game streaming before login is required.  Additionally, fans can watch games via live streaming on TNT, TBS and truTV’s digital platforms, as well as participating TV provider websites.

New for the 2015 NCAA March Madness Live:

• “Teams” Section – The new teams section allows fans to follow their favorite team throughout the tournament with stats, video content, a season recap/snapshot, team roster and information outlining upcoming tournament match-ups.

• “Featured” Section – For the first time, fans will be able to view content that captures the storylines, classic tournament moments, match-up analysis, top plays, press conference coverage, featured video content and more.

• GameCenter – The epicenter of NCAA March Madness Live has been reengineered to give fans more ways to watch live games on smartphones - allowing video viewing in both portrait and landscape orientations.  In addition, companion content on smartphones and tablets, such as team and player stats and social content from the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena, is more dynamic and more discoverable than ever before.

• Capital One NCAA Tournament Run – A new game available at ncaa.com/tournamentrun that allows fans to stay competitive in the tournament after a busted bracket. To play, users must answer questions about each game match-up throughout the tournament to accumulate points and create the longest “run.”

• Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge – This year, the official bracket game of March Madness – available via desktop, smartphones and tablets – is upgrading with new game features and more tools to help fans make their bracket picks.  In addition, this is the only bracket game to integrate access to the live video stream of every match-up during the tournament.

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 3/6/15 - Printer Tips

Rick and Sully look at printers and printing this week...

It’s relatively easy to take your printers for granted. Did you know that there is often a significant opportunity to reduce costs and make your workload by making simple changes to your home or office printing environment?
 
Have a listen:

listen to ‘The Sully Show March 6, 2015’ on audioBoom

 
Here are five ways your business can start reducing printing costs today:
 
1. See things from both sides

Saving on printing costs doesn’t mean you should stop printing altogether—it just means being strategic about hitting “print.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average office worker in the U.S. prints 10,000 sheets of paper each year. By taking advantage of your printer’s duplex printing function, you instantly cut your paper usage. Coupled with other smart printing habits, the savings add up quickly. In other words, print on both sides.
 

2. Control the color

Color printing has its place, but it isn’t always necessary. Implementing color access control allows you to enable or disable the option to print in color by individual users or groups, as well as by specific applications like email. This can help prevent users from wasting more expensive color toner on jobs that should be printed in black and white. Print in Black and White when necessary.
 
3. Trim the fat

Poorly controlled print environments result in unnecessary print costs. Businesses of all sizes can realize tremendous cost savings by reducing the total number of devices they currently use and replacing them with higher-capacity, higher-speed devices. This includes helping to eliminate cost-inefficient or underutilized printers, and replacing collections of printers, scanners, copiers, and fax machines with more efficient multifunction devices. In addition, this can save time and money on the associated supplies. Consolidating the ink and toner supplies orders allows for even greater efficiencies.
 
4. Protect document confidentiality - especially at work

Only print what you need to print. Abandoned printouts—ones that people simply forget to pick up from the printer—can not only be wasteful, they also represent a potential security risk when confidential documents are left on the printer. A solution like HP JetAdvantage Private Print enables you to print via secure authentication—right at the device [2]. This new cloud-based printing feature can help reduce wasted and misplaced prints, keep information more secure, and store documents until you are ready to print them.
 
5. Look at your workflow

Maybe you can save paper. Giant office filing cabinets are quickly becoming relics. Of course they take up valuable office space, but as the files become crowded it also becomes increasingly difficult to locate documents when you need them. Document-capture solutions take electronic and paper-based documents, integrate them into front- or back-end business applications, automate workflows, and enable instant access to data stored in a secure and centrally managed repository.
 
HP printers can save you money, help save the environment and more.

Try the free online HP Managed Print Analysis for a custom evaluation of your printing environment. In less than five minutes you will have a customized report that pinpoints inefficiencies in your office printing and outlines actionable steps you can take to help reduce your costs and streamline your printing environment.
 
Get your free HP Managed Print Analysis
 
True business value
Servicing a mixed print environment can cost a business money and time. HP Managed Print Services (HP MPS) can help by evaluating your current environment and assessing future requirements. This information is used to tailor an imaging and printing infrastructure to your needs.

 

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 2/27/15 - 2XU Compression Apparel

Rick was in New York City this week....
 

For the 2 X U #HeartNotHype Summit about compression gear.  So we are going to spend the segment talking about compression gear and how everyone can benefit from it - including NASCAR drivers, since it is NASCAR week here in Atlanta.

Have a listen:

listen to ‘Rick on The Sully Show February 27, 2015’ on audioBoom

 

This week: 2XU, the world’s most advanced engineer of compression apparel, hosted its first Heart of Performance Summit in New York City, streamed live via www.2xu.com/heart.

Chaired by Jonathan Coachman, Anchor for ESPN Sportscenter, the 2XU Summit featured a panel of elite international sports experts including; Dr Shona Halson, Senior Physiologist, Australian Institute of Sport, Dr John Sullivan, Sports Psychologist, Jeff Nichols, Sports Physiologist and Former Navy Seal, Jeremy McGhee, Adventurer and Aidan Clarke, 2XU Co-founder.

About 2XU

Founded and based in Melbourne, Australia; 2XU’s philosophy is to create products which will advance human performance. 2XU employs fabric and construction technology to take you beyond what you previously thought possible. 2XU is fast becoming the most technical performance sports brand on the planet. Worn by multiple world champions, endorsed by sports institutions the world over and praised by professional athletes from all disciplines, 2XU understands what is needed to be the best. Developed by athletes for athletes.

www.2XU.com

Please watch:

60 second 2XU “Heart Not Hype” video

https://www.youtube.com/user/2xuaustralia

1.  Should athletes be wearing compression gear?  

Yes, for performance and recovery

⦁    2XU Compression – a cutting-edge apparel technology - is developed to enhance sports performance and recovery.
⦁    2XU’s products are renowned for their technical quality and are used by numerous elite athletes around the world including athletes from 43 NBA and NFL teams and the US Marine Corps.

2.   Should everyday people wear compression wear?

Yes, especially while traveling. 2XU compression socks can make a big difference on long flights. Blood circulation is key.

3.  With NASCAR making it's appearance in Atlanta this weekend, could drivers benefit from wearing compression gear?

The age old debate... are NASCAR drivers athletes?

4.  When a former Navy Seal like Jeff Nichols swears by 2XU compression wear, who are you to argue.

- He must be ready at a moments notice.  2XU compression gear is used by the Navy Seals as they have to possibly recover from a long flight and then perform....

5.  2XU's slogan.... #HeartNotHype  -  what does it mean?

The 2XU Heart of Performance Summit also served as the launching pad for 2XU’s first truly global brand campaign, #HEARTNOTHYPE. In addition to the panel debate, the Summit also included the world premiere of 2XU’s anticipated 5 minute #HEARTNOTHYPE film, which tells the story of athletes who put absolutely everything into their training, both physically and emotionally. The film captures the athletes’ journey as they train in 2XU compression clothing, demonstrating that by cloaking themselves in seriously intelligent equipment, and putting their heart into a workout, they can train smarter, perform stronger and recover faster than ever before.

The fully integrated 2XU #HEARTNOTHYPE campaign is designed to highlight how technical compression apparel supports the key driver of human performance – the heart. By heightening circulation and venous blood flow to the heart, compression garments enable athletes to train smarter, perform stronger and recover faster.

 

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 2/20/15 - Breaking Tech News

Rick and Sully look at the top tech news stories of the week.

A must listen:

listen to ‘The Sully Show February 20, 2015’ on audioBoom

 

 
*** Breaking news  -  Lenovo laptops shipped in the last year might have
preinstalled malware called Superfish.
Researchers have unearthed a security vulnerability in preinstalled software on some Lenovo products that breaks secure website connections and puts sensitive user data at risk.

It is worrisome that Lenovo was installing adware called Superfish.

Go into your control panel and uninstall it if you have it.

1.  Apple might be working on a car  -  the iCar?

From Reuters...

Technology giant Apple (AAPL.O) is looking beyond mobile devices to learn how to make a self-driving electric car, and is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers, a senior auto industry source familiar with the discussions said on Saturday.

The Cupertino, California-based maker of phones, computers and, soon, watches is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just designing automotive software or individual components, the auto industry source said.

"They don't appear to want a lot of help from carmakers," said the source, who declined to be named.
Apple is gathering advice on parts and production methods, focusing on electric and connected-car technologies, while studying the potential for automated driving, the source said.

 

2.  FAA Proposes Rules To Limit Commercial Drone Use

We've talked about this before.

Applies only to commercial use right now...

The Federal Aviation Administration, last Sunday proposed long-awaited rules on the commercial use of small drones, requiring operators to be certified, fly only during daylight and keep their aircraft in sight. The rules, though less restrictive than the current ones, appear to prohibit for now the kind of drone delivery services being explored by Amazon, Google and other companies, since the operator or assigned observers must be able to see the drone at all times without binoculars. But company officials believe the line-of-sight requirement could be relaxed in the future to accommodate delivery services.
 

3. Privacy: the 21st Century's Newest Luxury Item

There is a report today on the 21st century's newest luxury item: online privacy The Christian Science Monitor writes about the growing market for premium privacy protection tools available to tech-savvy consumers with the desire for online anonymity — and the means to pay for it.

The piece profiles new tools from companies like Abine that deliver everything from self-destructing e-mail messages to the 21st century's equivalent of Kleenex: one-off "throwaway" online identities to keep advertisers, merchants and government snoops at bay. Privacy experts, however, doubt that the new tools will tip the scales of online privacy in favor of consumers and away from governments and advertisers. "Consumers really don't have a fighting chance," says Andrea Matwyshyn of Princeton University. "Technology moves entirely too fast."

She and others see the need for both bigger fixes and the level of Internet infrastructure and law. "As a consumer protection matter, there needs to be a floor," she said. "Just as there are laws protecting renters from substandard housing, or car buyers from 'lemons,' there need to be regulations that create a buffer between consumers and companies."

4. 1950s Toy That Included Actual Uranium Ore Goes On Display At Museum

The Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab — dubbed the world's most dangerous toy — has gone on display at the Ulster Museum in Northern Ireland. The toy earned the title because it includes four types of uranium ore, three sources of radiation, and a Geiger counter that enables parents to measure just how contaminated their child have become. The Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab was only available between 1951 and 1952 and was the most elaborate atomic energy educational kit ever produced. The toy was one of the most costly toys of the time, retailing at $50 — equivalent to around $400 today.
 

5.  What is the "Cloud"

* One of the most frequent questions I get from people, and they know they are using it, but they don't know what "The Cloud" is...

Cloud computing involves deploying groups of remote servers and software networks that allow centralized data storage and online access to computer services or resources.

Simply put..
The cloud, simply, refers to software and services that run on the Internet instead of your computer. Apple iCloud, Dropbox, Netflix, Amazon Cloud Drive, Flickr, Google Drive, Microsoft Office 365, Yahoo Mail -- those are all cloud services.

 

Daytona 500 this weekend... who is Rick's Pick?

Sullys Pick?

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 2/13/15 - New NASCAR Technology

The NASCAR season is about to get underway. Daytona 500 Qualifying in this weekend. The race is next weekend... Rick and Sully look at some of the new technology in NASCAR for 2015.

listen to ‘The Sully Show February 13, 2015’ on audioBoom

1.  NASCAR will use 45 remote HD cameras to record every pit stop

This year, NASCAR will use 45 remote HD cameras to record every pit stop and automatically check for rules violations such as the pit crew entering the pit stall too early, equipment leaving the pit stall and drivers pitting outside their stalls.

The cameras will feed into a trailer in the TV compound at each track, where eight NASCAR officials will sit at workstations with two computer screens each, and double-check the penalties. If a violation is found, it will be radioed up to NASCAR race control in the timing and scoring area. Race officials will then enforce the penalty per NASCAR's rule book. The officials in the trailer will be assigned pit stops randomly.

Shawn Rogers, NASCAR's managing director of business operations, said the sanctioning body evaluated 18 proposal from 31 companies, including defense contractors and sports technology firms, before teaming up with Hawkeye Innovations as its development partner for proprietary technology.
The new system was tested over the final 11 Sprint Cup races of 2014.

 

2.   Spacers

NASCAR unveiled a variety of new rules designed to save teams money. The sanctioning body will use tapered spacers to reduce the flow of air and gasoline into the engines to cut nearly 175 horsepower down to 725. That should make engines more reliable while reducing any advantage by an engine manufacturer.

3.  Rear Spoiler

NASCAR also hopes to make the cars harder to drive by reducing the rear spoiler from eight to six inches to make it more difficult for anyone to get separation from the pack. Drivers also will be allowed to make adjustments to the set-up from inside the car and the Sprint Cup Series will use rain tires at its two road courses.

 

4.  Nationwide Series now the Xfinity Series
 

The Nationwide Series, the second-tier in NASCAR, will have a new name this year — the Xfinity Series. Xfinity is owned by Comcast, which also has NBC in its group. By coupling with a cable company, it could be easier to promote the series on network and cable outlets.
 

5.  BitPay will sponsor truck in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

BitPay will be the primary brand featured on Justin Boston’s No. 54 Toyota Tundra in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

This will be the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start for Boston with KBM, and his second career start in the series.  He will be competing for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award this season.

“I couldn’t be more excited about having this opportunity to represent the BitPay brand on and off the track,” said Boston. “BitPay is a global leader in bitcoin payment processing and they are at the forefront of shaping how we all spend money in everyday life.”

“NASCAR is watched by millions of people all over the world,” said Stephanie Wargo, VP of marketing of BitPay. “Through this exposure and working with Justin and KBM, we hope to help raise awareness about the bitcoin technology and our company’s platform.”

-  TV Coverage and Live Streaming

NBC now will broadcast the second half of the racing season, replacing TNT and ESPN. Fox will continue to carry the first half, and both networks said it would push some of their races onto their cable outlets Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network.

For the second consecutive year, "The Great American Race" is streamed live in both English and Spanish through FOX Sports GO, the critically acclaimed app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on-the-go. All FOX NASCAR programming in 2015 is live streamed on FOX Sports GO. FOX Sports Deportes, the No. 1 Spanish-language sports network in the U.S., also offers live coverage of the DAYTONA 500, with NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES driver German Quiroga joining as race analyst.