Wireless Wednesday for 2/3/16 - Enhancing the Super Bowl Watching Experience

Super Bowl 50, airs on Sunday, February 7. More than 110 million people will watch on TV, and millions more sports fans will listen to it on the radio, stream it live, or watch online sports commentators and highlight videos.

Millions of people will also be attending Super Bowl parties. If you're having a Super Bowl party, or going to one, here are some tech ideas that you might want to check out.

Have a listen to Rick and Mitch:

Both parts:

Don't forget:

Live streaming of the Super Bowl is offered on numerous platforms

This Super Bowl Sunday, you can watch Super Bowl 50 on your local CBS channel. However, you can also stream it live on a range of gadgets using the CBS Sports platform.

If you're going to watch the game on your computer, go to CBSSports.com. You can also watch CBS Sports on streaming devices, including the game console Xbox One and streaming media players Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast.


Tech and gadgets for Super Bowl viewing

1.  HDTVs

One quarter of all TVs sold during the year are sold in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl
Amazon has been running deals on HDTVs leading up to the big game...  look for HDTV special as you search TVS

Example:

Sceptre E505BV-FMQK 50-Inch 1080p LED HDTV
by Sceptre
$369.99
 


2.   Football Sqaures app-   iOS app for running your Super Bowl Squares game
Cost is $2.99 on iTunes

Love playing "Squares" for sports games and other office/party pools? Now you can do all the Squares sheets you want on your iPad! Pick from pre-defined templates or create a custom sheet for everything from football, baseball, hockey, to baby birthday pools and more!

Sheet styles include 10 X 10 and 5 X 5 options and are easily set up with the template picker. You also have templates for 4 quarters, 2 halves, inning groups, and periods. With a custom sheet, you can setup "scoring rounds' to be whatever you like with whatever text you want in each scoring box.

Your friends and family can choose the squares they want by tapping on a square and entering their name/initials (this info is retained in case they want more than 1 square.) You can randomize the score boxes for each row and column, or enter them yourself in the desired order. Participants can quickly highlight all of their squares with the provided filter mechanism. Progress is saved automatically, allowing you to return to the app at any time to continue filling up the sheet.

You can also use the now-included "Picture Squares" Add-On to give each square a picture of the owner! Pictures can come from your photo library, contacts, or the built-in camera if using a camera-equipped iPad.

Need more participants? Create an email invitation from the app, which includes a link to the "Squares Buyer for Football Squares Plus" app, which lets users enter their info and email it back to you for importing into your sheet (these squares are randomly assigned). Users can even take and submit a picture if you are using Picture Squares!

The "Winners" screen lets you select which Score Boxes are winners. The app will highlight all winning squares and also present a "Winners Table" for a list of all winners.

You can lock sheets in 2 modes -- Allowing new entries only, or the entire sheet so no changes can be made. This is great for preventing accidental taps!
 

3.  Perfect Drink   -  app and smart scale

$49-$99 and app is free
www.MakeItPerfectly.com

Have you ever enjoyed a great cocktail in a bar and wondered why you can't make it at home? With Perfect Drink, you can make the perfect cocktail in your own home, every time, regardless of your experience.

The interactive recipe app connects via Bluetooth to the smart scale to guide you step-by-step through each recipe. Measuring ingredients by weight is the most precise way to consistently make a great cocktail so the app will tell you what to pour, and when to stop. Just watch the virtual shaker fill up in real time on your smartphone or tablet.
 
 


4.  Team Stream and the NFL Mobile App

Team Stream will post NFL.com's highlight videos within about five minutes of some plays. And the app will post social media stories that go viral, including ones about Super Bowl commercials.   NFL Mobile gives you up-to-date scores, analysis and in-game video highlights.


5. Daytoda Finger Caps - for those messy eaters at your Super Bowl party  -especially when it comes to wings.

Daytoda Finger Caps can be a pretentious but useful way to do the job. These are finger-shaped plastic covers that will let you grab food without the possibility of spreading germs and bacteria, while also keeping your fingers clean. They’re made of a soft food-grade plastic, and are safe for hot food, meaning they won’t shrink-wrap onto your fingertips.

While a box of 50 is only going to cost you $7.95, your friends are going to tear through these in no time flat. If we’re going to be honest, only certain people are going to use these unless you specifically ask all of your guests to use them, and it’s usually the people that don’t need them in the first place.
 


App of the Week:

Picpal  - take selfies with your friends at your Super Bowl party and make a collage

During the Super Bowl...  There’s no short of NFL team pride – the stakes are high and the Super Bowl is only a few weeks away. Trash talking fans are eager to show up their friends, and share photo fun before, during and after the games. Picpal, the group selfie app, makes real-time photos, chats and post-touchdown photo dance photos shareable and editable through an easy app interface.

How Picpal Works? Simply open Picpal, choose the friends you want in your collage and take a selfie. The app simultaneously sends a request to your friends to take a selfie too. Users can take as many selfies as they want until they find the perfect shot. To customize the selfies, users can add unique filters or text to reflect their current mood or experience. The app then combines all photos into a collage, which users can share. Once a Picpal is complete, users can share the collage, “heart” and comment on it, and now update their selfie whenever they want. Available on Google Play Store or within the Apple app store. Picpals are private messages between friends that are optional to post on social media channels.
 

Wireless Wednesday for 1/29/14: With Mitch Evans - Winter Tech Tips and Super Bowl

Rick is back in town from Orlando and the PGA Merchandise Show- He gives some tech tips for a Winter Storm and  take a look at Super Bowl tech.

Have a listen to all three parts

listen to ‘Wireless Wednesday for 1/29/14 on 92.9 The Game Part 1’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Wireless Wednesday for 1/29/14 on 92.9 The Game Part 2’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Wireless Wednesday for 1/29/14 on 92.9 The Game Part 3’ on Audioboo

1.   DEEP SOUTH WINTER STORM TIPS

-    Keep your wireless phone batteries charged at all times. Have an alternative plan to recharge your battery in case of a power outage, such as using your car charger to charge your device or having extra mobile phone batteries on hand.

 -   Program all of your emergency contact numbers and e-mail addresses into your mobile phone. Numbers should include the police department, fire station and hospital, as well as your family members.
-    Track the storm and access weather information on your wireless device. Many homes lose power during severe weather. If you have a wireless device that provides access to the Internet, you can watch weather reports on your phone.**
-  Camera phones provide assistance. If you have a camera phone, take, store and send photos — even video clips — of damaged property to your insurance company from your device.
- Try text messaging. During an emergency situation, text messages may go through more quickly than voice calls because they require fewer network resources
-  If you know for some reason that you just have to expose your device to the cold for an extended period of time, turn it off and don’t turn it back on until it has warmed up (this helps to keep condensation from forming.)

* Finally, for protecting yourself, if you’re going to use your device outside or in cold temps, get yourself a pair of touchscreen gloves that you can leave on while using your device.   


2. Super Bowl Technology

-  SAP is providing fans with an in depth look at the conversations around one of the biggest sporting events of the year. And there’s no more engaging time than during the days leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII.

Beginning Wednesday, January 29, the NFL.com Stats Zone with Insights from SAP will bring SAP’s technology to Super Bowl Boulevard in Times Square, with dynamic data visualizations that allows fans to monitor online discussions around key Super Bowl topics and provide a better understanding of how plays on the field effect conversations online.
 
The Super Bowl will again be streamed live online.

Fox said that it would offer free access to all users on computers and tablets through its app

App of the Week  - Super Bowl Ad Meter

For those who say the real show lies in legendary Super Bowl commercials, well, USA Today is requesting your opinion on which ones are the best. The Super Bowl Ad Meter is a yearly gauge that the newspaper uses to help determine which spots were hits and which were misses, and in order to get that gauge this year, it's asking anyone and everyone to sign up to be a critic.

Signing up means that on game day, from kickoff though to the final whistle, you'll be asked to rate every single ad shown during the game, even halftime. Don't worry if you miss some, because the website will have them for you to watch as well. Then, when Monday rolls around and you see news stations and articles all over the country referring to the Ad Meter when recounting which commercials were the best, you get the satisfaction of knowing you helped contribute to the rankings. Plus, you may actually get to see some of the commercials online ahead of time.