Wireless Wednesday for 9/9/15: New NFL Technology

With the NFL season kicking off in a matter of hours, Rick and Mitch take a look at some of the new technology debuting this season in the National Football League.

Have a listen:

1.   Referees looking at "Instant Replays" on tablets

** This was tested in the preseason
instant replay reviews by referees.

“Now, instead of waiting for the referees to go under the hood, they will be able to view the image on the tablet and say: ‘Look at this angle. The guy is out of bounds,’ ” said Jeff Tran, Microsoft’s director of sports and alliances from the devices and studios marketing group.  “And he’ll be able to share it with the other referees in the crew, and they can make the determination on the challenge.”

2.  A Pen -   but not just an ordinary pen

A pen that allows coaches and players to diagram on the screen “ under any weather conditions. ”The pen function allows coaches to annotate on top of high-resolution images in different colors to help players visualize the instruction. During the preseason trial, the pen will also allow coaches to annotate over film clips, too.

There’s also an application on the Surface Pro 3 that is a digital version of a whiteboard that coaches use in meeting rooms to diagram plays.

3.  NFL's Extension of the Partnership with Twitter

The National Football League and social media giant Twitter have entered into a two-year partnership that will make more multimedia content available to roughly 300 million Twitter users. Details of the deal indicate that the NFL will triple the volume of photographs and in-game highlights that are distributed on the social network.
That covers highlights from the start of the NFL pre-season all the way through Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. Besides video of the most exciting plays during games, NFL’s social media team will be publishing infographics as well as overall game recaps specifically developed for the Twitter audience. Of course, the NFL also has agreements with social networks like Facebook and online video distribution networks like YouTube, thus it’s likely similar content will be available outside of Twitter.

While Twitter representatives declined to comment, it’s highly likely that NFL content will be integrated heavily into Twitter’s “Project Lightning.” Demoed to Buzzfeed during June 2015, the new format will package content from ongoing real-time events into a new design for users. This content will be hand-selected by a team of editors within Twitter and attempt to provide more comprehensive coverage of events like award shows, sporting events and important stories trending in the news.
 


4. App Evolution

The NFL and its teams, with help from tech innovators, have launched a slew of apps for fans. The league launched NFL Now last summer, teams have launched their own follower-focused apps and The New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers have launched game day, venue-oriented apps. All are essentially about raising engagement with fans.

NFL partner Verizon Wireless offers NFL Mobile which can allow users to stream live primetime matches and more. It’s safe to assume that AT&T’s buy up of DirecTV, if approved, will result in a NFL Sunday Ticket app for its 100 million plus wireless subscribers.

The league offers yet other apps/services and all the content to power the apps and other distribution channels. But are more needed or is what’s available enough? And you can expect the league to enhance and advance NFL Now for its second season debut. To recap, it provides live non-game content and on-demand programming customizable by team and player.
 

5.  NFL Expanding "Live Streaming" to fans outside the US

NFL is still trying to figure this out, but live streaming of NFL games will be avaialble to fans in more countries.
 

6.  One thing we won't be seeing in 2015 will be Drones hovering over the line of scrimmage
Not a single drone has flown -- at least not for football purposes -- in training camps. Some teams have been delayed or deterred by FAA regulations, but based on recent conversations with multiple coaches, there remains a fair degree of skepticism about the current value and necessity of drone videos.

Advocates say a drone's ability to hover close to the line of scrimmage offers a unique vantage point for teaching and correcting mistakes. As of now, however, only a few NFL decision-makers agree.

"We looked at it hard, and for us it's just not there yet," Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.


App of the Week:

NFL CONNECT

* Free for iOS, Android and Windows
Watching your team take on its hated rivals can really stoke your competitive fire. If you want to channel that energy into more than screaming at your screen, consider downloading NFL Connect. This free app puts you in a head-to-head competition with friends and rivals during a live game. You win by predicting and connecting in-game events such as touchdowns, penalties, and sacks.
To participate in this Bingo-like battle, you and your opponent choose a matchup—the Sept. 10 Steelers vs. Patriots game, for example. Each of you is given a game board of 16 randomly generated events that will likely happen during the football game. The goal is to be the first to connect a string of four consecutive events. “Connecting” gets you on the leader board where you’re ranked with other top players. As a bonus, a built-in chat feature lets you talk trash throughout your match.
 

Wireless Wednesday for 9/2/15: One Hit Tech Wonders

Rick is in Myrtle Beach this week, working the Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday World Am.

The World Am is the largest golf tournament in the world. 3,500 golfers competing on about 70 courses in Myrtle Beach. Brian Katrek is playing again this year...

Great fun in one of the best golf destinations, in the world, Myrtle Beach.

Check out www.myrtlebeachgolfholiday.com

You know those "one hit wonders" from the world of music. The Likes of: Manfred Mann, the Georgia Satellites and The Buggles have nothing on this one-hit wonders from the world of tech...

Have a listen:

1.   Rubik's Cube  

*Still being sold today

This has to be one of those one hit wonder inventions that makes the most famous list, in addition to being on my original one hit wonder invention list. The Rubik’s cube was invented by a Hungarian architect, Erno Rubik, in 1974, but he did not intend to create a toy! His invention stemmed from a means of displaying a working model explaining three-dimensional geometry! The 'magic cube' (as it was first known) consists of nine colored squares on each side and can be arranged 43 quintillion ways. After being displayed at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1979, it became a huge hit and was licensed to the Ideal Toy Corp in 1980. Since then, it has sold 350 million units, making it the biggest-selling toy in the world.

 

2. The Waterbed

The concept of a waterbed is not really new, but as with most inventions, it’s all about timing and when a product hits the market. The waterbed became a ‘hot seller’ during the late 1960s and into the 70s.

Nowadays, waterbeds aren’t as popular, but they still account for about 5% of the mattress market.
 
 

3.  Books on Tape

Long before the iPod, iPad and smartphone the way many people read books was "Books on Tape"
People used to listen to books on cassette tapes in their car or on cassette players. Had to rewind the cassette after listening and many times the cassette tape would reak, get tangled or eaten by the casette player.

 

4.  The Bumpit

*Women know about the Bumpit
The brainchild of mortgage broker, Kelly Fitzpatrick-Bennett. Still sell for $5-$7
 
 Bumpits® Hair Volumizing Leave-In Inserts allow you to go from Flat to Fabulous in Seconds!

Bumpits self gripping leave-in volumizing hair inserts give you instant volume and let you enjoy FEELING CONFIDENT and BEAUTIFUL, like you just stepped out of a professional salon!!

At its peak, the Bumpit sold at a clip of a million units a month. Ms. Fitzpatrick-Bennett's current business plan calls for sales of about 20,000 a month. "I was pretty realistic in knowing it would only have a year of good life and then it would just sit and stop," Ms. Fitzpatrick-Bennett says.

5. The Sony MiniDisc and LaserDisc

Sony designed and developed MD in 1986 and launched in 1992. The MD looks like a small compact disc: the diameter of a CD is 5.25" while that of an MD is a mere 2.5". Following CD technology, MD technology uses a laser beam to read the information, but that is where the similarities end. MDs are magnetically encoded whereas CDs use physical grooves and pits to indicate the binary code. Also, MDs are considerably more shock-resistant; the 40-second digital buffer system utilized by MD players is far superior to most portable CD players' shock-resistant technology. Indeed, one can vigorously shake an MD player and no skipping would occur; a CD player would skip endlessly under the same conditions.

Sony emphasizes that MD technology combines the best of both audio cassettes and CDs. Recording mixes on MD is greatly improved over cassettes because MDs treat music as data - computer files that can be manipulated, moved, and erased. In a similar fashion to hard disks, MDs have a Table of Contents (TOC) that indicates which sectors contain important data. In this way, songs can be completely fragmented, with seconds at one sector of the disc and minutes at another sector. Not one precious second is wasted because the reading laser can jump from any sector to sector by simply following the TOC's directions. Therefore, after a full night of recording, one can erase any track at will and still have a seamless mix of music; no ugly gaps of filler appear. This effortless recording manipulation combined with instant playback track access (as we are accustomed to with CDs) seems to present the best of two worlds in one small package.

However, the MD's sound quality is slightly inferior to that of CDs.

The Laser Disc was supposed to complement VHS tapes, but you couldn't record on them and who wanted large album-sized discs holding movies on them.
 


App of the Week:

US Open App - iOS and Android

Designed and developed by IBM with special features sponsored by American Express. Follow the action LIVE during the Open, August 25 to September 13, 2015.

New this year:  "Push Notifications"

Push Alerts

Get breaking news and player updates as the action happens along with special offers and promotions for the US Open and our Official Partners.

NOTE: When you are on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, be sure to use the "USOPENWIFI" free WiFi Network courtesy of Time Warner Cable.

Key Features:

Scores – Analytics & Insights by IBM
LIVE exclusive point-by-point scoring, statistics and completed match results during the US Open.

US Open Trendcast – Presented by American Express
Fans can stay on top of and engage with the latest trending topics through Twitter, Insta-gram and Facebook in our TrendCast section and join in the US Open Daily Debate.

Video
On-demand video highlights, press conferences, analysis and more video features throughout the tournament.

Open Access
Open Access is a new Fan Enhancement available for all US Open Patrons allowing them streamlined access to various activation points around the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. This program allows fans to register once to participate in activities ranging from customized photo opportunities to interactive games and it will personalize their whole US Open experience with their own personal webpage with the US Open app. Just for signing up for Open Access all fans are entered to win tickets to the 2016 Men’s or Women’s finals.

Streak Challenge – Presented by Esurance
New for 2015, fans can play along with the US Open Streak Challenge and test their US Open tennis knowledge with two questions every day about players, matches and tournament stats. Keep answering correctly and you’ll add to your streak and move up the leaderboard. Win a Prize?

News
Latest news updates from on and off the court throughout the tournament.

USOpen.org Radio - American Express Special Feature
LIVE streaming ball-by-ball radio coverage featuring Courtside Q&A — a live, interactive Q&A with match commentators featuring user-submitted questions via Twitter.

 

Wireless Wednesday for 8/26/15: Dorm Room Tech

U.S. Open tennis kicks off in New York next week.  Will Serena win the Grand Slam and why it's wide open on the men's side...

Also, "Dorm Room" gadgets this week...

Wish we had some of these "dorm room" sized gadgets when I was in college...

1. The New Powerbeats2 Wireless earphones in fun colors that match the Apple watch and take up minimal real estate in precious backpack space.

Pair and play with your Bluetooth® device with 30 foot range

6 hour rechargeable battery
Premium sound in a lightweight design with flexible earhooks
Sweat and water resistant
Take hands-free calls and adjust music with no-slip-grip RemoteTalk™ controls*
Compatible with iOS devices and more..   Designed for the athlete and the person on the move.
Also you won't keep your roommate of neighbors awake if you use these great buds.

2. Tenda AC15 Performance Router   (New to the U.S.)

Doesn't take up much space and it's a powerhouse router

 Product Highlights:
    1900Mbps Concurrent Speed Dual-band Gigabit WiFi Router
    1300Mbps 802.11ac at 5GHz and 600Mbps 802.11n at 2.4 GHz
    Broadcom dual-core processor with DDR3 memory
    Beamforming+ technology to boost range
    High powered amplifiers & three external antennas
    Smart management of WiFi schedule
    MSRP: $129.99

Available at TigerDirect and http://www.tendacn.com/en/product/AC15.html

3. myCharge’s RazorPlus

Keep your mobile devices charged is a problem for the college student. The space-saving answer is the mycharge RazorPlus. This ultra, ultra thin battery pack is crafted from anodized aluminum, the ultra-thin Razor delivers an extra 13 hours talk time for your smartphone. All for $49.99
 

 
4.  Wonder Washer

The world's smallest washing machine

Wonder Washer portable washing machine goes anywhere! Perfect for dorms, apartments, RV, anywhere space is limited. No more trips to the laundromat. Ideal for small loads and delicates. No plumbing needed! Just fill with water, detergent, and laundry and set timer for up to 15 minutes on high or low cycle. Easy tote handle. Plugs into standard outlet. Seven liter capacity, weighs only eight pounds. 120 wolts / 60 HZ / 55 watts. Plastic, 14 x 14".
Portable washing machine goes anywhere
˙Ideal for small loads and delicates
˙No plumbing needed! Just fill with water and set timer
˙Seven liter capacity, weighs only eight pounds
˙Washer size 14 x 14
 

5.  World's smallest refrigerator   .14 cubic feet.

The Koolatron Coca-Cola Personal Cooler is the stylish and fun way to keep your drinks cold or warm. The Coca-Cola Personal Cooler looks like a small refrigerator and is perfect for the car, boat or home. State-of-the-art thermoelectric cooling technology allows the cooler to operate silently. The Koolatron Coca-Cola Personal Cooler holds up to six 12 oz. cans of your favorite beverage.
    4 l capacity holds 6 (12 oz.) cans or 4 – 500 ml bottles
    Operates on DC 12-volt/AC 110-volt
    Cools up to 32 degree F below ambient temperature
    1-sliding removable shelf
    Self-locking door handle

 
 
App of the Week:

TripScout  free for iOS

- a long time in the making... TripScout finally launches
TripScout provides self-guided city tours from top local guides. We show you exactly what you should see and do, provide audio guides that teach you about the local history and culture, and have customizable offline maps with GPS so you can navigate your way around without using your data connection. All you need is an iPhone to instantly have:

1. Curated Sites: Instantly have the top sites, neighborhoods, and activities on your mobile phone
2. Audio Tours: Hear engaging stories from locals about history, culture, and food at your own schedule and pace
3. Customizable: Pin additional points of interest, like restaurant recommendations or your hotel
4. Offline Maps: Use offline maps with GPS to navigate around the city without using data or WiFi

Wireless Wednesday for 8/19/15: Michigan and the Tech News of the Week

Rick is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this week. He's testing his golf game on three great courses in golf-rich Michigan. He's also staying at the Island Resort & Casino - a fantastic Indian-owned Casino in Harris, MI. He will also be visiting historic, Marquette, Michigan located way up on Lake Superior.

* Interesting that the UP Michigan is more like Wisconsin than the rest of the state of Michigan. There are Packers fans everywhere and that makes for great people...

Check out: www.puremichigan.com

 Have a listen to both parts:

1.   Samsung proposes a 4,600 micro-satellite space network for terrestrial backhaul

- Important solution as we get closer to running out of storage and cell bandwidth
Samsung Electronics has proposed a ‘space internet’ network consisting of 4600 micro-satellites that could act as backhaul for terrestrial cellular networks and bring low-cost internet to “everyone in the world”.
 

2.  Hackers Remotely Cut a Corvette's Brakes

This story should scare you

Security researchers presented work at the USENIX conference today showing an easy way to hack into a car's electronics using a small gadget that plugs into modern dashboards. The port they're taking advantage of is commonly used to monitor the location and speeds of these vehicles. Once the researchers' dongle is attached, they can use SMS messages to transmit commands to the car's internal network. They demonstrated this by remotely cutting a Corvette's brakes. "Though the researchers say their Corvette brake tricks only worked at low speeds due to limitations in the automated computer functions of the vehicle, they say they could have easily adapted their attack for practically any other modern vehicle and hijacked other critical components like locks, steering or transmission, too."
 

3.  Twitter lifts the 140 character limit on Direct Messages

(It's about time)
Twitter's push to make DMs a full on messaging service continues. Beginning Wednesday, the 140 character limit for Direct Messages has been lifted in the iOS, Android, Mac apps, Tweetdeck and on Twitter.com
 

4.  Cuba is opening up.... but will that mean improved wireless and cell phone service?

- Many people in Cuba still use pay phones

Cuba has a second generation cellular network and Internet access is limited to about 5% of the population via work and school accounts and (mostly dial up) access in a few homes, so it was big news when they rolled out 35 public WiFi hotspots. Can they expand this public WiFi and skip 3G and 4G cell infrastructure until 5G equipment is available in about five years?
 

5.  Dr Pepper Snapple Group Invests in Sports Drinks

-Called BODYARMOUR

 Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., (DPS) is investing in emerging sports drink BODYARMOR. The company's $20 million investment gives DPS an 11.7 percent ownership position in BA Sports Nutrition, LLC, owner of BODYARMOR SuperDrink, a line of premium sports drinks.
DPS has carried BODYARMOR as an allied brand in much of its direct store delivery network since 2013 and plans to expand the product line further in its system over the next year.
 

App of the Week:

VPAR - the "everything" golf app

For iOS and Android
** Live scoring, GPS and Golf planner, Course Directory and Stat Keeper
- Free app to downlaod. Get 14 days of a free trial and only $8.99 to subscribe the rest of the year
Earlier this summer (around the U.S. Open), VPAR downloads climbed as high as 5th in the Apple App Store “Sports” category

·        Their award-winning app is now available across Android devices and downloads on the Google Play Store have shown great organic growth since launching in late July

·        VPAR partnered with Your Golf Travel – Europe’s largest golf travel agency – to launch a “live” amateur tournament across Europe. The “Your Golf Travel Championship Powered by VPAR” is ongoing and has utilized VPAR’s live scoring functionality to provide an enthralling competition for the continents best pairs teams

·        The Android version coincides with the release of VPAR 4.0 across both Android and Apple devices. Updated features include:

o   Simplified Round Creation – The setup process has been simplified to one page, providing users with an array of game formats based on the number of players and tee times.

o   New GPS Glance Tool – Front/Center/Back distances are automatically featured on the scoring page, allowing players to quickly decide on club selection at first glance.

o   Social Media Sharing – Easily share your round with friends on Facebook and Twitter

and the World's Biggest Trophy

Wireless Wednesday for 8/11/15: Tablet Computers Invade Sports

Rick has been using an iPad for almost 5 years now. The iPad has become more powerful and easier to use. And there is an "app for everything"

It's taken a few years, but the world of sports has taken to tablet computers in a big way.

Rick and Mitch talk about tablets in sports...

and part 2 with the app of the week!

1.   The NFL and their Agreement with Microsoft and the Surface Pro 3

Microsoft’s five-year, $400 million deal with the NFL is finally going to start paying tangible dividends for fans, and not simply put the company’s Surface tablets in the hands of players and coaches on the sideline.

Every NFL player will have a motion-tracking chip in his uniform this season, and the data will be collected to create (almost) real-time replays that go above and beyond anything previously offered during television broadcasts.

***The basics: three to seven minutes after a particular play, the field position and vector data for every player on the field will be available in replay form. (Not every play, but you know, the ones you want to watch again.) In other words, you’ll be able to view the Xs and Os version of a play with the actual speed of every player on the field, as well as some additional graphical elements to highlight specific players or data points. The actual view will look like the screenshot below, with Microsoft’s graphics in the main frame, game video on the top right, and player data filling out the sidebar. …

 

2.  iPads and Women's Tennis and the WTA Tour

Coaches can bring iPads on the court to show players their stats.

The women’s tour is experimenting with on-court coaching rules that already allow players to call a coach to the sideline once per set for a 90-second, mic’d-up pep talk that is broadcast to television viewers. At the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford this week, coaches can also bring along an iPad loaded up with data.

The tablet has software designed by SAP, the tour’s technology partner since 2013, that collects live data from matches.

There are standard tennis stats, like aces and first-serve percentage, fed to the devices from the chair umpire’s electronic scoring system. For matches played on courts with Hawk-Eye, the line-calling technology used to challenge calls, there is much more, including graphics that display court positioning for each shot, where serves land and other player tendencies. A coach might zero in on specific points—for example, every time the score was 40-15—to show that a player didn’t play from an aggressive position.
 

3.  Smaller College Football Programs - Players Using iPads Too

Case in Point: South Alabama Football

South Alabama's football program is making greater use of the cloud this fall, in hopes that it'll help them bring the thunder on the field. So, it's not just the big programs that are using tablet technology.

The Jaguars this fall are taking advantage of new technology from XOS Digital called ThunderCloud that will allow coaches and players to have access to practice and game film on their iPads or other personal devices and watch them at home.
 

4. iPad helps with concussions in sports

Let's look at the tablet's ability to help assess concussions, a previously difficult task that relied on subjective reporting methods.

St. Edward High School (Cleveland) athletic trainer Jason Cruickshank, who uses the iPad in conjunction with the C3 Logix concussion assessment app to precisely track and monitor symptoms for athletes under his care.

Cruickshank first logs baseline profiles for each student, which are sent to the cloud for storage. When an incident occurs, he runs the same tests and compares the results to the baseline. The information is then displayed in a hexagon-shaped graph that highlights differences in data points like reaction time and balance.

As part of the larger C3 Logix system, the iOS app collects a variety of cognitive player information via the iPad's hardware. For example, the app harnesses on-board accelerometer and gyroscope data for quantitative postural stability and uses the high-resolution multitouch screen to capture an athlete's movement. All processing is done on the iPad.
 

5.  Apple to hold an event on Sept 9 to announce new devices

Apple has plans to announce new devices and applications on Sept 9 and some may revolve around sports...
Like Apple fall events past, this one too will focus on the company’s next-generation iPhones, which are expected to arrive at market with a pressure-sensitive Force Touch display, an improved camera system, and a significantly faster and power-efficient wireless chip. Sources say Apple executives are likely to show off the company’s latest iPads as well, though that 12.9-inch “iPad Pro” seems to be a wildcard, still.
Does this date mean there will be something cool right before the start of football season?
Maybe even a bigger iPad.. .called an iPad Pro, which could have huge implications in sports and video games.
We'll find out.


App of the Week:

Whitepages ID

Free for iOS

Eliminate phone scams.
Whitepages is the leader in North America in protecting consumers against unwanted calls. The company sources 2+ billion contact records a month and their current call protection apps have been downloaded over 30 million times.  

Whitepages ID provides an easy solution to help iOS users detect unwanted calls and avoid being a victim of spam and phone scams. Whitepages’ ability to protect consumers from unwanted calls is backed by robust phone reputation technology and a dedicated team of researchers.  In July, the Whitepages Phone Reputation team tracked 308 million phone numbers and detected 11.3 million calls and texts engaged in spam or fraudulent activities.

“Cell phone users have the right to protect themselves from unwanted calls,” said Alex Algard, founder and CEO of Whitepages. “Starting today, we’re giving Apple users access to our database of over 600 million phone numbers, user-generated feedback on spam, and round-the-clock tracking of new and pre-existing phone scams. It’s all about giving people the necessary information to protect themselves.”
How it works: Whitepages curates a broad list of spam and scam numbers, which gets updated at least twice daily and automatically sent to the user’s address book. When a call is made, Whitepages ID’s up-to-date spam/scam log detects those unsolicited calls and alerts the user in real time.