Hasta La Gadget!

At the June 8 match between the Phoenix Mercury and the Indiana Fever, the WNBA introduced a new camera that put viewers incredibly close to the action on court. Made by Broadcast Sports Inc., the “ref cam” is a small camera that takes video from the referee’s perspective. Referee Lamont Simpson got first dibs on the wearable camera. I’m sure his whistle was highly insecure that day.

Here’s some of the shots that the camera took in its debut appearance:

And here’s a bonus clip from ESPN, showing Simpson calling a technical foul: Edit: ESPN made the YouTube video private. Sorry guys. Simpson said that he found it awkward at first. He said that he had to keep on adjusting the headset the entire first half because it moved around when he became sweaty. But he also said that he got used to it by the second half. Simpson can’t get too attached to it just yet though, because for now the ESPN and the WNBA will decide when the ref cam will be used. They should make pro golfers wear these so we can all tune in for some in-your-face walks in beautiful parks.

[via Bleacher Report & ESPN]

Every year at the end of March, basketball fans go crazy as the March Madness collegiate basketball tournaments kick off to find the top team in all the land. I know several people who take off the entire week just so they can sit home and watch basketball games all day. If you can’t take that type of time off, and have the Dish Hopper DVR in your home, you will love this.

Dish Network has announced some cool upgrades to improve its Hopper DVR and second screen viewing experience. Their updated Hopper Apps now have a Game Finder to display all of the games on one easy to navigate page. Viewers can also tune in to watch a specific game or record current games or future games directly from the app.

The Hopper app also offers faster navigation and access to scores for other games. Fans can also hide games that are blacked out in their area. The Dish Explore app for the iPad has also been updated, and features a dedicated NCAA Tournament tab on the main screen. That tab allows basketball fans to see upcoming games, times, and channels. The app also allows fans to record the games from the same page. The updated apps are available now.

Basketball is a complicated sport. It’s got fewer traditional positions than any other team sport, but no less specialization, and far more fluid movement than many others. Two “point guards” can play drastically differently and still play the same basic position. Muthu Alagappan’s research makes some sense of that. More »

Like it or not, Facebook is a pretty good barometer if what people like. So it’s fun when it gathers up its considerable data troves and spits out maps of stuff we like. Today it broke down the fans of teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. More »

Now here is a novel idea – connecting your basketball to a smartphone. Sure, how do you do so? Throw the basketball at the smartphone, hoping that the Gorilla Glass 2 screen is able to withstand the impact? No, it does so in a far gentler manner, without any physical contact in fact, thanks to 94fifty who has decided to work alongside Spalding, resulting in a new kind of technology which is said to connect a basketball equipped with half a dozen sensors to communicate to a smartphone via Bluetooth. An app on the smartphone will retrieve information from the basketball, taking in details such as the amount of spin, shot arc, shot speed, dribbling speed, and dribbling strength among others. Once you have all of that data in place, it is time to sit down, analyze it, and make sure that you will make the necessary adjustments on court to improve yourself.

94fifty intends to deliver cost-effective basketball skill analysis technology for the masses, and since we are always highly competitive in nature, the app will also be social network enabled, letting you share your stats with anyone else interested in this technology. Sensors on the basketball itself will be juiced up via wireless Qi charging.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New iPad And iPhone 5S Pegged For April And August Release [Rumor], Opera Browser Beta For Android Arrives On Play Store,