Hasta La Gadget!

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has just made public his own Kangaroo TV operations, but the end product is something far different than just in-stadium televisions. The FanVision handheld (shown above) has been reportedly shopped to every single NFL team, but only a dozen of ’em decided to take Mr. Ross up on his offer (along with the University of Michigan, curiously enough). Essentially, this here handheld works only while within the stadium, enabling fans to view instant replays from multiple angles, out of town games, real-time stats from around the league, NFL Red Zone, live fantasy football updates, on-demand video from your home team, a cheerleader cam (yeah, seriously), highlight reel of the game and the actual network telecast of the event that you’re at. ‘Course, this type of fan customization isn’t exactly new — the Mariners have been offering something similar to Nintendo DS owners for awhile now — but given the high absurd price of front row seats, we’ll take any extra angles we can get. FanVision will be available within the stadiums of the signed-on teams (listed after the break) for $199 without any activation or recurring fees, though the MSRP is tagged at $259. Sure beats paying for PSLs, huh?

Continue reading FanVision handheld makes NFL nosebleeds far more bearable

FanVision handheld makes NFL nosebleeds far more bearable originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Swimsense from Finis is like a bike computer for swimmers, only instead of counting wheel-revolutions, it counts strokes. The new wrist-mounted computer is waterproof (of course) and contains a motion detector which detects “stroke types, records the number of laps swum, total distance, calories burned, lap time, pace and stroke count.” Phew.

The smart part is that motion-sensor, which uses accelerometers to detect what kind of stroke you are swimming based on your arm movements, differentiating between the stately breaststroke, the blind backstroke, the all-conquering freestyle and the flailing, rescue-me-please-I’m-drowning butterfly. Combining this info with settings for the pool-length and your weight, age and gender, the Swimsense then presents a breakdown of what you have done in an online workout viewer. All you do is upload the data via USB.

My swimming is pretty much limited to splashing from the li-lo to the pool-bar, but the more sporting mermaids and mermen out there can add this to their Christmas list: the Swimsense will be $200 when it launches for the 2010 holiday season.

New Product: Swimsense [Finis Blog. Thanks, Jennifer!]

Swimsense product page [Finis]

See Also:

• Waterproof MP3 Players Won't Make You Swim Like Phelps
• High-Tech Swimsuits Approved by Olympic Committee Promise to Even …

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As it turns out, there are quite a few uses for a $100 off-the-shelf computerized scale, above and beyond getting fit — Nintendo’s Wii Balance Board is now providing a mechanism by which college football teams at Ohio State University and the University of Maryland can cheaply determine whether players are suffering from concussions. Taking the place of force plate machines that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, the white plastic boards measure students’ balance (using yoga poses) and coordination (in Table Tilt) before a game, to provide a frame of reference against which trainers can measure whether athletes are fit to keep playing. Though some scholars found Wii Fit didn’t stack up favorably against the expensive force plates, the universities trialing the system called it “pretty decent,” so the question is whether Nintendo’s peripheral offers a reasonable enough benchmark for the price. We suppose the American Heart Association liked it well enough.

Two universities adopt Wii Fit to monitor football concussions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Exilim golf-friendly digicam hitting Japan; the Pro from Dazaifu never had it so good originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The NFL is serious business. So serious, in fact, that the idea of refs getting decisions wrong sends chills up and down Roger Goodell’s spine. Yeah, we all know they do it habitually, but the League seems to be considering improving accuracy just a little bit with the help of some tech. Cairos Technologies, a German outfit that’s been trying to sell its goal line technology to football (as in soccer) bigwigs for a while, has told Reuters that it’s in discussions with the NFL about bringing its magnetic field hocus pocus to the gridiron. The idea would be for the ref to be alerted, via a message to his watch, any time the ball does something notable like crossing the goal line or first down marker. It should be a great aid for making difficult calls like whether a touchdown has happened at the bottom of a scrum, and might even help cut down on the number of frightfully dull replay challenges. Win-win, no?

Original image courtesy of NFL.com

Continue reading NFL mulling microchips in footballs for those life-or-death goal line rulings

NFL mulling microchips in footballs for those life-or-death goal line rulings originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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