Poster Presentations

Hello everyone! We had our last class on friday and I wanted to talk a little about the poster presentations we did in class. There we're many different ideas that were very unique and interesting. One idea that I saw that i found very interesting was the magic mouse that is used for the MacBook computer. I have heard a little information on this in the past and it seems like a very interesting and useful technology for the future. Another technology that I saw yesterday that I found interesting was by the user KyleNY210. He did his presentation on a device that measures only movements and it can be used in many everyday activities and life such as running and playing video games like guitar hero. The last technology I wanted to talk about was the electric cars from user cmbaker65. I found this technology very interesting and I think it will be very beneficial to our environment in the future.

UGA VIII.0

Hello again everyone! Today, I wanted to talk about a new technology idea that is being considered at the University of Georgia. This new idea is called UGA 8.0. The idea comes from the University of Georgia mascot, a live bulldog, that has been used for their football team since the 1950s. The last mascot, UGA VII, unexpectedly died two weeks ago during the season and this idea for UGA 8.0 comes to the university because of that. The idea is actually suggested by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The idea behind UGA 8.0 is to use an animatronic dog as the mascot to replace the live bulldog that is used by the university. This idea was suggested because of the unexpected death of UGA VII and they think that the conditions may be dangerous to the dog as a result. This is a great example of technology being used in sports by having an animatronic dog with robot motions to be used as the mascot at the University of Georgia.

The BCS and Twitter.....

The BCS is one of, if not the, most controversial thing in all of sports today. Now, the general public can communicate with the BCS, in a way. BCS executive producer Bill Hancock has launched a facebook page for the BCS and a Twitter account, Inside the BCS, to communicate with college football fans through each of these different technologies. For anyone that does not know, the BCS stands for the Bowl Championship Series and it is the system that is used to help determine the top bowl games in college football as well as helping to determine the college football national champion. It is largely controversial because Division I college football uses it and this is the only sport that uses a computer system, the BCS, to help determine its champion instead of playing out the championship on the field in a playoff-like system, similar to every other professional and collegiate sport. With the BCS being involved in different technologies such as Twitter and Facebook, it gives the general public the opportunity to discuss the BCS and how it works with the people who are behind it and responsible for the system. This use of these social technologies by the BCS can be very useful to fans who may have questions about the system or even to fans who just plain old despise the system......like myself......

Skype and Recruiting

Hello! Top ranked college basketball recruit Harrison Barnes wanted to make his national signing day very special and unique from any other college basketball recruit.....in history. He wanted to do something that no other recruit had ever done.....announce his decision by using skype. College recruits announcing what college they are planning on attending has become a very popular thing in sports of late. There are many shows and websites that are strictly dedicated to these high schoolers and their college decisions and personally, I think that it is getting ridiculous. Personally, I do not think it is right to put that much emphasis on a high schooler and their future and giving them all that attention at such a young age. Barnes takes this to an entirely new level though by using the computer application skype to let everyone know his decision. Barnes stood in front of t.v. cameras and microphones and then decided to use his Mac Computer and connect with North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams to let him know of his decision through skype. Barnes's use of skype is great example of how far the world of recruiting has come in the recent years and how different kinds of technology have contributed to the growth of the college recruiting scene. College coaches used to keep up with the high schoolers and their decisions through phone calls and by mail, but now they are using many kinds of technology such as twitter, facebook, and, in the case of Harrison Barnes, skype.

Fans Voicing Their Displeasure Through Facebook?!

Hey everybody, whats up? Many fans have found different ways of showing their frustration with their favorite professional sports teams play other than the traditional booing during games. For Washington Redskins fan Alan Pohoryles, he's using a form of technology to voice his displeasure with his favorite NFL team. Pohoryles is using facebook as a way to do this and has been quite successful in using it. He created a group called "Redskin Fans Against Daniel Snyder," who is the owner of the franchise. Currently there are more than 13,000 people in the group. He is now using the group to organize a "walkout" for the Redskin fans during their home game against the Dallas Cowboys on December 27th. The fans are planning on going to the game and leaving after the national anthem. Pohoryles claims to have not been much of a facebook user until the group took off and gained thousands of members. The organizing of the Washington Redskins walkout shows the great impact that facebook as a technology has on many different things including the sports world with certain sports teams and the actions of their fans.

More NFL Players With iPhone Apps

Hello everyone! It turns out now that Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco is not the only NFL Wide Receiver getting into having his own iPhone application. Buffalo Bills receiver Terrell Owens and, arguably the best wide receiver in the game, Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, are both in the process of creating their own personalized applications for use with the iPhone. This is a bit of a surprise for Fitzgerald because he is usually very quiet and isn't nearly as outgoing as fellow receivers Owens and Ocho Cinco. As I mentioned before, Ocho Cinco was the first NFL player to have an iPhone app which has a question-answer session with the receiver and a GPS device to track where he is located. The iPhone applications are a new technology that are becoming very popular in the world of sports and with many different athletes, especially in the NFL.

iPhone Apps

Another new technology that a few athletes are getting into is applications for the iPhone. A few athletes such as Chris Bosh from the NBA's Toronto Raptors, Mark Sanchez of the NFL's New York Jets, and, of course, Chad Ocho Cinco of the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals have launched their own personal applications available for use on the iPhone. Sanchez was the first athlete with an app available for the iPhone, but his is currently not available for purchase. Ocho Cinco's app, called the Chad Ocho Cinco Experience, allows his fans to do many things such as follow his stats and the Cincinnati Bengals team, see pictures of Ocho Cinco and his family, submit questions to Chad in the "What Would Ocho Do?" section, and keep up with Ocho Cinco and what he is doing by following his Twitter account. The Chris Bosh app available for the iPhone provides his fans with daily updates for his Twitter feed, updated videos and game stats, and off the court pictures from Chris Bosh himself. Many believe that the reason that iPhone apps have not caught on with many athletes is because of all of the work that goes in to having an iPhone app. A Twitter account is easy and simple for athletes to use and does not take money and development like the iPhone app does. Nevertheless, iPhone apps for athletes are a new technology that may be used by other athletes in the future.

Ocho Cinco's News Network

Ocho Cinco is at it again! In the past, I wrote about Chad Ocho Cinco and how he used Twitter to communicate with fans and coordinate a celebration after he scored a touchdown in Green Bay against the Green Bay Packers. Now, Bengals WR Chad Ocho Cinco is in the news again using another form of communication. This time he's planning on creating his own new news network, called OCNN. This stands for the Ocho Cinco News Network. He is planning on running the news network through Twitter. Ocho Cinco is saying that he is going to use OCNN as a way to break news that many people will not know about all 32 NFL teams. He will be an inside source to all of the NFL teams because he is in the league. His slogan is "If I break it, you might as well believe it." This is another example of how sports, and more specifically Ocho Cinco, is using an emerging technology like Twitter to communicate with the general public.

Rush Limbaugh

Some big news in the world of sports during the past week was Rush Limbaugh and the possibility of him becoming a part owner of the St. Louis Rams football team. Rush Limbaugh is a well-known, and at some times highly controversial radio talk show host. He has been mentioned as a possible new owner of the St. Louis Rams football team and this has been a big topic of interest among current and former NFL players as well as current owners of other NFL teams. Many players and owners are strongly against the idea of Limbaugh being in the NFL because of some controversial comments he has made in the past. About 5 or 6 years ago, Limbaugh had some very questionable remarks regarding Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Because of this and some many other comments on his radio show that Limbaugh has made in the past, his ownership has been a big debate all week. This is an example of how sports relates to other realms of media, such as radio technology, because of Limbaugh's involvement in talk radio and his persuit of part ownership with the St. Louis Rams organization.

Sports and Radio

Hey everyone, whats up? This week in sports, I wanted to talk about David Garrard and idea for his own radio show. David Garrard is the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL and wanted to start his own personal weekly radio show. He was planning on using the show to connect with fans and give his own personal previews for the games of the week and give his own personal opinions. The show was cancelled by the Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio because he claimed that the show was too close to gametime and would take away his focus for the games on Sundays. The show was scheduled to air on Fridays and coach Del Rio thought that 48 hours from gametime was too close to be conducting something like a radio show. This radio show is a huge example of the technology used between athletes and fans. Garrard's main purpose for the show was to connect and communicate with other fans of the Jaguars and many other NFL teams. I thought that this was a great example of an emerging technology in the world of sports because few current players have their own radio shows and use them to connect and interact with fans around the country.

First Blog Post

I wanted to make my personal blog about something that I am very passionate about.....this topic is sports. I am a huge sports fan and sports are something that are big part of my everyday life. I am still not quite sure if I will be able to relate sports to emerging technologies every week but I will definitely try my best to do so. What I wanted to talk about this week are sports and twitter. I wanted to discuss this topic specifically because of what happened last week in the NFL with Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco and his Lambeau Leap that he had at Green Bay. Throughout last week, Ochocinco claimed that he would be making a Lambeau Leap during the Bengals game vs. the Green Bay Packers last week. He did the Lambeau Leap after scoring a touchdown in the 2nd half, but it was later revealed that he bought 4 tickets for 4 bengals fans in the front row of the stadium so that he could perform the Leap successfully. We found out later that he gave the tickets to the 4 fans after they responded to him through his twitter account. I thought that this is an example of how twitter is huge in sports and many athletes are using it to connect with fans. Twitter is an emerging technology now and I thought that this was a nice gesture from an NFL player to his fans. It shows how some athletes are using twitter to actually speak, connect, and communicate with their fans.

Hello!

What up? This is Thomas writing my first blog.