Major League Baseball is launching a new initiative involving customized features for its At the Ballpark app that will make attending games a more interactive experience for sports fans. The app will use Apple’s iBeacon indoor mapping, a new feature of the company’s recently released iOS 7, for a customized stadium experience. Apple’s mapping tool addresses the limitations of using GPS indoors. MLB and Apple have been working on the project since February. Continue reading Apple and MLB Team Up for Interactive Ballpark Experience

It may seem an unlikely source for managing home automation or the next step forward for the Internet of Things, but Staples will launch its $100 Staples Connect hub in November. The Internet-connected hub by Linksys centralizes control of smart home appliances and other devices with the help of a single controller app. Staples hopes its approach will help curb the need for multiple proprietary apps that are common with smart home devices currently on the market. Continue reading Staples Connect Offers Universal Hub to Connect Your Home

Twitter currently dominates the world of “public” sharing, with numerous celebrities and public figures utilizing the service to interact with fans. Facebook hopes to compete with Twitter in this arena, and is creating an app that would allow celebrities to more readily engage in conversation with their fans from a mobile device. The VIP app, currently being tested by a small group of partners, could help make the relationship between celebrities and their fans more intimate and immediate. Continue reading Facebook Testing New VIP App in Attempt to Take On Twitter

A kicked soccer ball can travel more than ten times faster than what the naked eye can perceive. Soccer referees are human and suffer from this limitation, with soccer fans often enduring the pain. GoalControl, a German company, is looking to fix this problem. It will provide high-tech monitoring of goal lines and reporting systems that help maintain absolute accuracy. This new instant-replay tool will ensure that referees make the right calls. Continue reading Soccer Goes High Tech So Referees Can Make Better Calls

Hollywood studios are reexamining traditional distribution models in an era of piracy enabled by digital technologies. Today’s media savvy consumers have evolving expectations regarding how they discover and share music, video content and games, thanks in part to new cloud-based technologies, streaming media services and sophisticated social tools. Some media companies are even considering the idea that models popular with pirates are worth imitating. Continue reading Shift in Consumer Demand: Should Studios Emulate Pirates?

Cox Communications is offering a beta version of a broadband TV service that delivers lower-priced live television and DVR storage to subscribers in southern California. The company’s flareWatch trial marks the first time a major U.S. pay TV operator is specifically targeting cord-cutters. The IPTV service uses Fanhattan’s $99 Fan TV set-top box, which features a touch-sensitive remote control. If successful, flareWatch could see a wider rollout. Continue reading FlareWatch: Cox Targets Cord-Cutters with Internet TV Trial

Amazon announced Kindle Worlds yesterday, a digital publishing platform that enables fan fiction authors to publish under official licenses and receive royalties. The current deal is limited to “Gossip Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars” and “The Vampire Diaries” from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment, but Amazon promises licenses for more Worlds in the future. Stories will be made available via Amazon.com, Kindle devices, iOS, Android and Kindle Free Reading apps. Continue reading Kindle Worlds: Amazon Debuts Fan Fiction Publishing Platform