Professional soccer team FC Bayern Munich has announced today that they are offering exclusive playlists and other content through Apple Music. As first noted by iPhone-Ticker, the German football club hopes to bring their fans closer to the team and players through the curated content. However, FC Bayern has committed to more with Apple…
Yahoo is today launching a Yahoo Sports app for Apple TV that lets users access free sports news, live streams, and video highlights that the service already offers via an iOS app and across other platforms.
It’s easy to miss out on sports entertainment when you cut the cord and just rely on Apple TV, but ESPN president John Skipper tells The Wall Street Journal that may change in 2016. When asked about the potential streaming network Apple reportedly hopes to offer on its set-top box, the ESPN exec says that Apple has been “frustrated” with the process of building a service but that ESPN has been in past talks and continues to work with the company:
The NFL is said to be looking at Apple, Google, Amazon and Yahoo as platform partners for streaming its Thursday night football games according to SportsBusinessDaily:
The league also sent RFPs to several digital companies, like Google, Yahoo, Apple and Amazon, to stream the entire Thursday night schedule on a non-exclusive basis, sources said. The league’s initial plan would have the digital streams serve as a simulcast of the television production — with the same ads and in-game production features. The league expects bidding to start in the low $300M for the television package, with a nominal escalator in year two, sources said.
Yahoo, who is expected to bid, paid $15M to exclusively stream one game this season according to the report so the deal would be a big one. Because the streaming deal would be non-exclusive, the prices would be much lower on a per-game basis. More importantly, the deal would hopefully be the first step into the much larger goal of streaming the whole NFL Season.
Apple TV got the Game Pass service featuring live preseason football games on updated NFL app just four months ago, and now has tvOS as a platform to expand on that.
We know Tim Cook likes his Auburn football and SVP Eddy Cue is a big sports fan so…
Just a day after Jack Dorsey was named permanent CEO of Twitter, the social network is launching a big new feature in its app called Moments. What started as Project Lightning showcases for a lot of users the best part of Twitter: keeping caught up with in-the-moment news that you care about. The new Moments feature can be found behind the lightning bolt icon through Twitter’s mobile apps and on the web in the US.
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Earlier this week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell upheld his original ruling that Patriots star Tom Brady will serve a four game suspension next season over the well-known “DeflateGate” controversy. Goodell cited Brady replacing his smartphone amid the investigation in his decision to uphold the suspension.
Responding to the NFL’s ruling in a Facebook post today, Brady stated that he simply switched phones because he wanted to upgrade from a Samsung device to an iPhone 6:
TuneIn Radio is the latest addition to Apple’s short list of App Store apps that work with the iPhone’s CarPlay feature. The service streams “over 100,000 real radio stations from around the world, including sports, news, talk, and music.” The latest version of TuneIn for iPhone brings radio station streaming to the CarPlay interface and includes Apple Watch support for controlling stations from your wrist.
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ESPN is out with a brand new version of its iPhone app today adding native resolution support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ while also debuting on the iPad for the first time. The new app not only sports a new look right down to its icon, but ESPN says it “pulled a Puff Daddy and changed the name.” Previously, the app was branded as ESPN SportsCenter, but now it’s simply “ESPN”.
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Apple TV users will notice a channel refresh today adding ‘120 SPORTS’ to the lineup. The update follows the addition of the official Cricket Australia channel and The Tennis Channel earlier this month further adding to the sports content offered on the Apple TV set-top box.
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NBCUniversal announced today that it will offer a free live stream of Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1 to all desktop and tablet users to promote its TV Everywhere service. For smartphones, Verizon has exclusive rights to stream the event to users through its own mobile app.
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Following the addition of the official Cricket Australia channel for Apple TV users down under earlier this week, Apple refreshed its video streaming box for US users Friday night with new content through the Tennis Channel Everywhere service. The new Apple TV channel features both on-demand tennis and live matches with an optional annual subscription.
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We heard earlier this week that the Orlando Magic would become the first NBA team to offer Apple Pay to fans through a partnership with Chase. Today we get the official announcement from the team confirming an Apple Pay launch at the Amway Center for this Friday, Dec. 19 and some other details regarding special promos:
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Image via <a href="https://twitter.com/PGutierrezESPN/status/518919857832599553" target="_blank">Paul Gutierrez </a>
SF 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been fined $10,000 by the NFL for wearing a pair of pink Beats by Dre headphones (presumably for Breast Cancer Awareness Month) during a post-game press conference on Sunday. The National Football League recently signed an agreement with Bose that barred players and staff from wearing any other brand of headphones while on camera.
Kaepernick has an endorsement deal with Beats which comes into conflict with that agreement. The player declined to state whether the Apple-owned brand was picking up the tab for this infraction (and potentially others in the future).
Earlier this month we reported that the NFL network was testing its NFL Now service as a channel on the Apple TV. The subscription sports service launch followed a few days later with apps for iPhone and iPad in tow, and today the Apple TV channel has arrived as well. While the football channel does not support viewing live games, it does feature highlight clips and other programs as part of the service. Here’s how NFL Now describes the service:
NFL Now gives you personalized access to the largest digital library of NFL content available anywhere including news, analysis and highlights, plus NFL Films archives all on your favorite devices. Some premium content requires a paid subscription.
Another day, another patent dispute. This time Apple is defending the use of its HTTP live-streaming service against Emblaze, Ltd., Bloomberg reports.
Specifically, the lawyer for Emblaze has accused Apple of pushing its video streaming technology on sports-related services like WatchESPN and MLB At Bat which support live streaming over apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and more.
Apple began working on its HTTP live-streaming service, or HLS, “no earlier than 2007,” demanding that services such as “At Bat” use the format to drive sales of iPhones and iPads — and inducing infringement of Emblaze’s patent, Pavane said.
“Apple’s HLS is nothing more than Emblaze’s patented solution under a different name,” he said.
Nike updated its Nike+ FuelBand companion app today with one notable new feature: the ability to receive push notifications for a number of different features within the app. Those include things like challenges, upcoming Nike events, exclusive video content, and more.
The new push notifications, along with bug fixes and some other minor improvements are available now in version 2.3 of the app. Nike might be planning to get out of the hardware side of its FuelBand business in the near future, but for now the FuelBand is still available for sale and the update a welcomed one by users.
What’s New in Version 2.3
• You can now stay connected to Nike via push notifications – receive the latest info on challenges and upcoming Nike events as well as exclusive video content.
• Bug fixes and other improvements.
Super Bowl 50 may not be until 2016, but preparations are already underway for the landmark game, which will be held in the brand new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. To help pay for the costs of holding this massive event, several Silicon Valley companies, including Apple, Google, and Intel, have each pledged $2 million.
This money will go toward funding the public costs associated with bringing a throng of excited sports fans from across the nation into the same city, such as police overtime.
Earlier this year Apple was believed to be preparing an ad to air during the Super Bowl for the 30th anniversary of the Mac, though the ad was instead posted to the company’s website.
Apple has updated its ‘Your Verse’ campaign web page with new stories of athletic teams using the iPad to help detect concussions in players, potentially helping save lives. Because concussions can’t be detected by medical equipment, players who suffer head injuries need to take cognition tests that measure their pre- and post-injury abilities to determine whether they’ve suffered a concussion.
Using an iPad app created by C3 Logix, medical staff can quickly test players for symptoms in a variety of areas, such as visual acuity and balance, and determine the severity of the concussion. For example, doctors can use the iPad’s accelerometer and gyroscope to help test a player’s balance:
Just in time for March Madness, Apple has added a new channel dedicated to ACC Sports to the Apple TV. The channel, called ACC Sports, features sections dedicated to many of the ACC colleges (Atlantic Coast Conference). It is unclear if the application will be able to live stream games from the major basketball tournament as March Madness is a CBS-branded event. Nonetheless, it’s likely that ACC Sports will at least offer highlights and updates after the games. News from other NCAA divisions will likely to be found in the already-existing Watch-ESPN app. (More images and details below).
Leading up to the unveiling of Apple’s new iTunes Radio service earlier this month at WWDC, we reported on some small details regarding deals Apple had reached with the major labels necessary to get bring its Pandora competitor to market. Earlier reports claimed that Apple was paying Warner around 10% of ad revenue— that’s around twice as much as Pandora reportedly pays. Today, The Wall Street Journal provides us with some in-depth info on what Apple is paying labels and publishers after taking a look at the terms of the deal.
Apple will in fact be paying well over the 0.12 cents per listen Pandora offers the labels, as well as a percentage of ad revenue, and the payout will also increase during the service’s second year:
During iTunes Radio’s first year, Apple will pay a label 0.13 cents each time a song is played, as well as 15% of net advertising revenue, proportionate to a given label’s share of the music played on iTunes. In the second year, that bumps up to 0.14 cents per listen, plus 19% of ad revenue.
However, there are some exceptions. The report notes that Apple won’t have to pay royalties for songs that users already have in their iTunes library. That will apparently extend to “songs that might be on an album that a listener owns just part of.” Interestingly, Apple also won’t pay for songs skipped before the 20 second mark and those included in special promotions, but it can only skip paying royalties on two songs per hour for each iTunes Radio user:
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From 9to5Toys.com:
A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to roundup the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook
Today’s Featured deals:
Logitech UE Mini Boombox Bluetooth speaker, ‘the best portable speaker you can buy’: $59 shipped
Apple iPad Leather Smart Cover (open box) $15 Shipped (Reg. $69 new)
3-in-1 Universal USB Charging Cable –This universal USB cable is the last charging cable you’ll ever need. It can charge up to 3 devices simultaneously, and is compatible with iPhone 5/4S/4/3GS/3G/3, iPad, iPod, Android, HTC, Samsung and other devices. It’s optimized to avoid tangling, and for $7 + Free Shipping (a big discount from $59) it is the same price as Apple’s single Lightning cable. We reviewed the Cable here for more information.
Other great deals we love:
From 9to5Toys.com:
Are you ready for some football? Last Friday our 9to5Toys team discovered an Amazon exclusive preorder bonus that will make most gamers’ wives and girlfriends cringe.
The first 50,000 orders of Madden 25 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 will include a full 17 week trial of NFL Sunday Ticket. A standard copy of this game retails for $60, so another $40 nets you every NFL game streamed to your laptop, tablet or smartphone each Sunday. Even better, gamers who already have DirectTV or who are eligible to receive it will also get a $10 off per month of their first year of service, a total savings of over $400 when you take into account the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription too. If you do not have DirectTV and are not eligible you will still receive a free year trial of NFL Sunday Ticket to stream every game to your favorite mobile device. Be sure you review the details of the promotion as there are some quirky caveats like not being able to stream the service to a PS3. Grab your buddies, grab some beers and download this season’s schedule and the iOS app.
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The NBA has updated its iPad and iPhone/iPod touch applications in time for the NBA Playoffs. The Playoffs begin this Sunday, so the app updates feature a live updating Playoffs bracket and new content.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLJN_d2sVjk]
You can’t make this up.
As many iPhone owners wake up New Years Day and realize their Do Not Disturb is stuck on, they might also catch a glimpse of Apple’s new iPhone 5 commercial. Featuring the Tennis stars/sisters Venus and Serena Williams playing table tennis in a dream sequence, the ad tells the viewer that they might miss out on an awesome dream without Apple’s Do Not Disturb feature.
The ad is amusing, but the timing is oh-so painful.
Thanks, Alex!