Yesterday the Google Chrome team launched Chrome 42. The latest version of the popular browser has made some noteworthy changes to the behind-the-scenes things we take for granted. Arguably the biggest change is what will work with Chrome 42 in the near future, as Google plans to phase out old Netscape Plugin Application Programs Interfaces (NPAPI) such as Java and Silverlight extension compatibility entirely by September of this year.

Back in 2013 Google whitelisted many existing NPAPI extensions, meaning they continued usage and compatibility, though they did drop the whitelist of approved NPAPI’s in January of this year. While not blocked yet, the older NPAPI’s were no longer on by default in Chrome. To quote Google:

“In fact, many modern web platform features—including video and audio support—first saw mainstream deployment through NPAPI-based plug-ins. But the web has evolved. Today’s browsers are speedier, safer, and more capable than their ancestors. Meanwhile, NPAPI’s 90s-era architecture has become a leading cause of hangs, crashes, security incidents, and code complexity. Because of this, Chrome will be phasing out NPAPI support over the coming year.”

Google is a company that takes change seriously, as they have a developer timeline and clearly want to stick to it . Unfortunately for the consumer, many major websites still require use of Java or Silverlight for graphics or videos. For example the NBA website specifically recommends Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox.

MLB is no different as it lists Java as a needed plugin, however at least baseball does cite Chrome in its recommended browsers.

Similarly, the NFL initially lists only Explorer and Foxfire for their Game Rewind subscription service, though some digging did reveal Chrome 12 is listed as a minimum requirement.

Even watching a movie or show on Amazon Prime’s streaming service pops up a recommendation to stop using Chrome and switch browsers.

Google is recommending users and developers switch over to a HTML5 or proprietary system such as their Native Client to load graphics packages. As previously noted, HTML5 is far superior to GIFs in quality and size, as well as loading time. Additionally, HTML 5 is friendly on mobile operating system browsers such as Android,  Safari on iOS, Silk on Fire OS and more. While it does seem like Google is bullying websites and consumers alike, it is being done in the name of progress. The ends don’t justify the means, but the rapidly changing pace of technology requires companies, developers and consumers to push forward. A specific quote from Brad Pitt while portraying Billy Beane in Moneyball comes to mind.

(Header image via Wikipedia)

Orlando City Soccer Club, one of Major League Soccer’s newest expansions, has signed an exclusive deal with internet and communications company Bright House Networks. Set to provide in-house high definition video, phone service and managed Wi-Fi as well as dedicated internet, Orlando City SC joins other MLS stadiums such as Sporting Kansas City and Vancouver Whitecaps FC among others to offer free Wi-Fi.

Phil Rawlins, President and Founder of Orlando City SC, believes this partnership will benefit the fans and club alike, stating

“As a club that is passionate about innovation and prides itself on constantly looking for ways to enhance our supporters’ experience, we are excited to partner with Bright House Networks. Through this partnership, we will offer our supporters a way to stay connected at our stadiums and enjoy interacting with each other during games.”

Fans using an immense amount of data at a sporting event is nothing new, though the usage of phones and tablets while at live game isn’t for everyone. Last year PSV Eindhoven, a perennial powerhouse in the top Dutch league, Eredivisie, had extremely vocal fans come out against the implementation of Wi-Fi in their home stadium (warning: language). As the linked article notes, Manchester United — arguably the most recognized name in soccer — banned iPads and tablets from its home stadium last year.

On this side of the Atlantic, it’s hard to imagine a sports fan base being hostile towards in-stadium Wi-Fi, if anything, the opposite is true: fans are beginning to wish for more connectivity. The difference in opinion could be cultural, or based on the differences in mobile phone billing between here and Europe. Phone and tablet subsidies aren’t a thing in Europe, and thus the monthly bill is much lower than in North America. Regardless of the reasons, Wi-Fi and devices are gaining ground in stadiums here, but not so much abroad.

Home field advantage on the soccer pitch, something that is somewhat quantified in a study for the Premier League, reached a point where a rule was involved across multi-league events back in the 1960s. Since the introduction of the Away goals rule in UEFA, not conceding goals at home is very important, and fans tend to believe they can help their team. Be it through signs, chants and songs or general participation, it isn’t hard to see why certain groups of fans would respond negatively to something they perceive as taking away from their home field advantage.

(Header image via Wikipedia)

On top of the obvious ill-effects of traumatic brain injuries, we can add class-action lawsuits to the list. The Illinois High School Association is facing a lawsuit of their own, one also involving concussions, and a legal suit they’ve been involved in since November of last year. The suit against a high school organization is the first of its kind, as previously only collegiate and professional football have been faced with legal action. Where the National Football League will soon be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to former players due to long-term concussion effects, not every governing body or football organization is capable of doing so.

Via the Chicago Tribune, word broke the IHSA filed their first response to the lawsuit, hoping the suit will be dismissed, calling it “a misguided effort that threatens high school football.” The lawsuit does not seek any monetary compensation to previous victims, but rather one to force better prevention and immediate medical care for both games and practices. The closest thing money chasing in the suit is the plaintiff including a provision within the suit for the IHSA to pay for medical testing of previous high school football players going to back to 2002. The suit doesn’t make demands such as the Mayo Clinic recommended CT scan, just to take action in both prevention and treatment. Even if it something as basic as the NFL’s sideline Baseline Test, action is clearly required.

Centered around the IHSA’s desire to see the suit thrown out is the cost of the medical staff and testing. IHSA Director Marty Hickman believes the cost would hurt the less-well off schools in the state, and was quoted saying the sport would turn into “haves and have nots.” Another argument on behalf of the IHSA is in their words within the response “would be unwieldy.” The response goes to to say “If a high school … fails to have a court-ordered medical professional at a football practice, how will such a violation of the Court’s injunction be remedied? Sanction the IHSA? The local school board? The principal? The athletic director? The coaches? All of the above?”

Perhaps no argument is lazier than the “slippery slope” that the IHSA is bringing to the table. The good news is they aren’t claiming or feigning ignorance on the matter of concussions, just crying poor. While showing any semblance of favoritism towards a particular sport isn’t ideal either — someone can get a concussion on the track, the volleyball court, etc. — this suit is particular in its desire to see better attention in the football realm. The IHSA reports having an annual budget of $10 million for over 40 sports and activities across all levels of high schools and claim court mandated would essentially break the bank. For an organization with a television broadcast deal with Comcast/CSN Chicago, the lack of available funds seems to be a weak defense. If the money truly isn’t available for additional medical staff or improved helmets, perhaps a better mouth guard, one already partnered with multiple collegiate teams, is the first step in the right direction. The first hearing is set for 10 days from now.

(Header image via IHSA)

It is no longer a question of “do you like computer games and esports” but now “which game is your favorite?” The latest Global Web Index report shows 48% of internet users in the United States play a game on their computer (in this context Macs and Linux devices are included with Windows).

One of the more encouraging signs of growth isn’t in the sheer numbers, but the demographic of the players. It should come as no surprise to see the 25 to 34 and 16 to 24 age groups leading the way at 54% and 52% respectively, however even the more middle aged 35 to 44 bracket plays games at a high frequency of 48%. Across the age boundaries there is a nearly even money chance that both men, 48%, or women, 47%, play a game online or competitively at least once per month as well.

The surveyed group did not need to specify which specific games were played, but Twitch.TV released their January streaming info and serves well as a best-guess proxy on the GWI group. The top three most played — and viewed — games are titans of the esports realm, with League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive standing in order atop the podium. Five of the top 10 highest viewed titles are exclusive to PC’s. When a CS:GO tournament can draw over 1 million simultaneous viewers, big entertainment money follows big entertainment numbers.

With the biggest prize pools, sponsorship and biggest infrastructure involvement, it isn’t just the nerds taking note. Other entertainment mediums have been sponsoring esports related events. From the StarCraft II Ender’s Game on Blu-Ray tournament last year to the Chappie Challenge tournament playing Evolve this earlier month, to the million dollar perfect game MLB 2k11, the intersection of esports — in particular PC games — and entertainment is at a level never before seen.

(Header image via GWI)

While some were crying out for further action on the pace-of-play front, Major League Baseball was busy setting a series of viewership, attendance and app download records. Between press releases from various clubs as well as MLB themselves, baseball’s popularity may not be waning afterall.

Baseball as a whole appears to be in a strong place as before the regular season started, spring training attendance eclipsed the four million mark, setting a new record. Leading up to the games that matter saw seamheads pass the five million download mark across all platforms for the MLB At-Bat in the preseason. That is roughly the equivalent of the combined population of Los Angeles and San Diego downloading the app prior to the first pitch on Sunday night. The Advanced Media portion of MLB — those in charge of the MLB At-Bat app — claim users were up 30% during spring training compared to last year.

As games across the country kicked off, baseball enjoyed more success as MLBAM set another record with 60 million fans turning into games either live, via video-on-demand system. If the preseason 5 million download mark is impressive, Monday saw the At-Bat app accessed an incredible 9.1 million times, crushing the previous single day record by 40%.

Individual teams partook in the record setting celebrations as the reigning American League champion Kansas City Royals reported a record 11.7 local TV rating for their home opener. That is compared to last year’s KC home opener rated at 6.2, however, that came as their fourth scheduled game of the season and was following a rain out and an 0-2 start. Following a flurry of trades and signings, the San Diego Padres and their fanbase entered the 2015 season with much hope. That hope translated to a 34% increase in television ratings for their home opener over last year. Of course all TV ratings must be taken with a grain of salt as those figures do not include the previously mentioned millions of fans streaming games.

Major League Baseball certainly isn’t perfect — instant replay, concussion issues and blackout policies immediately come to mind — but it is clear the sky isn’t falling just yet either.

To celebrate the return of baseball, all this week TechGraph writers will be highlighting their favorite apps, tools, tricks, and more related to our national pastime.

I feel as though I’ve reached the critical mass of baseball fandom. Watching a game on TV — or more accurately via my computer and casted to my TV — isn’t enough anymore. I fully recognized I’m in the minority of what I want out of a baseball broadcast, which is about the nicest way of saying I like the nerd statistics. The perpetually running hamster wheel that is my brain tends to require additional numbers and context when a broadcaster may casually mention what a hot start a player is off to. Or maybe something so extraordinary occurs that a GIF, picture or video must be captured. Thus, here is a list of the apps I find myself turning to when I feel the need to second screen while watching a game.

MLB.com At Bat
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way here. Why watch one game when you can watch four on one screen? Or, watch one game on TV, another on the laptop, with your tablet also running. To be fair, I’ve only been guilty of the triple screen a handful of times.

Twitter
Ain’t no party like a Twitter baseball party! From #WeirdBaseball to #HotTakes, the things baseball people are capable of making catch on is impressive. Sharing the good times and bad across thousands of miles add another level to the baseball viewing experience. I’d be hard pressed to find an app I use more frequently than Twitter while watching a game.

GifBoom
For those moments that have to be immortalized on the interwebs via GIF, GIFBoom, in my opinion, should be the go-to option for Android users. Since switching back to Android — and thus losing my beloved Echograph — GifBoom is a more than adequate replacement. Sporting a timer, a surprisingly solid zoom feature and the ability to convert existing video to GIF form, all for free, there isn’t much to disagree with.

Chromecast
Without this little HDMI dongle, my second screening would be a lot tougher. By pushing my MLB.TV to the television, I can use my laptop (or phone or tablet) for any number of other things. While Chromecast does say it requires a universal plug-n-play router, you can get around that fairly easily.

Google Docs and Sheets
Me, a baseball nerd utilizes a ton of spreadsheets? Shocking, I know. I keep a table of starting pitchers, relief pitchers and position players. Add in historic top-50s and single season records, if I’m ever stranded in the middle of nowhere and my battery isn’t dead, I can find out who holds the single season record for HBP, I can. For what it’s worth, the answer is Hughie Jennings in 1896 with 51 times being plunked. On the documents side of things, I tend to make notes as the game progresses. Rather than maintain a traditional score book — or app equivalent — I use Docs to jot down in-game events I find interesting.

Shazam
I love walk-up music for hitters and entrance music for closers. The whole thing is so campy I can’t help but love it. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s tough to tell exactly which song is being played and thus, enter Shazam! It isn’t always perfect, but does the job well enough for me to keep it on my phone.

Major League Baseball’s MLB.TV is the longest running streaming sports platform of its kind. The mobile version, MLB At-Bat has been tasked with keeping up with new versions of Windows, Macs, and most types of mobile operating systems (sorry Windows Mobile users). It is no easy feat and MLB Advanced Media deserves some recognition. The streaming service has had its flaws, but MLBAM just sent out an update to their apps, including compatibility with the upcoming Apple Watch. Released yesterday, MLBAM was gracious enough to give a free two day trial on the Android, Fire OS, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. No signup or auto-renewing fee, just a simple choice of which game(s) you’d like to watch.

The features new to this year’s version are things such as pre-game lineup notifications — strictly on the iPhone for now though — which is great for daily fantasy players, as well as a much needed revamp of the Android and Fire widgets. The full list of updates and additions can be found directly on the MLB website, however another feature worth highlighting is for 7-inch Android or Fire tablet owners being able to feature your favorite team. By selecting a specific club the app will showcase scores, news and video. If any of you are fans of multiple teams, the condensed game option is also available during the trial so you can catch up on each game’s signature events.

For those on the fence about purchasing MLB.TV for the first time — or even renewing it as last season there were major bugs early on — this is the perfect opportunity to preview the system at no charge. Each operating system’s apps are compatible with Google’s Chromecast,  Amazon’s FireTV and Fire Stick for straight forward broadcasts from your device to the television. With 24 games to choose from and zero sign up required, watching live baseball has never been easier.

(Header image via MLB)

The fact that you have to spend money to make money is true for all business models, including esports. South Korea, arguably the world leader in esports, is seeking to build on their strong history of supporting video gaming professionals at the player and developer level. According to The Korea Times, President Park Geun-hye promised 100 billion won — around $90 million — from the government for startup companies in the gaming community, the internet of things and financial technology.

According to Esports Earnings, South Korea has been particularly dominant in StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft II. Players hailing from South Korea have collected over $5.9 million in tournament winnings from SC:BW compared to China’s second place of almost $87,000.

The gap in SCII is Korea dominating the scene to the tune of over $11 million versus Sweden’s coming in at a tick above $530,000.

In addition to being the top earnings in both iterations of StarCraft — so much so the gaming community calls it the “Korean scene” versus the “foreign scene” with foreign meaning every single country that isn’t South Korea — League of Legends has also been largely dominated by Koreans. China is relatively close in winnings, though it is still barely half of what Korean teams and players have raked in.

With so much money coming in and going out in Korean esports, it should come as no surprise there is a governing body, the Korean e-Sports Association, better known as KeSPA. From proposing a minimum salary for players, ensuring travel for Korean citizens to foreign events and vice versa, as well as partnering with game developers for feedback, KeSPA’s is an organization looking out for sponsors and players alike. While not perfect, KeSPA — and South Korea as a whole — has inarguably played a major role in bringing esports to its current level of popularity.

(Header image via Blizzard)

Soccer is a massive business. Not just club level play, but international events such as Euro events, Gold Cup, and of course, the World Cup are massively popular and thus massive money makers. Despite the popularity of soccer itself, FIFA has a deservedly wretched standing with many fans. It seems as though the governing body of international soccer has recognized this, and is making veiled attempts to reconcile with fans.

From the outcry of fans regarding Russia’s anti-gay laws while they prepare to host the 2018 World Cup to the thousands of migrant workers who have died building Qatar’s 2022 stadiums, let alone the various corruption charges, FIFA had some serious bridges to rebuild. Perhaps it was the FBI’s investigation to countries bidding for the 2022 World Cup or the drop of major sponsors in Emirates, Sony, Castrol Oil, Johnson and Johnson or Continental, but it appears as though FIFA is attempting to re-brand their image.

On January 29 of this year, Major League Soccer announced their sale of the popular KICKTV YouTube channel to London based Copa90. Last week Copa90 then sent out a press released regarding a joint partnership as they joined forced with Pitch International, just three days after Pitch International sent out a press release saying they partnered with FIFA. The FIFA/Pitch International pairing will consist of PI airing the new show FIFA Football. The show will launch in May and according to Niclas Ericson, FIFA director of television, the show is about all aspects of the game.

FIFA Football is about giving fans a real insight into the game, on and off the pitch. Football is a truly global game and there are so many great moments to celebrate and fascinating stories to share from around the world. We hope this show will help to inspire the next generation to play, engage in and enjoy the world’s most popular sport.

Aiming at the younger generations — not just as players but also fans — by acquiring and partnering with YouTube channels seems to be a savvy move by FIFA. The NFL catered to fans in January by putting sanctioned game clips and highlights on YouTube. Given the amount of heat put on the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell in the wake of several poorly-handled decisions, throwing service to fans, possibly in a bit of a distraction ploy, was an interesting tactic. Similarly for FIFA, their new partnerships do nothing to apologize for past (and present) missteps by soccer’s most influential organization, however reaching out to fans is at least a positive step for a company not well known for positive press.

(Header image via Facebook)

As incredible as GIF(V)s and HTML5 videos are at capturing highlights, sometimes video alone does not do a moment justice. When an occasion calls for audio and video, Vine has filled that niche very well. Until today all Vines were recorded in 480p, however now iOS devices are able to record in 720p. The blog states an Android app update will follow shortly, however no word on Windows devices just yet.

After partnering and covering the NBA so successfully — the NBA Vine account has over 381 million loops — with both regular season and All-Star game coverage, at least one league is embracing the technology. On the other hand, arguably the best soccer league in the world, the Premier League seems set against sharing goals and highlights. In an interview prior to the season, Dan Johnson, director of communications for the Premier League was quoted

“You can understand that fans see something, they can capture it, they can share it, but ultimately it is against the law. It’s a breach of copyright and we would discourage fans from doing it, we’re developing technologies like gif crawlers, Vine crawlers, working with Twitter to look to curtail this kind of activity. I know it sounds as if we’re killjoys but we have to protect our intellectual property.”

Killjoys indeed. It is worth noting while the Vine official blog post does have a Premier League goal in it, Chelsea versus Crystal Palace, it is from the 2013 season and takes place before Johnson’s remarks.

Despite 720p not being particularly earth shattering on mobile devices these days, seeing Vine working to improve their overall user experience, is good for everyone, particularly sports and esports fans.

(Header image via Facebook)