In another step in the right direction for cord cutters, 120 Sports, the company that launched live streaming sports news, analysis and previews has expanded from mobile versions to include AppleTV. Supported by Sports Illustrated and working with MLB, NHL, PGA, NBA, NASCAR as well as a slew of college conferences, 120 Sports is a free service for sports fans without cable packages.

While the AppleTV compatibility is new, both iOS and Android versions have been available for over six months. The company boasts 10+ hours of live sports coverage every day, starting at 8 am eastern. On the app versions you can search for popular previous broadcasts via the Catch-Up hub or go to the Trending section to see what is on the rise, though to follow a specific player or team you’ll have to be using the app, not the AppleTV version.

With an indexed and searchable on-demand system, 120 Sports offers a ton to consumers. The ability to follow specific teams, leagues or even national teams is a great feature as well.

A slight knock on the app is that if a team, Queens Park Rangers for example, may not be popular enough, it isn’t even searchable. Clubs such as Arsenal, Man City and United and others are all searchable and able to be followed, but it appears as though only the big teams can be found.

It doesn’t need a login for the website version, however it does utilize your Google Play or App Store email for the mobile versions. Despite lacking live sports events, the highlights from 120 Sports alone make it well worth the download. Seeing the expansion to the television sets instead of mobile only is great progress as well.

In the wake of the allegations and subsequent investigation formed from The Daily Dot’s Richard Lewis in regards to match fixing, Valve — creators and developers of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive — has acted quickly by banning all parties involved announced in a blog post. Most of the former team iBUYPOWER as well as others involved have received bans from Valve. The ban list which includes professional players and community figures is as follows:

Duc “cud” Pham
Derek “dboorn” Boorn
Casey Foster
Sam “Dazed” Marine
Braxton “swag” Pierce
Keven “AZK” Larivière
Joshua “Steel” Nissan

Of particular note is Braxton Pierce, recently named HLTV’s 18th best CS:GO player of 2014. While there is no sole governing body in esports, let alone CS:GO, Valve did not act alone in their ban of the players from Valve-sponsored events. Competitive leagues ESEA, FACEIT and CEVO have all banned the guilty players for a minimum of one year.

Valve notes they were able to confirm the guilt after tracking the items (or skins) by looking at the historical activity of the accused accounts. Though the players apparently did not wager any money, there was thousands of dollars worth of bets in the form of skins the iBUYPOWER team wagered on the opposing underdog team NetCodeGuides.com. By throwing the match for what equated to a monetary gain, the CS:GO community cried out for justice, and it was served.

While thousands of dollars worth of in-game items may seem like a lot of money, it pales in comparison to formal bets on the games. Recently the 2015 Aspen X Games hosted a Major League Gaming CS:GO portion and popular betting site CSGO Lounge tweeted out a rather staggering figure for bets they handled on day one:

If Valve continues to step in and clean up the professional ranks of CS:GO — they and ESEA banned several professional players such as Hovik “KQLY” Tovmassian in November and ESEA more recently banned Andre “flex” Francisty  live on stream — then it betters esports as a whole. With money from sponsorships, advertising revenue and the integrity of the game on the line, Valve acted quickly. It isn’t the first time a governing body has handed down bans for wagering on games, from sAviOr and StarCraft to the much more famous Pete Rose and MLB, gambling on games where you directly affect the outcome hurts the image of the sport.

Soccer is inarguably the world’s sport, however acceptance to the top flight of sports in certain nations is yet to come. Despite not advancing out of a tough group with powerhouses Spain and Netherlands, as well as surprise second-place finisher Chile, Australia did have a relatively strong showing in the most recent World Cup — particularly in the narrow 2-3 loss to Spain. Even going back to the 2010 World Cup where the Socceroos were edged by goal differential after finishing group play tied at second place with Ghana, the support from television broadcasters hasn’t translated well for Australian soccer.

Australia is currently hosting the 2015 Asian Cup, where 16 teams from around the Pacific and Indian Oceans have been hitting the pitch, and Australia is just one victory away from making the finals. The path for Australia — and for viewers — hasn’t been the easiest one however. Each match Australia has played has been televised on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) or Fox Sports in Australia with casts on CCTV-5 for China, with other broadcast partners showing games around the world. These numbers do not reflect various streaming services either — strictly television.

After finishing second in their group behind South Korea, Australia dispatched China 2-0, as over 95 million people spread across the globe tuned in at some point during the match. From China, an average of 27 million people watched the quarter final matchup, shattering the previous record of 23 million. China is not alone in their upward numbers, as both Japan and South Korea have seen rises in viewership. With the success of the television numbers — numbers that should be taken with a large grain of salt as any viewer using an unofficial stream is not counted — it is curious to find that ABC is airing only the Australia games live. Fox Sports has handled all other games, though some were shown on a tape delay.

Here in North America exclusive Asian Cup coverage has been given to ONE World Sports, a channel that is unfortunately limited in availability. After ESPN lost out on the World Cup broadcast rights it would have made sense for them to get back into the soccer game with a tournament of this size. Given NBC’s recent expansion into European soccer, grabbing the Asian market would have also made sense for them.

For now, as a big fan of the South Korean team, I’m forced to find alternative online options rather than watching on TV, even though my TV package includes dozens of sports channels. If time zone differences are the argument against showing the Asian Cup — and given my sleep schedule over the past weeks, that is a strong argument to make — then how is Canada streaming the games via ONE World Sports, while the United States is left in the dark? While the popularity of soccer continues to gain ground here in the United States, if the old saying of “misery loves company” is true then Australia is our brother in the struggle to find the proper medium to deliver sports content.

The Aspen 2015 X Games have kicked off already — they can be viewed on various ESPN networks, provided you have a cable subscription — however one portion of the X Games can be viewed without any pay access. Partnered with Major League Gaming, X Games is streaming the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament on MLG.tv at no cost. Highlights from the CS:GO tournament will be shown during the television broadcasts of other X Games events.

Some controversy already surrounds the CS:GO playing field. After qualified team Clutch Cats pulled out of the tournament, Torqued (formerly team iBUYPOWER) the second highest in both qualifiers, was overlooked in favor of Team Liquid. Despite going out in the second round of each qualifier, Team Liquid was chosen over the arguably more deserving Torqued. Many reasons had to be a factor in MLG’s decision, however a match fixing scandal involving Torqued and previous team iBUYPOWER members may have been a factor.

The Daily Dot initially broke the news of a potential scandal, citing particularly poor decision making and gameplay from iBP, text messages, as well as suspicious betting. The last part is of particular note, as betting on CS:GO matches yields thousands of dollars of in-game weapon skins (patterns and designs) every tournament. The biggest betting site is CSGO Lounge, where there are active bets for individual matches made nearly every day. With this much real-life money on the line, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for match-fixing to be a major concern.

Given that this is the first major ESPN and X Games venture into CS:GO, it is no surprise they decided to “play it safe” and invite Team Liquid. While CS:GO tournaments regularly receives over 100,000 unique viewers, the partnership of highlights and cut-ins to the main ESPN broadcast could bring about more growth to the Counter-Strike community. The games begin Friday with a round robin group play where the four teams in each group play a matchup against one another, with the top two teams advancing to the bracket stage. Up for grabs is a $50,000 prize pool split among the top four finishing teams, plus betting wins — and losses — for viewers at home.

(Featured image via Monster Gaming)

Succumbing to the world of selfies — and of course selfie sticks — is nearly inevitable at this point. Given the rapid growth of Instagram, now owned by Facebook, it isn’t hard to envision how social media integration is making people’s lives and interests public. Just days ago at the NCAA National Championship football game fans used more than a staggering six terabytes of data. Recently, Instagram launched their latest beta test update for Android platforms, a voluntary way of helping them troubleshoot as well as give feedback to the developers for what will eventually be their next update.

Despite just pushing out a major update back in December where five new filters were added, the brains behind IG seem keen on keeping up to date with new versions of the app. The beta update is free, you just have to join the Google+ group and then opt-in to the beta test. Once you’re in, you’ll see a confirmation message.

You’re also given the option to opt-out whenever you’d like. Given the very nature of beta testing, there may be some kinks to work out, however in the early going the changes have been for the best. Officially, the only changes to this beta version are various bug fixes, though more features could be unrolled as the beta progresses.

Be it concerts or sporting events or even a just a group of friends watching a game, wherever there are groups of people, posting pictures and videos are a part of lives now.

From the latest Global Web Index report — Q3 2014 — more than one in three households with an internet connection now have a SmartTV. Unsurprisingly, the age range of 25-34 held the highest ownership rate at 42%, however income had a greater effect on SmartTV ownership than age. The top income quartile reported at 50% ownership rate. SmartTVs are no longer a trend, but something that has arrived.

As the graphic displays, the way people are using their SmartTVs is also evolving. On-demand services such Google Play was used by 39% of owners, Netflix ranked second with 27% and iTunes usage rates followed at 26%. Amazon Prime services were used by 17% of SmartTV owners and SoundCloud showed a 14% rate.

Given the popularity of such streaming services — particularly among the highlighted 25-34 year-olds — the continued rise of SmartTVs working with more and more streaming options should come as no surprise.

While there is not an official Twitch.TV app for various SmartTVs, there are options for watching YouTube streams listed here.

The second screen experience — something sporting events and video games excel at — is of particular note. Two out of three people told GWI they use a smartphone while watching TV, with one-third stating they use a tablet. A simple search at the time of writing of Twitter’s trending topics show 8/10 being related to sports, be it trades, scores, signings or other.

It’s clear the market for SmartTVs is on the rise. Count on more programming, both on television and streaming services, being catered towards SmartTV owners. The full report can be found on GWI’s website here.

A wrist band there, a smartwatch here, maybe a sensor in your shoe. Connected health devices have an evolving — and growing —  place in our world, and as unique as they are, they tend to measure the same things. Heart rate, distances, sleep and such things are all incredibly helpful, however with the Skulpt Aim device, that is all left behind. Aim is a device that measures muscle quality (MQ) in specific muscle groups, up to 24, and by measuring biceps, triceps, abs and quads it gives a total body fat percentage as well as MQ score.

To quantify the muscle gains, Skulpt Aim utilizes 12 sensors and a technology called Electrical Impedance Myography (EIM), developed by Seth Rutkove, MD, Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. EIM applies a small current of electricity through the muscle to accurately quantify muscle and fat, as each reacts differently when a current is sent through it.

The MQ is measured on an index, the higher the score, the better the muscle quality. With each measurement you can track your fat percentage going down while the MQ goes up, ideal for focusing on specific areas where you think you’re lacking.

With Skulpt, quantifying your training is far beyond simply looking in the mirror or even stepping on a bio-impedance scale. Each measurement with the Aim takes less than one second and the results are displayed on the device itself, no need to pair it with a wireless device for immediate feedback. It is currently compatible with iOS devices (iPhone 5 and later) and will be available for Android (4.3 and later) soon in order to keep a running total of measurements.

Skulpt’s website boasts comparable muscle measurements to hydrostatic weighing, the most accurate and expensive method. The Aim device also claims to be three times more accurate than caliper based measurements. It is available for pre-order at $199 USD and is also available for varying prices in Canada, U.K. and Australia. With a battery that lasts two months a single charge and is splash proof, the Skulpt Aim appears to be a must-have device for any serious trainer, regardless of  the sport. Skulpt’s intro video can be found below and a number of how-to measure videos are available on their website.

As the reach of streaming services continues to grow ever further, the competition to offer streaming options increases — from Amazon-owned Twitch.TV to MLG.TV, YouTube, or even Azubu.TV. Now, Dailymotion is throwing its hat into the ring. With the announcement of Dailymotion Games, the new platform aims to tap into the massive professional and casual stream market.

According to their press release, gaming content already accounts for 180 million video views per month on Dailymotion as well as 11 million unique viewers monthly. The latest addition to the esports streaming scene offers a similar function to existing services including a chat box, user-controlled commercial breaks and an app for both iOS and Android is already available. The official website still says the product is in Beta, however hundreds of channels are already live and ready to be watched.

For doubters questioning if someone can make a living merely streaming a game, Winter, a teamless player who primarily streams StarCraft II, recently answered this on Reddit. He cites a $60,000 income in 2014 — between ad revenue from his stream plus donations — before taxes are accounted for. Given that he does not compete at the professional level and has won a mere $600 in prize money from competitive tournaments in his career, his stream generates more than a livable wage.

Considering the fact StarCraft II is, at best, the fifth most watched game behind League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Hearthstone, clearly streaming services and those who use it will be constantly searching for the best platform. It remains to be seen if Dailymotion can knock Twitch off of their pedestal as the leader of streaming services, though more competition can only be a good thing.

Even before covering CES, it was clear that we as a technology-obsessed culture was headed towards a wearable boon. Between proprietary and universal smartwatches to fitness bands and sleep trackers, the new field of connected devices is a field primed for growth. Like any product, these beginning stages offer a wide variety of options without any clear winner sitting above the competition. Before unloading hundreds of dollars on a piece of technology, why not try it out first? At Lumoid, trying before buying is their sole function.

Though Lumoid has offered photography and video trials before, they have recently expanded their scope to include wearables of all kinds. The company will allow you to try any five connected devices for a week. If you happen to find the perfect wearable you’re able to purchase it at retail price, or failing that, it is just $20 to send all five back. The return label is included with the devices and the $20 is automatically taken off of your credit card upon shipping the unwanted wearables back. Sporting choices such as Samsung’s Gear Fit, the Pebble smartwatch and the Fitbit Charge as well as many others for a total of 36 different options, Lumoid is hitting the ground running with this ambitious product trial.

A recent study conducted by Global Web Index from Q3 2014 showed that while 80% of the 170,000 adults use a smartphone, only a combined 16% utilize some sort of smartwatch (9%) or wristband (7%).

If market saturation is the issue — and that is a worthy argument despite the still new wearable field — then perhaps Lumoid will allow users to shed some light on the different products through the week long trials.

The crowd surrounding the SmartMat booth at CES was able to see first hand the connected yoga mat that has gained so much attention on Indiegogo by raising nearly 300% of the desired goal. Now in production, SmartMat had live demonstrations of just what the mat is capable of doing including recognizing 62 different poses, showing proper form, and providing audio and visual feedback from a digital instructor.

Ready to be shipped out in the second quarter of the year, the connected mat is available for pre-order right now for $297.00. With apps available in both iOS and Android, SmartMat has digital classes plus unlockable badges as your progress through various levels of difficulty. Before hitting the ground running you’ll need to calibrate the mat in order to accurately detect alignment and provide the best tips to improve your posture.

There are three modes in which SmartMat can critique your poses: In-home, In-class and Zen. In-home is aimed at the private user, giving real time feedback step-by-step and scores directly on your device. In-class is for session based or group classes as it recognizes poses, but you can tweak the setting for audio or video feedback only in order to not disturb others. The zen mode is designed for when you don’t have your phone or tablet with you. Zen mode saves your information locally in order to sync, review and analyze it later at the expense of no real time help.

SmartMat’s battery lasts up to six hours and connects via bluetooth. No need to be connected to wi-fi,thus allowing freedom to continue practicing yoga in the park, gym or while on a business trip. It measures 26″ x 71″ and is 6mm and can be rolled up just like a traditional yoga mat. For heat yoga enthusiasts the official rating on SmartMat is 110F, though the site also urges caution for your smartphone or tablet at that temperature.

By bringing the yoga class to your apartment or home, or even being able to travel with a virtual instructor, SmartMat is stretching the scope of yoga while it helps users stretch their bodies. Given the prices of classes — let alone private one-on-one sessions — it is clear to see why SmartMat has gained so much traction in the yoga community. The near $300 one-time cost for immediate feedback is a great price when compared to your local instructor’s rates. The video below is from SmartMat’s YouTube channel and is more of a preview trailer than demonstration, however given what was shown at CES, it is an accurate depiction of the finished product.