One of the bigger problems with diagnosing concussions, especially during an actual game, is that symptoms present themselves differently for every person. When a player goes limp, becomes dizzy, or loses consciousness, a concussion becomes easier to diagnose. But often times a concussion can occur without presenting such harsh symptoms. A player may experience a concussion without severe side-effects, or even without knowing it.

The Canadian company Shockbox is striving to create an easier way to treat and prevent concussions with the help of sensors placed in the helmet. The sensors go for $179.99, and can last up to three years with periodic charging. After the sensors are secured in the helmet, they are paired with a smartphone or tablet. Up to 125 sensors can be paired with any given device, so even an entire team can be monitored at once. Any significant impact will send data to the device, and alerts can be set up to notify coaches or parents of a specifically hard hit so that the player can be removed immediately for further testing or rest. Shockbox also offers a cloud service (for Android platforms only at the moment, though an iOS platform is in developement), so that multiple days/games worth of data can be stored for research or to keep tabs on a player’s history.

Shockbox’s CEO and CTO, Danny Crossman, started the company in 2010 after transitioning from developing the same type of technology for the military. His company now has six full-time employees and is gaining partnerships with multiple youth leagues and college teams. Crossman noted that all of the manufacturing is done in North America, with no contracting going overseas. Sensors are sold throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. Shockbox offers sensors fitted for many types of helmets, including football, hockey, lacrosse, skiing/snowboarding, and biking.

Scalability is what makes Shockbox’s product so appealing. While it’s feasible that an entire team or league can be outfitted with sensors, sometimes that just isn’t an option. However, concerned parents of young athletes can purchase a sensor individually and pair it with their own phone or tablet to keep tabs on their child’s impacts with realtime monitoring, allowing them to pull their child from competition if they suffer a significant blow. It’s just as Shockbox’s motto states: Know When a Hit is Too Hard.

As we know more about concussions and how they happen, devices like Shockbox will become even more valuable. Crossman himself admitted that by the time his sensors reach end-of-life after about three years of use, the technology will surely have changed. Nevertheless, Shockbox offers an easy and reasonably-priced way to help ensure player safety. Undoubtedly, as the dangers of head injuries continue to rise in visibility within the public, more and more teams and organizations will adopt this kind of technology on a sweeping scale. That’s good not just for Shockbox’s bottom line, but for parents, coaches, and players everywhere.

(Header image via Elliot Connor Photography)

NBA 2K15 launched today, and with it came a bunch of new features and tweaks. The 2K series hasn’t been without its flaws, but it has a long track record of being a very popular and polished game in the sports space for quite some time. I personally think it peaked with 2K13, but I haven’t spent much time with the latest iteration yet. Beyond the updated rosters and souped-up graphics, 2K Studios added a new feature to the already-excellent MyCareer subset of the game. MyCareer, as the name suggests, allows the gamer to create their own NBA player and simulate a career with said character. In the past, MyCareer basically ensured your player would get drafted. No longer. 2K15 makes you work for it, hustling for 10-day contracts as you try and make your way through the lowest ranks of the NBA. The game also added the option of uploading your own face to your player to give the process a bit of hyperrealism. Anyone who has the camera accessory for the Xbox One or PS4 can perform a facial scan and graft that scan onto a virtual body. It’s a pretty cool idea, but early trials have been a bit hit-and-miss.

Fans who picked up the game today have been uploading their attempts at facial scanning to Twitter, and the results have been fairly horrifying. I don’t mean that in an “if my ex saw me on the street dressed like this, I’d be horrified” type of way. I mean it in a full-on nightmare fuel, call-your-doctor-for-a-refill-of-Xanax kind of way. While some attempts turned out down-right goofy, others looked like they came straight from the set of The Walking Dead. 

This is the problem inherent in releasing a new version of a sports video game every year. Games are expensive, and developers are constantly looking for ways to differentiate between versions so as to not seem like just a roster update. They succeed in many ways. The defensive upgrades in this year’s version of the Madden franchise is just one recent standout (NHL15 failed pretty hard in their release, but that’s a different story). As it happens, even the process of facial scanning can be frustrating. A viewing of Owen S. Good’s attempts for Polygon is a short introduction to a man descending into madness.

NBA 2K15 has already sent along some steps for getting successful scans, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some patches coming in the not-so-distant future. In the meantime, enjoy dominating the NBA as a soulless member of the army of undead. If your character manages to overtake LeBron and snack on his tasty brains, feel free to link a video in the comments.

Given the success of MLB.tv and MLS Live, it was only a matter of time before another major sport followed suit with an all new online streaming service. With a clear shift in how people prefer to receive their sports services — so called cord-cutters are dropping television service in favor of online streaming — the NBA announced a deal yesterday that could see a major change in how fans watch games.

The nine-year TV agreement between the league, ESPN/ABC, TNT and Time Warner won’t officially start with the 2016-17 season, but it could include some good news for those who want to stream games without a cable/satellite package. Per the Wall Street Journal:

As part of its deal, ESPN negotiated a package of games for the online video service. The NBA’s “League Pass” offering already allows users to stream live regular-season games that aren’t televised nationally and aren’t available in their home market.

But ESPN has been cautious about letting its most valuable content—live professional sports games—outside the walls of pay television. Its streaming app WatchESPN is only available to pay-TV customers, so the new online service represents a shift in approach….

It isn’t clear whether the online service will be a subscription offering or a “transactional” one in which people will pay for individual games. The parties are considering licensing the package to wireless carriers such as Verizon that are building online video services, one of the people familiar with the matter said. The number of games that will be made available for the online service is still being decided.

The significance of being able to view games without a cable or satellite plan cannot be understated. The existing NBA League Pass allows one to stream out of market games online for 149.99 for the strictly streaming version — including mobile — or 199.99 for the stream + television package. On the worldwide leader side, WatchESPN requires an existing paid TV subscription to view games, so this new service must be something built from the ground up.

Curiously rather than the NBA buying out its own streaming services, NBA League Pass and NBA TV, the online games continues to be handled by the Turner Broadcasting Company. To outsource something as big as this and still not maintain full, top-down control is a questionable move, especially when considering past criticisms of NBA League Pass.

Assuming ESPN’s streaming service has nothing to do with the previous frustrations with League Pass, this could usher in a new era of free streaming sports for internet-only subscribers. ESPN has a solid history of online services, as ESPN 360/ESPN 3 were stable platforms, and given their renewed partnership with the NBA, ESPN should  invest considerable resources to their NBA centered streaming service.

(Header photo via Keith Allison)

If you’ve read Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers, you know his theory regarding how a youngster’s birthday can affect their ability to rise in the ranks of hockey. Whether you believe it or not, it’s an interesting, quantitative way to look at exactly how people become successful at the sport. As it happens, scientists in Australia have come to a similar conclusion regarding rugby players, though it has less to do with age, and more to do with geography.

Scientists from Sydney University’s Faculty of Health Sciences recently published an article in the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching stating that Australian players from smaller towns are much more likely to succeed in the later stages of rugby than those from larger cities. According to Dr. Stephen Colby (via Business Insider):

“Our research reveals if you started out as a junior in a small country town the odds are stacked in your favour. Statistically, it’s more likely that you will go on to play at a professional level compared to a junior who starts their participation at a club within a big city.”

The study focuses not on where players live currently, but more on where they played at the junior level within the country. The exact reason has yet to be nailed down, but there appears to be some sort of physical or sociological advantage to playing and training in smaller cities and towns. The study looked at the current rosters of Australian National Rugby League players, and from where the players hailed.

The jury may still be out as to exactly why rural kids have a better shot in the rugby world, but it’s a great example of how researchers and scientists are using datasets to find trends and correlations within sports.

(Header photo via reepy_au)

Microsoft is already having a bit of a branding issue when it comes to the NFL, and it now appears that the NFL is looking to nip a future problem in the bud. The NFL has an exclusive contract with Bose, and part of that agreement features language that prohibits headphones from other manufacturers appearing on camera. In this case, it seems as if the NFL is specifically targeting the Beats brand. Players are not allowed to wear Beats during pre-game warmups or during post-game interviews. I suppose they aren’t allowed to wear them during the game, either, though this seems like an unlikely scenario.

According to the NFL, Bose isn’t the one actually making the stink. The league is. According to their statement (via Re/Code):

“The NFL has longstanding policies that prohibit branded exposure on-field or during interviews unless authorized by the league. These policies date back to the early 1990s and continue today,” an NFL spokesperson said in a statement. “They are the NFL’s policies – not one of the league’s sponsors, Bose in this case.  Bose is not involved in the enforcement of our policies. This is true for others on-field.”

The NFL is big business. They make a killing via TV rights, ticket and merchandise sales, and a slew of branding deals. But they also lean heavily on sponsorships. In the 2013-14 season, the NFL and their teams brought in about $1.07 billion through sponsorships alone. Needless to say, they want to keep sponsors happy. The recent fallout from the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson suspensions further proved that. With Bose v. Beats, the NFL is looking for an easy win to keep at least one sponsor happy.

The NFL has a long way to go to recoup its image with some fans. They will be under a large microscope for some time. And they know that their sponsors know that as well. They may take a hit with players after taking away their preferred brand of headphones, but it looks like that’s a price the NFL is willing to pay.

(Header image via Titanas)

It’s Postseason time and you want to put some baseball in your face. But what if you are on a plane during the game? What if your TV exploded? What if your dumb boss is forcing you to work the weekend? What if your significant other is making you go to a farm to pick apples or decorative gourds? Well, believe it or not, it will actually be easier to (legally) stream playoff baseball this year. Please notice my use of the word easier in the previous sentence, and how I did not use the word easy. MLB is offering many of their games to stream through MLB.tv, assuming you have the proper cable/satellite subscription. The games not offered by MLB.tv, those playing on Fox Sports 1, can also be streamed if you have the proper cable/satellite subscription, but the way the provider/subscriber deals work out, there is actually very little overlap. For a five spot, you can subscribe to Postseason.tv, which offers “alternate” — read: bad — views of the ALDS and ALCS games, and an Gameday Audio subscription should give you the ability to stream the radio broadcasts. Otherwise, if you just can’t park your butt on the couch this weekend, here’s your guide for streaming the Postseason this weekend.

(EDIT: Intrepid reader Micah pointed out that he was able to watch Friday’s early game through TBS.com, which allows subscribers of other providers like Dish, Xfinity, and COX to watch as well. This may be an option for AL games tomorrow. I’ll edit this post if that is the case. Thanks Micah!)

(Followup: It does appear you can stream these via TBS.com, but the option is only available for computers, not mobile devices.)

NLDS Game 2 (SFN @ WAS)

• You can only stream this game on mobile devices or the web, not through connected devices (game systems, Roku, etc.)
• You can only stream this game through the Fox Sports Go App
• You must subscribe to Fox Sports 1, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers (some smaller providers not listed):
  • AT&T U-Verse
  • Bright House
  • Cox
  • Mediacom
  • Time Warner Cable
  • Xfinity (Comcast)
  • Optimum
  • Suddenlink

NLDS Game 2 (SLN @ LAD)

• You can stream this game on mobile devices, the web, or on connected devices
• You can only stream this game through the MLB At Bat app or on MLB.tv
• You must provide a valid MLB.tv login
• You must subscribe to MLB Network, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers:
  • DirecTV
  • Optimum
  • Time Warner Cable
  • Verizon FiOS
  • Bright House
  • Buckeye

ALDS Game 3 (BAL @ DET)

• You can only stream this game on mobile devices or the web
• You can only stream this game through the MLB At Bat app or on MLB.tv
• You must provide a valid MLB.tv login
• You must subscribe to TBS, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers:
  • DirecTV
  • Optimum
  • Verizon FiOS
  • Buckeye

ALDS Game 3 (LAA @ KCA)

• You can only stream this game on mobile devices or the web
• You can only stream this game through the MLB At Bat app or on MLB.tv
• You must provide a valid MLB.tv login
• You must subscribe to TBS, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers:
  • DirecTV
  • Optimum
  • Verizon FiOS
  • Buckeye

Clear as mud? That’s what I thought. Of course, if you have a decent cable/satellite package or can get to a local watering hole with a bank of TVs, you should be set. Stay tuned for another steaming guide on Monday to get you through the week. In the meantime, enjoy some weekend baseball.

Allow me to start off by apologizing. Thus far I have done two game reviews here at TechGraphs, Madden 15 and FIFA 15, and didn’t have a working capture card for either. Worry no more, dear readers, as from now on I have a smooth running Roxio HD Pro.

There is no shortage of various capture cards, both Amazon and NewEgg have hundreds of search results, however I chose the Roxio brand for a few reasons. Now I’m a fairly technologically-inclined person — I’m sure you’re shocked to hear this — so I don’t shy away from something that could be described as having a difficult installation. Of course, just because I can do something doesn’t mean I want to struggle and get frustrated. One of the biggest selling points for me when deciding which card to get was ease of installation. The only parts I needed to get the Roxio HD Pro up and running on my Xbox 360 were a pair of HDMI cables that ran me about nine bucks.

The instructions contained within the Roxio HD Pro packaging wasn’t at all what I expected. They looked much longer and more intricate than what I planned on.

Then I realized I had been looking at the PlayStation setup. The setup guide for the 360 is literally one sentence plus three bullet points for troubleshooting tips.

The first thing I did was to make sure my Xbox was off. Next I plugged the USB/power cable from my laptop to the Roxio itself. I then unplugged the AV cable and inserted an HDMI to the 360 and the other to the Roxio. Step three was simply taking the other HDMI cable and plugging it into the other side of the capture card and the back of my TV. The next step was putting the installation CD that came with the card into my computer and installing the necessary software. And that’s it. basically five steps, including just double checking my 360 was turned off.

The whole point of springing for the HD Pro version of the Roxio (other than the ease of installation) rather than the standard version for me was two fold: capture footage in 1080p — only 480p is available on the standard model — and the ability to live stream directly to either a YouTube or a Twitch.tv channel. I don’t play competitive console games (though once Halo: Master Chief Collection comes out that my change…), however the option to stream in real time to viewers all over the world is a pretty cool thing to have ready to go.

Really, that is what video games and to a certain extent sports are about: the thrill of winning, and winning in public fashion. Everything from bragging rights, smack talk to whatever you’d like to call is all part of competitive culture in sports and esports alike. Capture cards give you the ability to grab every moment of action so you never miss a highlight. The free software with the Roxio HD Pro allows for editing — it isn’t Sony Vegas but it is quite nice given the price tag — like changing speed such as slo-mo, adjusting the lighting, frame-by-frame trimming and voice over commentary is great for creating montages.

If you can have video evidence of you crushing your friends 6-1 in FIFA or dropping consecutive 3-pointers on them from just across half court, it’s all part of the fun. I’ve already had a blast just tinkering with the editing options. Perhaps in the coming days I’ll upload more gameplay to my YouTube or Twitch channel, maybe even some footage of me getting stomped by pre-teens on Xbox Live while they hurl insults at my parents. But for now, enjoy me playing as QPR against Fulham:

(Header image via Roxio.c0m)

Well, here’s something new to the world of sideline cheering: robot cheerleaders. This is actually rather cool, considering that they’re ROBOT CHEERLEADERS and they could probably shoot fireworks from their backs at some point. Probably a fire hazard, but you know, it’s a possible thing.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

At a demonstration in Tokyo, a troupe of 10 of the robots moved around in unison to form circles, squares and heart formations, to the bouncy accompaniment of J-pop music.

There’s a lot of possibilities with robot cheerleaders, I think, especially something that would lead to more robotics in sports. Not necessarily robot umpires, though that’s always a possibility, but robot vendors. Who wouldn’t want their beer being served by robots? Each robot being able to bring you beer on tap right to your seat. Robot cheerleaders that can throw hot dog sandwiches out into the crowd. This is a thing that this technology can provide for fans.

It could raise debate over the “human element” being destroyed in games, but it’s also something that moves society into a futuristic, Jetsons-esque lifestyle that, if I’m being completely honest here, is kind of completely cool. Now if only someone would make that hoverboard a real thing.

(Header by Takahiro Kyono)

Real-life Tony Stark — Telsa and SpaceX founder Elon Musk — is in the news again on the merit of a recent and fascinating Aeon Magazine article. The article sums up some of Musk’s recent Mars ambitions, and by way of recap: His original call for an 80,000-person colony has expanded to a 1-million-person civilization. And in case we might suspect the idea is discovery-driven, we should know the emphasis actual orbits the concept of survival.

And, oddly enough, it makes some sense. What he’s saying is:

1. There are no other civilizations networked across the known galaxy;
2. so barring any unknown unknowns, there’s either no life by Earth life or all other single-planet civs died off;
3. so what the hell? Let’s build a second Earth in case we break this one a little earlier than expected.

And since every science fiction movie ever includes Earth either being destroyed or being wasted via pollution, then I’d say we pretty much need to make that Mars colony right now.
Read the rest of this entry »

We all know hockey is a dangerous sport, what with all the smashing and the fighting and the flying sticks. And while the sport can take its toll on the body, it can also be life-threatening. At any given time 12 players can be roaming the ice, which means 24 super-sharp blades are also moving around out there. While the chances of someone going full-on Happy Gilmore and attacking a player with a skate, slips and falls and tumbles can always happen. One wrong move could spell trouble. One company is hoping to keep players safe from skate cuts with a line of high-tech clothing.

Base360, Inc, a Canadian manufacturer of sports apparel, makes specialized shirts and pants to help prevent severe cuts on the ice. Their line of compression shirts and pants come with added layers of Kevlar-enforced material around high-risk areas like the calf, ankle, and wrist. This added layer helps protect against cuts to major veins and arteries, while still providing the movement and range of motion needed for competition on the ice.

Base360 has recently paired with the fabric company Garmatex, and now offers CoolSkin technology in their apparel. CoolSkin is designed to offer a high rate of moisture wicking and evaporation to help keep a player drier. Bact-Out technology is also incorporated to help prevent odor and keep fabric integrity. This is a good move by Base360, as adding technologies that players are already looking for in hockey apparel on top of an added level of protection from skate-related injuries really helps set them apart.

Every year, a good deal of professional hockey players have to be treated for skate lacerations. Extrapolate that out to all the minor-league, youth programs, and recreation leagues in existence, and that’s a lot of possible injuries. While hockey will certainly never be a 100%-safe sport, taking measures to prevent severe and possibly fatal injuries is always a welcome one.

(Header photo via Paul L Dineen)