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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.

The term “knowledge is power” is as important in today’s world of sports as it was when first written down in the Leviathan. Tracking devices are already widely used by professional teams, however never before has a GPS device been open to the public like GameTraka. With the new GameTraka GPS device and accompanying software, any person can arm themselves with a wide assortment of useful on-field analytics. The Australian-made device measures the basics such as distance ran and top speed, as well as giving an intensity rating and acceleration.

The device itself is very small, about the size of a box of matches and measures your position five times per second.

Specifically, the dimensions of the GPS unit is 62mm x 38mm x 8mm and comes in at 22 grams. Given the nature of many sports, collisions are inevitable and rather than have wear a device on the hip or wrist, GameTraka is held in place by a lightweight vest with the sensor placed in the back. The vest easily fits under any jersey or uniform and is specifically designed to fit the unit safely and comfortably.

The company’s mantra is “wearable, shareable and comparable” and as great as the vest and sensor system is, where GameTraka truly shines is the sharing and comparing department. After the game, the sensor sends the data to the software side of things for the full breakdown. Connecting via Bluetooth to an iOS device or computer, the GameTraka software is where the leg work is done. The previously mentioned intensity rating is an estimation of how hard the wearer worked. For example, on a soccer field, a striker may have ran only two-thirds the distance of a midfielder, but at a higher intensity.

By comparing players to each other as well as well from one game to the next, a coach can clearly see who is running the farthest, the fastest and the hardest. From a training perspective, the system removes any subjectivity and guesswork by allowing coaches to see just how well a player is progressing if coming back from an injury. Individual players can compare data by chronological order and take note of any trends that may present themselves.

The price of knowledge from the GameTraka is $299.99 per unit, though according to the official site there are group discounts available. From a basketball coach seeing who truly hustles on defense to a soccer manager attempting to find the fastest in-game striker or winger to a rec league player who just wants to quantify as much about themselves as possible, GameTraka is the ideal unit for gathering on-field information.

ESPN, the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports,” has at last released their WatchESPN mobile app for Windows devices. The free-to-download app is available for all Windows 8/8.1 devices and allows streaming sports directly to your mobile device. Of course the standard caveat with any WatchESPN app is that a cable television subscription in order to access the live streams.

Despite requiring a TV package, seeing the field of apps expand for Windows users is a good sign. Though they sold not even 3% of the smartphone market in the third quarter of 2014, Windows phones may very well be on the rise. Microsoft has plans to grow their app market, potentially through the Android app market. As the IDC graphic below illustrates, the vast majority of smartphone units sold in Q3 2014 were on the Android platform — mostly the more budget-rate devices for sub-$200.

Microsoft’s recent focus has been on that particular price point — they sport four unlocked devices for less than $200 each as well as 14 different phones below that either on contract or off. If adding the WatchESPN app is the beginning of a new era of Windows smartphones, all the better for competition.

While Facebook does their “year in review” with everyone’s respective timelines, I’d like to take a look at the my past year’s purchases and orders in either the sports or nerdy fields, sometimes both. Given my personal interests, there should be no surprise to find soccer and baseball dominate the list. In reverse order, this is my very subjective list of my favorite online purchases from the year.

Honorable mentions:
Thrustmaster T-Flight Stick
In what is inarguably my nerdiest purchase of the year, I went out and bought a joystick controller for my computer upon learning was Star Wars: TIE Fighter was available again. I’m not sure how 9-year-old me managed to beat the game, as 27-year-old me has struggled to make it past the third battle.

NCAA Football 2006 for the Xbox/Xbox 360 I’ve ran the dynasty in this game almost since release day. No surprise to say I’ve worn through several discs, but this year’s replacement will probably have at least another year or two in it. When I stumbled across this game for less than six bucks via Amazon, I had to buy it.

5. An Alberto Callaspo Oakland A’s shirsey
It was the top of the 12th inning and at this point the combination of frustration and craft beer had taken its toll on me. In possibly the cruelest turn of playoff events, I made a promise to the Twitter world that if the pinch-hitting Callaspo delivered an RBI hit, I would instantly purchase his shirsey. Well, he did. I ran around my apartment excited, ordered the shirsey, and my A’s lost anyway. Que sera, sera. On an unrelated note, I may be the only man in the world to own the triple threat of shirseys with Daric Barton, Brett Anderson and Alberto Callaspo.

4. FOX Soccer 2Go
Probably a top-five streaming service — excluding Netflix and Amazon Prime — FOX Soccer 2Go is a very clean interface, though not particularly cheap at $119.99 for the year. The quality of the UEFA Champions league matches makes up for the price tag, however top league plays such as the Premier League and La Liga cannot be streamed. I’ll continue to support this, as top flight football fixtures are worth it me, though this may not be for everyone.

3. Two tickets to the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field

Was it cold? Absolutely. Did I run late and miss out on the Federal jersey? Of course I did. All that aside, it was still a pretty incredible game, plus the view made it worth it.

At the time my iPhone’s Passbook worked  very well, though Apple Pay wasn’t available for in-stadium purchases just yet.

The game itself was entertaining, even in the ninth inning as the Cubs blew a three run lead. The WPA chart is a sad story. At one point the Cubs held a 97.5% chance of winning. Oof.

2. A South Korea Home Jersey + Scarf

I guess I should give props to Amazon for packaging these two options together with their creepily-accurate targeted ads. I was only after the jersey, but they sucked me with a great deal on the scarf. While my home nation flamed out in the group stage — in awful fashion, too as they couldn’t score against a 10-man Belgium side and even conceded a goal up a man — this combination of team pride is something I’ll wear long into the future.

1. MLS Live
As the full version of the review states, the video-on-demand system MLS Live brings to table is the best I’ve come across. The interface is clean, the mobile app is strong on its own and best of all, the price tag for a full season is barely half of MLB.tv’s cost. As a league, MLS is on rise in terms of quality, plus seeing USMNT players at the club level is always grand. This is certainly an annual purchase for myself from now on.

(Header image via Forbes.com)

There is no denying the holiday season brings a boon for the most sales industries, in particular the wireless field. With that in mind, many of the staff and readers of TechGraphs have no doubt received a device of some sort, so here today are some post-holiday season add-ons. Ranging from music to films and television to apps and video games, we have a wide assortment of free and reduced price things for you to browse.

Kicking things off with a topical, or at least seasonal, item today via the Google Play Store the entire Frozen soundtrack is free to download. All 32 tracks — I couldn’t believe there were than many either — are free today. So quite possibly for the first time in forever (I had to sneak a little play in), grab the score from the biggest grossing animated film of 2013. For a different sound, pop-punk band Pararmore has made their track “Ain’t It Fun” also free today along with nine other singles from various artists.

Of course, if you’re looking for a good read instead, H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” is free in the Play Store as well. In lieu of classic reading, given the new year — not to mention new year’s resolutions — then check out some of the various free workout guides. Factor in the end-of-the-year sales on apps such as Runtastic Butt Trainer, no really, as well as a sleep aid app (also by Runtastic for free) and the Play Store offers plenty of options.

Not to be outdone, Amazon has offered a bevy of apps marked down to free for their Kindle tablets. Head over to their App Deals or specifically the Fire Tablets page for them. On top of the apps and games, there are more than 22,000 songs (over 45,000 if you include Prime only tracks) also available to download at no charge. If you prefer the old fashioned pages of a real magazine rather than a digital screen, now is the time to get yourself a 12-month subscription to Golf Digest, normally almost $100, now less than 20 bucks. As with many Amazon purchases, the digital version is available instantly with the paper version shipping within a few weeks.

Apple and iOS users have great options as well, including a reduced price on the instant video add-on via Coach’s Eye. Both NBA 2K15 and NHL 2K have been marked down 50% to $3.99 each. Mere days ago Apple released their list of the top free and paid apps — only viewable in iTunes unfortunately — but the list of this week’s hot apps is available as always directly on the iTunes site.

Be it a Kindle Fire HDX, an iPad Air Two, or a Nexus 8 — no matter which device you were fortunate to receive (or treat yourself to) there is no shortage of cheap and even free entertainment. Make sure you don’t miss out on the holiday specials!

(Header image via 401korganizer.org)

Sitting atop this week’s most popular Android apps is Coach’s Eye, a free app designed to give feedback and help hone skills for everything from track & field to baseball to golf to tennis. By providing on-the-fly feedback, Coach’s Eye can show tips on mechanics ranging from rotation to hand positioning.

While the app itself is free, most of the analytic tools cost either $2.99 or $3.99. The tools include packages such as the Angle Tool, Line Tool, Circle Tool and like, displaying various things on screen. There are also advertisements ranging anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds longs. However, you can remove those for $4.99.

Despite the nickel-and-dime feel for certain features, Coach’s Eye does offer some incredible free features. The ability to create GIFs on your phone is awesome, and the so called “Channels” is great as well. The built-in GIF maker within Coach’s Eye takes just a few moments to turn a video clip into a GIF. Within the file size parameters you can pick when to start and end the GIF as well, thus capturing only what you want to.

Channels is a three-part listing including Staff Picks, Leaderboard and Latest video clips. Staff Picks include proper weight lifting techniques, how to make better contact on the golf course and even a Stephen Curry workout.

The Leaderboard tab shows popular videos, occasionally with breakdowns on it. For example, a field goal kicking breakdown is available to watch.

The hub labeled Latest is just that, the most recent user-created uploads. It could be a goalie on the ice, a runner on the track or someone in the batting cage. There is no shortage of uploads.

Coach’s Eye brings unique and needed instant help to athletes, though some may get frustrated with the advertisements and the need to purchase add-ons to get a full feel for the app. Even just the free version is well worth the download as the Staff Picks and Leaderboard videos are great, as is the ability to create a GIF of yourself or your friends instantly.

Fellow video game enthusiasts, today is a magical day! The annual Steam Holiday Sale went live today, putting hundreds of games on sale. Steam, the game distribution system designed by the Valve Corporation, is free to download, and many games themselves are also free. While these games are limited to PC/Mac/Linux (sorry console gamers), the Holiday Sale is a great time to make bulk purchases to last you all of next year. Most titles are on sale, however two of the three most played games are free to download and play, in Defense of the Ancients 2 — more commonly referred to as DotA 2 — and Team Fortress 2. For sports related titles, Football Manager 2015 is the fourth highest played title thus far today.

In Football Manager 2015 you are tasked with building a competitive soccer club and juggling things from scouting and trades to developing a strong youth program. While the 2015 version is not on sale, the full price is $49.99, the 2014 version is discounted to down to $14.99. Rugby Manager 2015 is marked down to just $9.99.

If you prefer to take the pitch yourself rather than run the operations behind the scenes, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 — winner of the gamescom Best Sports Game 2014 — is 15% off, costing $33.99 right now. For those who would rather take to the court rather than a soccer field, NBA 2K15 is also 17% off sticker price, going for $49.79

Released not even four months ago, The Golf Club is a solid golf experience in lieu of actually stepping onto the fairway. For me, golf is only available about half the year, thanks to the lovely Michigan snowfall. The Golf Club offers tournament and league play, as well as an option to challenge your friends on existing courses or even build your own. Thanks to the Holiday Sale, one can pick up this title for $24.99, 30% off the regular price.

Possibly the best sports simulations games is Out of the Park Baseball 2015, and of course it is being discounted. On sale for $14.99, OOTP was already given a detailed review by the handsome and brilliant Bradley Woodrum. If you’re looking for a game for a baseball enthusiast, do them a favor and grab OOTP while it is on sale.

In addition to the titles highlighted here, Steam also has dozens of racing games from F1 2014 (half off at 24.99) to Nascar 14 (going for $7.99). Given the fact that Steam is free to download, as are 170 different games, if you’re scrambling for a holiday gift, Steam’s free-to-play games, as well as their sale, make for a great option.

(Header image via Steam)

Fan networking just got easier with Fancred’s latest update. Fancred, a free app specifically designed for fan interactions, now allows users to create albums of photos, videos, posts and updates seamlessly. Community pages for various teams will even display content automatically to present the users with fan-created content.

Picking which team to follow is easy with a simple search function. Yes, I know the teams I root for are…interesting. Once you join a team community to follow their updates, your timeline will be shown other user’s content if tagged with your team.

Uploading pictures of ticket stubs, selfies at the game or stadium shots can now be placed in separate folders or together, depending on if you’d prefer to group things chronologically or categorically.

In a similar vein to Reddit, on any given post you can upvote or downvote, repost within Fancred or share directly to Twitter and Facebook.

Fancred is a growing social network geared specifically for sports fans and has already secured $3 million in startup money to continue their growth. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android devices and simply requires an email login. While already impressive, the app does lack things such as a hashtag search or a way to tweak feeds. For example, rather than get flooded in the wee hours on Premier League or Bundesliga moves, it would be great to stop push notifications on things like comments for my Queens Park Rangers and Leverkusen, while still getting them for the Oakland A’s. Still a work in progress, Fancred has nonetheless shown enough to have earned a place on my phone.

Working with fitness apparel giant Under Armour, NBCUniversal has launched their new Radius brand, a multi-platform workout regimen. As it stands, Radius is limited to iPhone and iPad users as a $10 monthly service, or the videos will be aired on from 6 am to 9 am Eastern Time each weekday on the NBCSN channel.

The mobile version of Radius will produce content in an on-demand format from the television show. For the workouts themselves, there are levels of fitness ranging from beginner to high intensity. As time for workouts — and free time in general — becomes a premium in our everyday lives, Radius also offers a series called “10acious” designed to give a full body workout in just 10 minutes. A recent study showed the significance of mixing a high intensity spurt into a normal workout, specifically even a short workout with a minute or two of sprint-esque action grants significant dividends.

For now the Radius app is cheaper than just about any local gym membership, however it is limited due to its iOS device restrictions. Undoubtedly, Android users will soon be able to join in the workouts though the idea of paying an additional sum to work out, even one backed by Under Armour and digital personal trainers, seems a bit foreign. With free apps such as the Scientific 7-Minute Workout already available for both Android and iOS users, forcing potential customer into spending more money may not be an ideal way to reach mobile users. For now, Radius offers promise. However, even with the offer of two free months with a purchase of a six month package or four free months with an annual subscription, it may not be enough.

(Image via Wikipedia)

Staying in good shape and good health is hard enough — though with the new year approaching we all get to hit the reset button on our diets and workout discipline — so anything to make it easier and a more enjoyable time is welcome. Cycling has become the go-to option for many health-minded folks and the makers behind COBI, are aiming to make road cycling enthusiasts not only more eager to maintain their routines, but safer, too.

Though still in Kickstarter phase, COBI offers an all-inclusive option and mounting system for navigation, music (including Spotify, podcasts, turn signals and braking lights all while charging your phone rather than running it down. Their Kickstarter page boasts of over 100 intelligent features to any bike and comes with a variety of mounting systems for different bikes and different phones.

Like many hardware/app combinations, COBI has the basics of tracking, popular routes as well as Buddy Radar, a way of locating nearby friends who are also working out. The brains of the system is controlled by a what is basically a directional pad with a center button that mounts on the handlebars, never making you take your hands off what is important.

What COBI does differently is packing so much into one clean package, from music to heart rate monitors and calories burned calculators to security features. The lock feature boasts motion sensitive alarms plus the system will only respond to your phone with plans for allowed friends and family to also unlock and share your bike.

The COBI system offers a built-in case/screen protector combination with an IPX6 certified rain and mud cover guard, allowing you to take to the streets or mountains in less than ideal weather. COBI integrates with bluetooth 4.1, ANT+ and CAN for making to taking calls while working out or even simply commuting to and from work. Already compatible with Google Fit and Apple Fit, COBI is aiming to hit the ground running in the second quarter of 2015.