TechGraphs News Roundup: 10/30/15

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October 30, 2015

A very happy and very spooky Friday to you, fair TechGraphs reader. As you get all your tricks and/or treats in order, feel free to check out all the sports-tech stories that we found interesting this week.

Public service announcement: NBA League Pass is available for free through November 3rd. If you are on the fence about subscribing, or if you just want to check out some out-of-market games this weekend, now’s your chance.

If you are a data wizard interested in breaking into the baseball world, the Astros are currently hiring a research and development analyst. For some, getting a job with any big-league club is a win, but jumping on with a stat-friendly team on the rise is an added bonus.

Yahoo! aired the first ever regular season NFL game over the Internet last weekend, which is a pretty big deal. Wired has a nice look at what went on behind the scenes. Everything seems to have gone pretty smoothly, even if not as many people watched as Yahoo! would have you believe. It makes sense that a bunch of people tuned in for at least a little bit of the game, considering how hard Yahoo! was pimping the thing.

On a similar note, the Golden State Warriors streamed their first game of the season via virtual reality. Anyone with a Samsung VR headset and compatible smartphone could tune in to experience the game in real time.

Remember how the two big names in daily fantasy (DraftKings and FanDuel) came under scrutiny for insider antics and general skullduggery? Well, it looks like a governing body is being set up to monitor these shenanigans going forward.

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Speaking of, TechCrunch has an interesting take on how daily fantasy could be used to launder money.

FiveThirtyEight ran a great piece about how camera systems and machine learning is changing the sports landscape. Or, at least I think that’s what it was about. It’s pretty long.

Sports data startup Sportsradar got a big influx of money from investors that include both Mark Cuban and Michael Jordan. It looks like Sportsradar’s next push will be into the world of fantasy and gambling.

That’s all for this week. Have a fun and safe Halloween, and make sure to be excellent to each other.





 

David G. Temple is the Managing Editor of TechGraphs and a contributor to FanGraphs, NotGraphs and The Hardball Times. He hosts the award-eligible podcast Stealing Home. Dayn Perry once called him a "Bible Made of Lasers." Follow him on Twitter @davidgtemple.

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