Major League Baseball is now using Twitter in two of its online properties: MLB.tv, and MLB.com. Fans can chime in themselves, or view the 140-character insights of "insiders," which are tweets from each team's official Twitter account or fan blog.
Along with being able to post new messages directly from the box, users can get their tweets filtered into the stream using hash tags. These show up alongside the happenings of the game and serve as an alternate commentary to the streaming radio feeds. This is a really neat approach, since it does not require users to remain on MLB's live game sites. Instead, it can tap the commentary of people who are watching or listening to it elsewhere.
For those who decide to stay in MLB's Twitter box though, there are plenty of options to make it worth your while. The stream continuously updates, tapping into Twitter's API to let you befriend any user whose comments you like, or retweet whatever they've said with quick button shortcuts.
One thing MLB really should do though is filter out any retweets sent from its site. If a message has already been posted by another user, you see it over and over again as others pick it up. This would cut down on some of the noise. It would also be really nice to get certain tweets color-coded by what team they were talking about, which would make the stream that much easier to parse.
(via Silicon Alley Insider)
The Twitter chat box lets you view commentary from other Twitter users, including official tweeters from each team.
(Credit: CNET)
Boxee, the open-source software platform that combines Internet media with personal content, announced a slew of updates Tuesday.
Most notably, the company announced that it has made Boxee publicly available to Windows users.
The public alpha version of Boxee for Windows will work with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Users will also be able to run it on Windows Media Center, making it possible to bring Boxee to HDTVs through Microsoft's platform. A beta release of the software should be made available later this year.
MLB comes to Boxee
Boxee has also inked a deal with Major League Baseball that will bring MLB.tv Premium to the platform. According to the company, Boxee users will be able to watch "thousands of baseball games, live and on-demand in HD."
Users will be able to pause and rewind a live game. But in order for them to access those games, they will need to sign up for the MLB.tv Premium service, which costs $89.95 per year or $19.95 per month.
Even more content
Since Digg has a popular video section, it only makes sense that Boxee would sign a deal with the social-news site to bring its videos to the platform.
According to Boxee, users will now be able to watch Digg's most popular videos, as well as upcoming clips. Users will soon be able to Digg videos from within Boxee, but that feature is currently not available.
Boxee also signed on with Tumblr to give that site's users the option to stream music and slideshows to Boxee. The company said more Tumblr features are on the way, but it wouldn't divulge what those are.
As if that's not enough, Boxee also announced that Current TV shows are now available on the platform. Current is home to popular shows, including The Rotten Tomatoes Show, InfoMania, and SuperNews.
New navigation
Since Boxee has made so many content enhancements, the company apparently had to improve its user interface. Boxee now features two new categories: Applications and Local Media. The Applications menu will feature all the Internet content available for the platform. The Local Media menu lists content from the user's computer and local network.
Baseball season is finally here, so it's time we take a look at some of the best baseball resources across the Web. Whether it's fantasy sports, news, or statistics, you'll find all the best right here.
Fantasy baseball
BenchCoach: After you sign up for BenchCoach, it imports your fantasy baseball team and analyzes your roster. Once complete, it offers advice on how to improve the team. It even projects your success.
CBS Sports: CBS Sports' free Fantasy Baseball league provides real-time scoring and live chat. Its player news and stats features help you pick the right players for your team. It's highly-recommended if you want a full-featured, yet intuitive fantasy baseball league. Disclosure: CBS Sports and CNET are both owned by parent company CBS.
DraftHelp: DraftHelp gives you team depth charts to help you pick the right players in your fantasy draft. But its most useful feature is its "projected stats" tool, which tells you how well a player should perform for the year.
ESPN Fantasy Baseball: ESPN Fantasy Baseball Leagues are free. Users can create a public or private league. The tool's player news and stats come straight from ESPN.com. But beware: ESPN charges a fee for access to its in-depth news articles.
Fantasy Baseball Champ lets you know who to pick.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)FantasyBaseballChamp: FantasyBaseballChamp provides users with real-time player rankings. Those rankings are based on how they're performing so far this year and how they should perform going forward. The site also has advice columns offering tips on who to add to your fantasy team. That said, don't consider it an ideal resource. It's a backup.
MLB.com: Major League Baseball's free fantasy baseball service is one of the simplest in this roundup. It boasts team management, stat tracking, and a league message board so team owners can communicate. That's about it.
ProFantasyBaseball: ProFantasyBaseball helps you pick the right players for your fantasy baseball team. Its "sleepers" section gives you information on players who might be off your radar but worth adding to your team. All the information is free.
RotoAuthority: RotoAuthority tells you who the top players are this year, based on current and projected performance. The site's blog is updated daily, providing guidance on who you should add to or drop from your team.
TG Fantasy Baseball: TG Fantasy Baseball offers basic player reports and depth charts. The site's Dollar Values tool tells you how many players at each position you should have on your roster. Its Projections tool gives you information on how well your players should perform during the season.
Yahoo Sports: Yahoo's fantasy baseball leagues are free, player information is always up-to-date, and the service's stat tracking is outstanding. But if you want a draft kit or scouting reports, you'll need to pay $9.99 and $14.99, respectively. Even though you'll have to pay for that information, Yahoo's fantasy baseball league is great. It's worth trying out.
... Read moreBaseball season is almost under way. So it's time we all get online and start forming our fantasy leagues. Perennial favorite sites from ESPN, Yahoo, and MLB.com will probably top the list for most people when they decide which service to use, but more goes into fantasy baseball than simply signing up for leagues. What about stats? Did you forget about the news? Did you happen to remember scouting tools?
Hear are the rest of the sites you need.
Step 1: Form the league
There are a number of fine league-building services out there, but if you want to have the best experience, stick to these selected few:
CBS Sports Not only is CBS Sports' Fantasy Baseball league free, it provides real-time scoring, live chat so you can talk with buddies during the game, and adequate player news and stats to help you make more informed decisions. I've used it a few times over the past five years and find it to be easy to use and high-powered for a private or public league. Disclosure: CBS Sports and CNET are owned by the same parent company: CBS.
ESPN Fantasy Baseball provides an easy-to-use interface.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)ESPN Fantasy Baseball I've also used ESPN's fantasy sports services for years, and I've been impressed with how much they offer. Leagues are free, player news and stats come straight from ESPN, one of the best sources for sports news, and managing your team couldn't be easier. But ESPN's penchant for charging for extra scouting help and more in-depth player information is annoying.
MLB.com If you want the most basic offering for your fantasy baseball league, you'll probably want to use Major League Baseball's service. It's free and makes it easy to set up a league. But I'm generally unimpressed with its stat tracking, and managing a team isn't nearly as easy as it is in competing services. It's a well-known fantasy site, but it's not the best.
Yahoo Sports Yahoo was one of the first companies to start fantasy leagues. More than a decade later, it's still providing an outstanding experience. All the leagues are free, player information is always up-to-date and reliable, and the service's stat tracking is second to none. Yahoo does charge some hefty fees for access to a draft kit ($9.99) and a scouting report ($14.99), but it's still a great service.
... Read more
MLB.tv on the iPhone
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)Baseball fans rejoice. MLB.tv has just debuted a killer iPhone application at WWDC 2008. The application provides live scoreboards, with individual box scores and pitch-by-pitch updates, along with current and constantly updated video highlights, minutes after the play happens.
This application is great for checking in on your team while you're on the go. Instead of being frustrated by not being able to see what your team is up to, MLB.tv's solution puts the whole baseball experience, not just the scores, in your pocket.
This iPhone application looks like it's the best in its class, as far as sports applications go. MLB.tv has been leading the way in streaming sporting events over the Internet. They are continuing their tradition of quality products here.
The development of rich sports applications like this one is nothing but great news for sports fans as others are likely to follow suit. This application is sure to drive more subscribers to MLB.tv's service.
This weekend Jacked.com is launching the first stages of its service. The easiest way to describe it is like a souped-up Netvibes you can use as a reference while watching live television programming. The service is rolling out its features slowly, beginning with a partnership with Notre Dame and NBC Sports to serve up real-time content for Notre Dame's football season which starts on Saturday. NBC is billing the service as "Play Action." You can visit the site now, but there won't be anything on it until game day.
Jacked is linked up to what you're watching on TV, so say you're watching the game, and a player scores. Jacked's smattering of Web widgets will pull up the player's stats, photos, related news stories, a comparison chart of that play to others, etc. The idea is to save you from having to track down player, team, and historical information on your own, and serving it up automatically.
The widgets are powered by a group of underlying technologies that scan through live TV content and grab bits and pieces of information from its metadata. Combine that with things like optical character recognition, and you've got lots of information to work with. The result is an impressive array of widgets, that--when viewed during a live broadcast--will pull up information and related content seconds after it happens.
... Read more
The Nationals introduce the mobile ticket.
(Credit: washington.nationals.mlb.com)The Washington Nationals may not have the best record, but they're ahead of the game in creating new ways to use your cell phone. As of April 26, the team is letting fans use digital tickets on their handsets to gain admission to games. After buying a ticket from the team's Web site, you can request to have it sent directly to a phone in a multimedia message (MMS). You then take your phone directly to the admission gate where they scan the bar code from your handset's screen. Then it's off to enjoy the ball game as usual.
Though the Nationals won't charge a fee to send tickets to your phone, you will incur standard MMS fees from your carrier. And don't worry about accidentally deleting the message, since the Nationals send you an e-mail backup. Also, you can't forward your electronic ticket to another number, as the team will invalidate it and not refund your money.
Even if you're not a Nationals fan, you have to like the future possibilities. Could paying for a hot dog and beer be next? And on a similar note, wouldn't it be great to breeze past the line with a cell phone ticket to a premier showing opening day of Spider-Man 3? If NFC developers have their way, that day may not be so far off.
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