sports

We've often praised Contour's line of sports cameras for their ease of use, but with the announcement of the ContourRoam, it's about to get even easier.

The Roam fits into the entry-level position in Contour's camera lineup, just below the Contour GPS and replacing the ContourHD 1080p, which should be phased out shortly. At first glance, the Roam doesn't appear much different than the ContourHD (or any other Contour camera for that matter) but closer inspection reveals a few new features.

For starters, there is no power button. Where previous models needed to be powered … Read more

It's pretty remarkable that year after year, the EA Sports NHL series finds ways to innovate and take the franchise to new levels of ice hockey realism. Even though this year the game runs totally unopposed by any other hockey game, NHL 12 makes improvements across the board, both in gameplay and modes.

Plenty of noticeable tweaks have been implemented into NHL 12's gameplay, which add to the title's overall sense of NHL realism. Goalies are now live within the context of the game, meaning they can be bumped and interfered with. Overall CPU player positioning has drastically been improved, which all but eliminates unnecessary off-sides calls due to out of position computer-controlled players. Wingers and defensemen skate logical tracks up and down the ice and are usually in the right spot to anticipate a rebound or one-time pass.

In addition, there are handfuls of aesthetic tweaks to the game. Nets can come off their moorings, players can get checked into team benches, and the full-contact physics engine has been retooled to react appropriately to players of all different strengths and sizes. Player face re-creations also seem more accurate this year.

NHL 12 also marks a significant tweaking to the overall physics of the puck in game. No longer does the puck seem to unnaturally hover like in years past. Instead it now rolls on end, pops in and out of the net organically, and overall has a much more realistic presence. Fans familiar with the franchise will also notice that game speed has been increased just a bit from NHL 11.… Read more

The Web breeds fantasy.

It lets us become different people. It lets us impress those we never thought we'd ever have a chance of impressing. And it lets us believe that we are just as wily, difficult, and very slightly obnoxious as the most successful people in the world. The New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick, for example.

Yet now that fantasy football has become more prevalent in human minds than, say, learning a foreign language (some say 25 million people will have teams this season), a couple of NFL players have come out and expressed some heartfelt--and not … Read more

It's a sign of the smartphone/tablet times that on the same day EA released Madden NFL 12 for Xbox 360, PS3, and other game consoles (read CNET's First Take), you could also buy it for your Android or iOS phone or tablet--for considerably less money, I might add.

Indeed, with price tags of just $6.99 for iPhone, $7.97 for Android, and $9.99 for iPad, these mobile versions are the Madden NFL 12 deal to beat.

Ah, but is there anything here to entice owners of Madden NFL 11? Or even Madden NFL 10? Those … Read more

Football season is upon us, yet being a football fan often feels like a punishment if you enjoy technology; streaming of NFL games has lagged behind the NBA, NHL, and MLB in terms of device availability.

Sony announced today that NFL Sunday Ticket will be available on the PlayStation 3 this season, bringing the only method of viewing all NFL games to a video game console for the first time.

The price of adoption isn't cheap: New customers who aren't already using DirecTV will have to pay $339.95 for the privilege of streaming a whole season of games. Existing DirecTV customers have to pay $50 to activate the PS3 connectivity.

Another caveat: this only allows access to out-of-market games, meaning that die-hard local fans (such as myself) will have to watch local broadcasts and regular television for their teams, and hop off the PS3--or, keep the PS3 and TV in a picture-in-picture orientation. … Read more

Peel attempts to revolutionize the channel-surfing experience by serving up television recommendations based on the shows you already watch and don't watch. To get it started, just input a few tidbits of basic information--such as genres you prefer, sports you like--and watch as it delivers its first batch of recommendations. As you vote on these recommendations, much as you would on Pandora, Peel gets a better understanding of your particular tastes, and thus can deliver more targeted suggestions. At least, that's what it's supposed to do.

Peel is one of the more visually stunning apps available to … Read more

Tonight is the All-Star Game, a time when rich people gather together to celebrate the fact that they are rich and can hit a ball with a broom handle.

It's a world away from being, say, a Verizon salesman. It's not easy being a Verizon salesman. Yes, you can now sell the iPhone. But you also have to be a tolerant, cheery person, especially in the face of some customers whose sense of decorum and language can leave them in the twitch of a nostril.

When you hit a ball with a broom handle, you can ignore every … Read more

Why is the Leaf outselling the Volt? Those pesky flying cars just won't go away. Infiniti and Scion think small is the next big thing. And we take you for a drive in the no longer small 2011 Audi A4.

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• Prius Sport package has us puzzled… Read more

There's something about LeBron James that makes many people want to dream of taking their pugilistic talents to his manicured eyebrows.

I wonder, though, what some employees of Intel might be feeling after they read a memo reportedly posted on an internal company site and written by one of the company's executives.

This memo was purloined in clandestine fashion by those sporting opportunists at Deadspin and it will surely have many a literary agent leaping furiously to the executive's side to offer him a non-fiction contract and possibly a speaking tour.

The memo is all about what Intel can learn from the Miami Heat's loss in the NBA finals to the Dallas Mavericks. It doesn't start well. The executive declares himself to be a Los Angeles Lakers fan, which is the equivalent of saying you love that oft-bland meat, chicken.

It doesn't drift into acceptability when he claims a passion for sporting metaphors transported to business.

Here is a sample of his sage advice: "In Miami's case, their great talent just couldn't come together and collaborate with clarity of roles, responsibilities, and the ability to adjust to critical game situations to achieve success under pressure."

Well, yes. Either that or Dallas played better or were coached better, had a more interesting, dynamic owner, or merely had deity on its side.

Such theories do not hold water with this searing analysis that sees John Madden lock lips with Lee Iacocca.

"Sometimes greatness is just flat out who can step up when the pressure is the greatest," he wrote. I am sure I once heard Donald Trump say that on "The Celebrity Apprentice." I am sure he said it while referring to himself.

The Intel exec's analysis can't quite resist any level of sporting intellectualism. There is the searing revelation that sometimes someone with a 3.0 GPA can deliver better under pressure than someone with a 3.8.

Then there's this: "Teams having too much of a specific attribute at the expense of another doesn't provide you with the best of the full spectrum anymore than an orchestra could get with having only great flutists."… Read more