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Live NBA games now on iPhone, Android

Not about to be outdone by baseball, pro basketball is getting in on live streaming to mobile phones.

The National Basketball Association will announce its first set of applications that let fans watch games live on a mobile device Thursday. NBA League Pass Mobile will be available for download for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android phones starting Friday, the third day of the league's regular season. BlackBerry users will have to wait a bit longer, the league saying that application will arrive "by the end of the year."

The NBA follows Major League Baseball, which introduced its iPhone- and iPod Touch-compatible live streaming application in July, and a beta version of an Android app Wednesday.

The NBA's application will cost $39.99 and let users watch up to 40 live games per week via their smartphone, though local TV blackout rules will still apply. The app also has an option to watch some games on demand for up to two days later and comes with game alerts and live stats.

Currently there is not added benefit if customers are already subcribers to the NBA's League Pass TV package. But bundling the two is something the league is looking at for the future, said Bryan Perez, senior vice president and general manager of NBA Digital.

Besides the live streaming app, the NBA already has its Game Time and Game Time Lite apps on Apple's App Store, the Android Market, and BlackBerry App World. The Lite version is free and comes with scores, stats, standings, and team schedules. The $9.99 Game Time includes some on-demand video, game highlights, live game alerts, stats, and access to an NBA Twitter feed.

Perez said the league has made an aggressive push into mobile this year, mostly because it knows who its fans are.

"We have one of the younger demographics of the major sports leagues," he said. "As we look to the future of our fan base, they're consuming content in a much different way, and in many ways the mobile phone is the connection to the world for the youth market. If we want to cultivate fans and be innovative, we need to follow our fans where they're going."

More screenshots after the jump.… Read more

BOL 1095: The Phrase that Pays from Amazon

Amazon's trying to compete with PayPal with a new service that brings one-click shopping into the rest of the non-Amazon world. We also kick around a rumor of Netflix coming to the Wii and discuss Google and Yahoo music searches. Oh, and then Cooley and I get deep about business models and copyright. That's near the end, though--if you don't like lectures.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1095

Google music search announced. Still doesn’t work for Tom http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10385755-93.html

Yahoo … Read more

Sports radio done right

Though only in its infancy, ESPN's sports radio app gets it right. It loads quickly, with ESPN's telltale ticker along the bottom that spits out headlines and scores for one sport after another. You can read stories in full-screen mode while you listen to one of 15 stations. There's the SportsCenter, too, serving up the latest news every 20 minutes, the PodCenter for accessing ESPN podcasts, and a nifty button for sending a text to the station you're streaming. Apple won't let apps run in the background, but ESPN Radio gets around that with a … Read more

NBA star's Twitter ID crisis rebounds on him and the site

Glen "Big Baby" Davis of the Boston Celtics is a lovable soul. Until he doesn't get a contract.

At least that was the conclusion reached by the more than 1,600 people who followed him on Twitter at twitter.com/bigbabybball.

Despite being a popular member of the Celtics roster, the team hasn't offered him a contract. So his alleged Twitter page tweeted July 14: "Man I love Boston, this is where I started my career! But sometimes you forget that this is a business!!!!"

Which he then followed up with: "celtic have … Read more

After Wikipedia, Jockipedia

You don't want some old chap in a large check jacket with a florid pocket handkerchief staring up into a basketball player's nostrils and asking him inane mundanities.

No, you want to hang on the every direct word of your favorite, or perhaps not quite so favorite, athlete.

For you, therefore, there is Jockipedia. Oh, yes, the very name might make you think that this is Wikipedia for jocks. But it's more than that. Well, not really.

Jockipedia, the creation of a former network news producer called Douglas Warshaw, is your own encyclopedia of every musing that … Read more

YouTube hoops star accepts Shaq's Twitter challenge

It's one thing to go and play with LeBron James. It's quite another to face Bruce Manley.

Perhaps you are not yet familiar with the name. Manley is something of a YouTube cult hero for his rather picturesque basketball trick shot skills.

Somehow, Shaquille O'Neal, the newest Cleveland Cavalier, saw the video. Apparently, his ego was piqued even more than when he saw Orlando's Dwight Howard claim to be Superman.

So what did the NBA's king of social networking do? He Twittered a challenge to a HORSEing duel.

"i wanna play this guy n … Read more

NBA PR man admits he's anonymous commenter

The Golden State Warriors don't play defense--except, perhaps, when it comes to the indefensible.

Please imagine you're a disgruntled Warriors fan. For two seasons, everything seemed to suddenly and strangely go well. After what felt like 20 seasons of desperation, playoffs were reached. No. 1 seeds were defeated.

Then, for reasons that seem all too evident to those who give the Warriors money (disclosure: myself included), there is a handbasket drifting downward from purgatory with a large Warriors logo printed on its side.

Naturally, fans voice their views on various sites. One of which is WarriorsWorld.net. Much … Read more

NBA's Dwight Howard wins--thanks God and Twitter fans

You have called your coach out. You have dreamed that you would win. Then you go and beat the Boston Celtics in their own haughty arena in Sunday's Game 7 of the playoffs, a win that means you will now face off with LeBron James.

You are Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, so whom do you thank?

Traditionally, a player might thank his family, his coach, his teammates, his very special conditioning coach. But, as if to prove just how much the world has changed, Dwight Howard went in a different direction.

Oh, he thanked God. As many … Read more

Digital City No. 31: Mourning the Virgin Megastore, plus NBA vet Kevin Willis visits

Episode 31 of the Digital City, where we discuss the Virgin Megastore liquidation sale (or lack thereof), Amazon's new big-screen Kindle, and how the video game DLC trend is jumping to handhelds. Later, NBA vet Kevin Willis drops by to talk about his love affair with the iPhone.

>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes >>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page >>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

NBA playoffs info and an excellent golf game: iPhone apps of the week

To go along with my obsession with software, games, and all things iPhone-related, I also have a healthy(?) obsession for basketball. March Madness is over, but there's still the NBA playoffs coming up on April 19. A few teams are still in the playoff race, even with only a few games to go in the regular season. While my team didn't even come close to making the playoffs (Hint: We Believed), I will still be watching a few of the playoff matchups and can't wait to see who makes the NBA Finals.

This week's apps include … Read more