Among all the talk of rookies, holdouts, fresh starts and, of course, the never-ending Deflategate conversation, there's buzz around a new topic at NFL training camps this year: virtual reality (VR). Several teams in the NFL are testing VR during summer practices in hopes of giving players new perspectives, in-depth data during film studies and a leg up on the competition.
Spotting a fancy new Tesla on the road might seem novel, but electric cars are nothing new. And, of course, hybrids like the Prius dot the highways. But the emergence of electric cars dates back further than you think. The first ones go back as far as 1880, and they were common into the early 20th century.
Google Fiber launched in Kansas City in 2011. It offered gigabit speed at $70 per month and ignited the development of an ultrafast Internet access category that has since spread throughout the U.S. According to Michael Render, principal analyst at market researcher RVA LLC, 83 Internet access providers have joined Google to offer gigabit Internet access service (all priced in the $50-$150 per month range).
Yahoo, a trailblazer in the world of online fantasy sports, recently released a daily fantasy service, and the company plans to use its experience to compete with pioneers such as DraftKings and FanDuel in the daily fantasy market. It was a natural move for the fantasy sports mainstay, which launched its first offering in the late 90s, but it required technology innovation.
Consumers increasingly rely on smartphones and social media to discover and research products of interest, but relatively few people go on to make mobile purchases, according to new research from Synchrony Financial. Specifically, 45 percent of respondents performed shopping-related tasks via mobile, up 4 percent since last year, but only 18 percent of browsers went on to purchase a product using a mobile device. Mobile discount offers are also popular, with 66 percent of respondents regularly using them, but that number is down from 71 percent last year, Synchrony says.
We're moving deeper into the modern "walled garden" of digital life. Generally speaking, you choose the garden you like best -- be it Apple, Google or Microsoft -- and the more time and money you invest, the more painful it is to leave that ecosystem.
Drones and virtual reality (VR) both have barriers to overcome before they see widespread adoption in the enterprise and consumer worlds. Professional sports organizations are taking the lead and working hard to overcome those initial challenges. Teams are always looking for any competitive edge, in the stadium and in business, and part of that is to constantly test new technologies. But can drones and VR translate into real value?
Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about Comcast's pledge to spend $300 million to improve its notoriously crummy customer service. If I wrote for a newspaper, I'd say the ink had hardly dried before Comcast once again demonstrated why it's one of the least loved companies in America. The evidence was right in my own backyard -- literally.