ESPN MVP: Gizmodo video

Gizmodo made a video of the ESPN MVP, using features like video, news, and my personal favorite, Player Tracker. There’s no sound and it’s a bit blurry, but you can see what it’s all about.

ESPN MVP for VCast users

Perhaps you’ve seen the commercials for the ESPN MVP. If you’re a VCast user, you can access it (outside of VCast) by selecting Get Going (or Tools on the Go), then Get New Applications. ESPN MVP should be the first option. Click to download and the app will open automatically the first time. Enjoy!

Mobile ESPN to launch on Verizon

Without comment, here is a a link to the story about Mobile ESPN’s deal with Verizon. The application drew “positive reviews for the sophisticated multimedia application that ESPN created to deliver its popular TV and Web content within the cramped constraints of a cell phone,” according to the article.

NEW YORK — ESPN is relaunching its shuttered cell phone service through Verizon Wireless, this time delivering its flashy feed of sports scores, news and video highlights through a top industry player instead of competing for subscribers with its own full-blown wireless brand.

Alltel launches “My Circle”

I just saw a commercial for My Circle from Alltel. I had never seen this before. Reminds me a lot of programs like My Faves, and my personal favorite, the Calling Lineup. On the Alltel website, they’ve got a great feature, called Compare-O-Matic for comparing Alltel’s plan with similar plans from other companies. Look at the heads representing Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Is that a potshot at another phone company?

Tech Idea: Taxi Tracker

It’s a simple solution really.

Taxi cabs, especially in New York City, are a very convenient mode of transportation. Until you leave something in the taxi on your way out – at which time the veritable plethora of cabs in the city becomes a detriment.

We live in the technology age. Why not place a reader, just inside the rear doors of the cab. As passengers enter, they hold their card up to the reader, and it registers that the passenger was in this particular cab. Then if something is forgotten, or the cab driver gives a bad cab experience (intentional wrong turns to raise the fare, dangerous driving, etc), the passenger has it on record that they were in the cab, and can easily rectify the situation.

There are downsides, such as the cab that gets in an accident. Usually, passengers just walk away and don’t pay the driver. That’s reasonable. But not if you’ve sent an electronic stamp that you were in the car. But seriously, would you rather be forced to pay $5 or so after an accident, or would you rather be without your cell phone for an extended period of time?

Here’s a name for it: Taxi Tracker

MSN to launch Mobile home

MSN is launching a Mobile presence intended to be a web homepage for mobile devices. It sounds like they want users to use this as a Mobile Web starting point, rather than the carrier portals that are currently used in that capacity. Remember, this is what happened with the browser wars – Internet Explorer came with MSN.com as the default home page – and MSN is trying to find a way to control a user’s navigation flow. If anyone can wrest that power away from the carriers, it’s MSN. And once users realize they don’t need to have a carrier portal as their home page, they will start to set their home page to other sites, based on the content they desire…

I think you can guess what I am getting at.

Skybox SMS: Order and pay for food via Mobile device

Investor’s Business Daily has an article about Skybox SMS, a company that intends for fans to order and pay for stadium concessions via Mobile device. Now that is great use of Mobile technology. It takes an existing problem (long lines at the stadium causing missed game-viewing time) and implements a very specific and direct solution.

Now if only they could figure out a way to shorten the bathroom lines…

Mobile Idea: Karaoke sign-up

Last night, as I sat watching Karaoke, I wondered if the emcee could get more mobile. Then he said it. “If you want to sing a song that’s not in the book, just come up and let me know. I have thousands of songs available.” Of course! He has a full database of songs that he can download as needed.

Here is a mobile extension of that. The emcee has a sign with a shortcode or web url. Users will be directed to a site on their phone that has automatic sign-up, including a lookup through the extensive library. They simply enter their name and what song they want to sing (and perhaps an email address or phone number – we would like to market these people, of course), and it gets added to the queue.

The emcee pretty much runs his show from the queue, including some management tasks. When someone comes up to sing, the already-downloaded song will be ready to play. The emcee starts it, and uses a web-based tool (he already has a computer, as we noted) to move the entry to the archives.

The downside is pretty easy to calculate. Johnny Troublemaker is sitting at home, a night after his karaoke experience. “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to mess with the karaoke guy?” This is, of course, only a minor hindrance.

The benefits are pretty sweet for the emcee. Fewer songbooks to create and lug around. Less effort to download songs. An orderly line to sing. Stats on most popular songs. Stats on the audience.