Google Glass taking fans closer to the action

CHICAGO — Your favorite team is playing for the title, and you are in the middle of the field. You have a ticket in the very top row for an NBA playoff game, and a courtside seat. The referees are reviewing a big play in the final seconds, and you are right there in front of them.

Google Glass is slowly becoming more common in sports as teams and broadcasters try to bring fans closer to the action. The Philadelphia Eagles are going to test the Internet-connected eyewear for in-game use, and a company with a key application for the technology says it has secured a new round of financing that will help roll out its Glass program to sports, entertainment and other fields.

"When I talk to teams and ask them about what technology are they looking at, what technology are they keeping track of, the two answers I mostly commonly get are Google Glass and Snapchat," said Eric Fernandez, a founder and managing partner of SportsDesk Media, a fan analytics and digital media activation company.

The futuristic eyewear was known as "Project Glass" when it was introduced by Google in a video and blog post in April 2012. The Mountain View, California, company started selling the $1,500 glasses to a select crowd later that same year, but it only recently became available to the general public.

The use of Glass in sports has progressed from trendy athletes dipping their toes in the water to a tool for teams looking to draw fans to arenas and stadiums, and then keep their focus on the action, instead of their omnipresent smartphones and tablets. It comes with endless revenue possibilities, ranging from sponsorship deals for the new content streams to a possible attendance boost for teams with empty upper decks.

"I think the fan experience one is the one that's really hitting hard," said Eric Johnsen, the business development lead for Glass at Work, "and the performance line people are dabbling with, that's really interesting."

Punter Chris Kluwe used the eyewear in training camp last year to take fans inside an Oakland Raiders practice. Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate wore the glasses at Super Bowl media day. Roger Federer used one when he hit with former tennis star Stefan Edberg during a visit to Google's campus, and a referee at the recent USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship donned the glasses for the NBC Sports broadcast.

But it is the big-picture applications that offer intriguing possibilities for teams and leagues concerned about attendance in the 21st century, when flat-screen TVs and rising prices at sporting events have made the in-home experience even more appealing.

The 2014 Know the Fan Report, produced by Sporting News Media, Kantar Media and SportBusiness Group, found 45 percent of fans use a second-screen device while watching sports on TV, a definite factor in the willingness of teams and broadcasters to take a closer look at Glass. The report was based on a survey of more than 1,000 American adults conducted in February.

"The focus has been through sports at large, how do you get people using their phones to interact during the game?" said Rob Laycock, the vice president of marketing for the Indiana Pacers and Fever.

"What's nice about Glass is that it's keeping your focus on center stage, you know main court, with the scoreboard right above it."

The NBA's Sacramento Kings used a CrowdOptic application to become the first pro sports team to employ Glass in the arena when they put the eyewear on their mascot Slamson and others for a January loss to the Pacers, allowing fans at the game and viewing at home to witness the courtside experience. Indiana used it for the first time for a March 26 game against Miami, and the Orlando Magic broke it out for their April 9 game against Brooklyn.

The Eagles are the first NFL team to try the application for Google Glass. They are planning for a similar approach to the Pacers, who used the CrowdOptic program to provide multiple courtside perspectives over the videoboard during games.

"We're on a constant search for ways to enhance the overall fan experience at Lincoln Financial Field," said Brian Papson, the vice president of marketing for the Eagles. "So what caught us is that this is a creative, different, new innovative way to do that."

There are many factors at play with the use of Glass at sports venues, including the strength of the WiFi network and the reliability of moving people wearing the technology. Thousands of people using their phones to post to social media or check fantasy sports can grind WiFi networks to a halt, and a courtside perspective becomes much less attractive when it's an obstructed view.

That's where CrowdOptic comes in.

"What our stuff does is it really converts all this chaos into a demonstrable broadcast feed that, for example, the Pacers can really count on," said Jon Fisher, the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based company. "So they can put Glass out there and it can work in many cases as well as any other fixed camera asset because of these algorithms at work."

Maintaining a reliable feed is just one potential problem for sports teams deploying the technology. There is concern about overwhelming fans with a barrage of viewing options. The eyewear has faced criticism over its intrusiveness and its ability to take photos and video through voice-activated commands, making it more likely that even attentive fans could find themselves on the videoboard before they realize what's going on.

The rollouts have been conducted with great care.

"We haven't just determined yet who's going to be wearing the Glass and deploying it, that's all up for a lot of discussion," Papson said. "But I think as content such as this continues to be more available, I think every team has those discussions as to what's not appropriate to provide."

Asked about his vision of the future, Johnsen paints a compelling picture.

"If a fan wants to be Tom Brady, 10 seconds left in the Super Bowl, in the red zone making the call in the huddle and executing a play," he said, "I think it's absolutely possible next 10 years if not sooner ... with Glass-like technology."

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Online:

Google Glass: https://www.google.com/glass/start/

CrowdOptic: http://www.crowdoptic.com/

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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap

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Lawmakers unveil compounding pharmacy bill

BOSTON — Massachusetts House and Senate negotiators have released a final compromise version of a bill overhauling compounding pharmacies.

The bill was prompted by a nationwide meningitis outbreak that authorities blamed on a tainted steroid produced by the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham. The outbreak resulted in 64 deaths and hundreds of illnesses.

The bill reorganizes the board that oversees the pharmacies and requires it to participate in any national reporting systems on pharmacies, pharmacists and technicians.

It allows the board to levy fines of up to $25,000 per violation.

It also creates four new specialty licenses, and requires compounding pharmacies to notify patients whether a drug is a sterile or non-sterile compounded drug.

The compromise must get a final OK in each chamber before going to Gov. Deval Patrick.

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Global stock markets mostly inch higher

SEOUL, South Korea — Global stock markets mostly inched higher Monday as investors prepared for a busy week of economic news that will give new clues about the strength of the global recovery.

European markets were steady in early trading. Britain's FTSE and France's CAC 40 were nearly flat at 6,761.24 and 4,438.43 respectively while Germany's DAX added 0.3 percent to 9,845.17.

Wall Street was set for a tepid session. Dow Jones futures were down 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures were little changed.

Trading this week is likely to turn on data from China and the U.S. and a European Central Bank meeting. Last week, Asian stock markets were buffeted by weak U.S. consumer spending and sluggish growth in Chinese industrial profits.

A preliminary reading of China's manufacturing for June, due Tuesday, will be scrutinized for evidence the slowdown in the world's No. 2 economy has stabilized.

Monthly U.S. employment figures are due Thursday. On the same day, the European Central Bank holds its monthly rate-setting meeting, where it is widely expected to stick with its easing stance.

In Asia, most markets closed higher. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.4 percent to 15,162.10, reversing morning losses. Japan's economy ministry said the country's industrial output recovered slightly in May from a fall in the previous month.

South Korea's Kospi was up 0.7 percent to 2,002.21 and China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.6 percent to 2,048.33.

Stocks in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia also rose. But Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 percent to 5,395.70, one day ahead of the central bank's rate-setting meeting.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.1 percent to 23,190.72.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery was down 42 cents to $105.32 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 10 cents on Friday.

In currencies, the dollar slipped to 101.38 yen from 101.41 yen late Friday. The euro rose to $1.3660 from $1.3648, reversing an earlier drop.

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Huge crowds upset with China expected for HK rally

HONG KONG — An annual protest march in Hong Kong is expected to draw three times as many people as usual, angered by Beijing's insistence on limiting residents' say in picking the southern Chinese financial hub's next leader.

Organizers expect at least 150,000 people to take to the streets Tuesday to show their support for democratic reform and oppose Beijing's desire to have the final word on candidates for the chief executive's job.

The rally comes days after nearly 800,000 people voted in an unofficial referendum aimed at bolstering support for universal suffrage.

The standoff over Hong Kong's electoral reform has sent political tensions soaring and alarmed Beijing, which denounced the poll as illegal. An editorial Monday in China's state-run nationalist newspaper Global Times, known for its bombastic rhetoric, warned Hong Kongers to stay away from the July 1 demonstration — an annual fixture for more than a decade.

"Hong Kong's radical opposition forces are trying with all means to build a war chariot and get as many Hong Kong citizens as possible onto this chariot by deception. Its crashing target is the central government and all the people of the country," the newspaper said, urging residents "not to board this war chariot."

The protest falls on a public holiday marking Hong Kong's return to mainland China's control on July 1, 1997, after more than a century of British rule. It has traditionally been an occasion for residents to air complaints over a range of grievances, but this year a central theme is unhappiness over stunted democratic development.

Beijing has pledged that in 2017 Hong Kongers will be able to elect their leader but insists candidates must be vetted by a Beijing-friendly committee like the one that until now has handpicked all post-colonial leaders. The central government sparked a huge backlash when it released a policy statement earlier this month stating that Hong Kong's autonomy is subject to Beijing's authorization and the leader must be patriotic to China, adding to unease about the mainland's growing influence.

"Hong Kong people are ready for true democracy without any pre-screening, that's the key message" of the rally, said Edward Chin, leader of a group of banking and finance workers backing the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement that organized the unofficial democracy referendum. "This is a strong signal to Beijing that Hong Kong people can express their views in a nonviolent way."

To pressure authorities on democratic reform, Occupy Central plans to freeze the city's financial district with a sit-in involving at least 10,000 people. That has worried the corporate community. The world's four top auditing firms — KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and Ernst & Young — took out a newspaper ad Friday warning that the plan would drive businesses away from the Asian financial hub. But some employees fired back Monday with an ad of their own saying the statement "doesn't represent our stance." It was signed: "A group of Big Four employees who love Hong Kong."

Increasing polarization has also unsettled Asia's richest person, Li Ka-shing, who said in a speech Friday to university graduates that worries about "widening inequality in wealth and opportunities" and "welfare dependence" have left him "sleepless in Hong Kong."

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Associated Press writer Didi Tang in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Israeli official closes Tel Aviv shops on sabbath

JERUSALEM — Israel's interior minister says he will no longer permit Tel Aviv supermarkets to stay open on the Jewish sabbath, drawing criticism from liberal Israelis who see the regulation as religious coercion against secular society.

Minister Gideon Saar says he is disqualifying parts of the city's municipal bylaws that allow supermarkets to remain open from Friday evening to Saturday evening.

Saar told Army Radio Monday that he seeks to prevent commercial interests from changing the character of Israel's weekly day of rest. Stores are closed in most other Israeli cities because Jewish religious law prohibits work on the Sabbath.

Tel Aviv is seen by Israelis as a bastion of secular culture. Veteran Israeli actress Gila Almagor told Army Radio that religious coercion is spreading "like cancer."

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Cause of RAV4’s whining noise baffles 3 mechanics

I hope you can help us find out what is causing a loud whining on our 2013 Toyota RAV4. It started a month ago at 9,500 miles and is getting louder. The noise starts at about 55 mph and winds down when we slow down. Three Toyota mechanics drove it and none know what it is.

A quick Internet search turned up a number of posts dealing with a whining noise from newer RAV4s. Many point to a transmission issue, others to a problem with the rear differential. Many express difficulty in having the noise confirmed by the dealer and repaired. My Alldata automotive database pulled up service bulletins covering 2006-2012 RAV4s dealing with a whining noise corrected by replacing the engine insulators/mounts. I also found a bulletin suggesting a "growl" sound caused by contamination of the front bearing in the rear differential coupler.

You might be able to help the dealership pinpoint the origins of the whine with a few simple tests. While the whine is occurring at 55-plus mph, release the throttle so the car begins to slow. As the whine starts to "wind down," shift the transmission into neutral. Does uncoupling the driveline from the wheels change the noise? If so, it's a driveline whine — engine, transmission or differentials.

If not, re-engage the transmission into "D," accelerate back up to road speed where you are hearing the whine, then safely change lanes and back, turning to the left and right. Does turning in either direction change the noise? If so, wheel bearing/hub assemblies are suspect.

If neither of these tests helps, rotate the tires/wheels front to back and retest. If there's a change in noise, it's likely an issue with the tires.

And finally, maintain contact with the dealer asking him and Toyota to continue to investigate this issue.

I have a 2003 Buick that I have to have jump started regularly. I have installed a new battery every year but it does not hold its charge. I've been told to start the car every three to four days but even this doesn't seem to help. What can I do to keep the battery charged?

You've installed 10 new batteries in this car? If so, that's a record! Basically you have three choices: Disconnect the battery while the vehicle is parked, connect a trickle charger or battery maintainer while the vehicle is parked, or find the cause of the battery drain that is discharging the battery. The first two options aren't particularly satisfactory or convenient although they will prevent a dead battery.

I'd suggest having a shop perform a parasitic drain test. Connecting an ammeter or test light between the battery cable and battery with the ignition off will monitor the flow of electricity and identify any excess current flow. Normal would be less than 150 milliamps, which is 1.5 tenths of an ampere. Then, with the meter still connected, remove each fuse and relay one at a time to find the circuit with the excess current draw.

A typical cause for discharging a battery to where the vehicle won't start in roughly three days is a stuck relay or perhaps a small light bulb such as a trunk or glove box light.

How mechanically safe is it to drive using cruise control at 25-35 mph? A friend uses cruise control on streets so she doesn't speed. Does this hurt the car?

I don't think so. Most cruise systems are designed to not engage below a certain speed, typically the 25-30 mph range. But if the system will engage, it won't cause any damage to the vehicle. Personally, I'd be more concerned that with one less thing to monitor and maintain, there would be more opportunity for distraction while driving.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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Aereo fades to black ... for now

Internet TV streaming service Aereo temporarily shut down its service yesterday, three days after a devastating U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The company, which is headquartered in New York but has 80 of its roughly 115 employees in Boston, will "pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps," Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said in a letter to customers. Around 11:40 yesterday morning, the service stopped working. Kanojia said customers will be refunded for the last month.

"Aereo could see the writing on the wall," said Rutgers University law professor Michael Carrier.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Aereo violated copyright law by rebroadcasting over-the-air channels to its subscribers without paying retransmission fees to broadcasters as cable companies do.

The Supreme Court could not order Aereo to shut down, instead leaving it up to a lower court to issue a preliminary injunction, as requested by broadcasters.

Instead, Aereo decided to stop operations for now, but insists the company is not shutting down.

"The spectrum that the broadcasters use to transmit over-the-air programming belongs to the American public and we believe you should have the right to access that live programming whether your antenna sits on the roof of your home, on top of your television or in the cloud," Kanojia wrote in the letter.

Aereo could end up licensing its technology, or could be acquired by a company looking to expand its cloud options, said David Shlansky, an intellectual property lawyer.

"They can probably salvage something pretty valuable," he said.

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Pillow cuddles kids’ necks

A Framingham chiropractor is making it his mission to save children's necks one pillow at a time.

Kirt Josefek has launched a startup, KidCare, and is selling Kidzooz, a cuddly, plush, animal-shaped neck-supporting pillow designed for children, via a kickstarter campaign.

"You want to try to maintain the curve of the neck when you are sleeping instead of just rocking forward," he said. "I saw the need and I saw there are no other products out there, so I created them."

Josefek, who has owned MetroWest Chiropractic Associates for more than 35 years and was the Boston Celtics' team chiropractor in the 1980s, has seen many children come into his office with stiff necks, often caused by sleeping on adult-sized pillows or oversized stuffed animals that elevate the neck. But he could not find any neck-supporting pillows for kids on the market to recommend.

Josefek came up with the idea for the Kidzooz pillow around three years ago, while resting his head on his dog, Chester, and realizing how good it felt lying down on something soft, cuddly and lovable.

He scaled down a neck-supporting pillow for adults he designed and patented back in the 1980s to child-sized dimensions. The pillow is shaped to cradle the head using a soft polyester micro-denier fiber with foam borders and is covered with a plush exterior shaped like a tiger, panda or dog — like Chester.

"This really is a good pillow for kids. It is something that parents can be happy about when they put their kids to bed," he said.

Josefek hopes to produce other children's products down the road including foot-supportive slippers shaped like hooves and paws.

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Cruise ship returns to Seattle following fire

SEATTLE — A fire in the boiler room of a cruise ship carrying nearly 3,000 people prompted the vessel to return to port in Seattle, officials said.

Holland America said that there were no injuries among the passengers and crew of the Westerdam from Saturday's blaze.

"A small fire in one of the boiler rooms" that occurred after the vessel set sail was quickly extinguished, the company said.

Public Relations Vice President Sally Andrews said early Sunday that after the fire the Coast Guard inspected the ship and cleared it to sail again, which could occur before dawn.

"We anticipate it will be before the morning," she told The Associated Press.

The Seattle Times reported that the flames broke out around 5 p.m. PDT as the vessel was in Puget Sound near Kingston, according to Coast Guard petty officer George Degener. The crew knocked the fire down, but a while later it restarted.

A combination of high-pressure mist and crew members with hoses extinguished the fire, Kyle Moore, spokesman for the Seattle Fire Department, told the paper. The city dispatched a fireboat, and a few units to the Pier 91 cruise terminal, as a precaution.

Holland America brought the ship back "out of an abundance of caution and in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard," a company statement said.

No evacuations were needed, firefighters reported.

The Westerdam was beginning a 7-day Alaska cruise with 2,086 passengers and 798 crew members onboard when the blaze occurred.

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Mars 'flying saucer' splashes down after NASA test

LOS ANGELES — NASA has tested new technology designed to bring spacecraft — and one day even astronauts — safely down to Mars, with the agency declaring the experiment a qualified success even though a giant parachute got tangled on the way down.

Saturday's $150 million experiment is the first of three involving the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator vehicle. Tests are being conducted at high altitude on Earth to mimic descent through the thin atmosphere of the Red Planet.

A balloon hauled the saucer-shaped craft 120,000 feet into the sky from a Navy missile range on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Then, the craft's own rocket boosted it to more than 30 miles high at supersonic speeds.

As the craft prepared to fall back to earth, a doughnut-shaped tube around it expanded like a Hawaiian puffer fish, creating atmospheric drag to dramatically slow it down from Mach 4, or four times the speed of sound.

Then the parachute unfurled — but only partially. The vehicle made a hard landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Engineers won't look at the parachute problem as a failure but as a way to learn more and apply that knowledge during future tests, said NASA engineer Dan Coatta with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"In a way, that's a more valuable experience for us than if everything had gone exactly according to plan," he said.

A ship was sent to recover a "black box" designed to separate from the vehicle and float. Outfitted with a GPS beacon, the box contains the crucial flight data that scientists are eager to analyze.

NASA planned to hold a news teleconference on the flight Sunday.

Since the twin Viking spacecraft landed on the red planet in 1976, NASA has relied on a parachute to slow landers and rovers.

But the latest experiment involved both the drag-inducing device and a parachute that was 110 feet in diameter — twice as large as the one that carried the 1-ton Curiosity rover in 2011.

Cutting-edge technologies are needed to safely land larger payloads on Mars, enabling delivery of supplies and materials "and to pave the way for future human explorers," a NASA statement said.

Technology development "is the surest path to Mars," said Michael Gazarik, head of space technology at NASA headquarters.

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Associated Press Science Writer Alicia Chang contributed to this report.

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