Ambient Baseball ScoreCast keeps you in the game

Sure, you've got a few wireless scoreboard options out there if you're not down with keeping tabs via your PC / handset, but for fans of MLB and fashion alike, Ambient Devices' Baseball ScoreCast really is in a league of its own. As with the firm's Market Maven, this device also relies on the InfoCast Network for updates, meaning that it doesn't require nearby WiFi to function. 'Course, InfoCast can reach "only" 90-percent of the US, but if you're blanketed, all you'll need to provide is four AA cells and input on which team is your favorite. The device receives data updates every half-inning, and if nine just isn't enough, you'll also be kept current with extra inning action. Of course, whether such a unit is worth $124.99 is another matter entirely.

Gallery: Ambient Baseball ScoreCast keeps you in the game

• 
• 
• 
• 

[Joe @ Jan 5th 2008 8:52AM]

Two things:

1) The game isn't over yet the standings indicate the season is over

2) There's no way the Blue Jays are finishing ahead of the Yankees.... :D

[Andy @ Jan 5th 2008 10:37AM]

Nice catch. At least they got Boston's position right.

[Wayne @ Jan 5th 2008 1:10PM]

3) There is no way the Red Sox win less than 100 games next year once they get Santana.

[Bob S. @ Jan 5th 2008 1:25PM]

Also, if the final score is Red Sox 8, Yankees 4, Boston's streak has to be at least 1 win, and New York's streak has to be at least one loss.

[Bob S. @ Jan 5th 2008 1:27PM]

Oh, and if the Yankees played at home and lost, the bottom of the ninth would still need some score (in this case, 0)...

[SteveMB @ Jan 5th 2008 2:56PM]

I highly doubt the Red Sox will get Santana. THe Yankees are far more stupid and would give up their top prospectS for him.

[Eric @ Jan 5th 2008 9:48AM]

Has anyone actually bought any of this stuff? How is this company still in business? At least this device has a little bit more information than most of the other gadgets they make, but why stay with the FM band when many, many places have WiFi ready to go, with a lot more bandwidth and standard radios?

[Bob S. @ Jan 5th 2008 1:21PM]

Maybe because for the amount of data this has to manage to cope with, the miserable experience of configuring, managing, and maintaining a persistent http connection is a few magnitudes of overkill? Maybe because a significant audience for these things might end up putting them in second homes where Internet connections are less reliable or less persistent (such as PPPoE) and so FM's a win? Maybe because whatever http server it came configured to work with could vanish anytime, whereas FM data transmission over subcarriers is reliable and standard and unlikely to go away, which allows users to not even have to think about configuring this and allows the company to sell this at a one-time price rather than a subscription?

Another market is office workers; my company, for example, blocks all Internet radio (rightly so) and, while radio reception drops off quickly away from windows, this can probably still grab what it needs to from the subcarrier to keep us drones up-to-date on day games.

My first thought was actually "hm, if you've got FM, maybe you'd be listening to the broadcast anyway." But many teams' games are broadcast on AM, especially in the suburban, exurban, and rural markets this is likely to be popular in, and AM's reception is far spottier. Plus this lets you keep an eye on other teams in your division.

I'm not saying this is a good or bad product at a fair or unfair price. I'm saying you shouldn't dismiss data transmission over FM subcarriers with some kneejerk wi-fi flagwaving.

[Adam LaPrade @ Jan 5th 2008 11:06AM]

Brookstone has been selling a unit exactly like this for months for $99. As a matter of fact, I think it it this unit because the photos on the Brookstone site are the same as the one in this post!

[Ksilebo @ Jan 5th 2008 11:24AM]

Now if only they'd release something useful.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 5th 2008 1:21PM]

I can't believe people still care about baseball.

[Jon @ Jan 5th 2008 9:59PM]

I can't believe people still care about you! ha!

Seriously though, what do you have against baseball!! Steroids aside, and lets not pretend that's a baseball only problem, baseball is the greatest game on earth! Of course that's just my opinion...but I know I'm not the only one.
Your comment is the same as saying, I can't believe people actually like swimming. Just because I don't like swimming, doesn't mean others cannot.

[Eptin @ Jan 5th 2008 4:16PM]

Thumbs up to the beautiful industrial design, but a thumbs down to what looks like a messy screen. All of the info displayed may be essential, but I can't help but feel that it could be better arranged, or at least a better screen used instead of the old-style LCD screens.

[TTX1 @ Jan 6th 2008 8:45AM]

couple of things:

- it's not FM - that's MS SPOT. ambient has way more coverage than SPOT - check here:

http://map.myambient.com/

- it tracks any game, any team, any division - just look at the buttons on the top

- as others have noted, it's way simpler than wifi. just add batteries and get data. no config hassle. works pretty much anywhere there's signal - which is most places.