Recommended Reading: Colombia's high-tech World Cup training and testing Facebook
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.
Colombia's High-Tech Advantage in its World Cup Match Against Brazil
by Matt Hartigan,
Fast Company
Colombia certainly faced an uphill climb against Brazil at the World Cup, and the side turned to tech to increase its chance of winning throughout the tournament. During training, the Colombian national team leveraged Catapult: a wearable GPS system that maps players' bodies in three-dimensional space to gauge the "load" placed on each athlete. Among a host of other features, the sensors transmit data to coaches and staff instantly at a range of up to 250-300 feet. Soccer isn't the only sport using the system either, as the San Antonio Spurs implemented the system to track basketball prospects ahead of last week's NBA Draft.
The Test We Can -- and Should -- Run on Facebook By now, you've likely heard about Facebook toying with our emotions with manipulated News Feed content. The backlash has certainly been significant, questioning the ethics of this sort of secret user testing. The Atlantic's Kate Crawford examines questions surrounding the whole process while suggesting an opt-in model for future experimentation. | Hospitals Are Mining Patients' Credit Card Data to Predict Who Will Get Sick Too busy with work to prepare healthy meals over regular pizza deliveries? Well, soon your doctor could give you a phone call telling you to cut it out. Carolinas HealthCare System is examining the buying habits of 2 million patients to determine those at high risk and to offer care before they report to the office. |
Razr Burn: My Month With 2004's Most Exciting Phone Back in the summer of 2004, many of us coveted the Motorola Razr V3 when it first made its debut. The ultra thin flip phone was a powerful and expensive option at the time, becoming one of the most recognizable handsets of all time. To celebrate its 10th birthday, one tech journalist opted for the Razr over an iPhone for a month, documenting the entire experience. | Tracking the Digital Revolution, From Pong to 'Gravity' A new exhibit at London's Barbican Center takes a look at the evolution of digital media from Pong in 1972 right up through experiments from designers, coders and others today. The New York TImes offers a brief synopsis of the collection, including the technical challenges of showcasing tech from the '80s and '90s as they were originally intended. |
[Photo credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images]
