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Tunity turns your iPhone into personal TV headphones
The Tunity app allows users to listen to muted TVs through their iPhones with or without headphones. Users will find a number of uses for the app but I can envision it working well when you are at a sports bar with a number of televisions tuned to a variety of sporting events but no sound. The universal app is free and and works best with an iPhone. It requires iOS 7.0 or later. If you and your friends are in a bar or restaurant and interested in one specific game, now with Tunity you can get the audio at your table. Open the app, Tunity accesses the camera on your phone, turn your phone to the Landscape position, more horizontal than vertical, and align the box on the screen in the app with the TV carrying your game. Tap the screen and hold it still. You need to make sure the TV screen fills the box to make it work. The app will scan the TV picture and then sync up with the audio from the game. Once the sync is complete you receive the audio out of your iPhone speakers or a headset if you are wearing one. I tried the app on a variety of stations and all of those that met the necessary criteria came up right away and provided me with a loud and clear audio signal. Now for the criteria on which stations and programs you can use Tunity to grab the audio. It works on sports and non-sports stations equally well but the programming must be part of a national broadcast. Tunity currently can sync up with forty-eight different channels such as all the ESPN channels, Fox Sports 1, CBS SportsChannel, the NHL Network, CNN, and many more. The list of all the channels available is in the app so you can check to see if your program is on one of those channels. Tunity does not work with local programming so you won't be able to listen to a local newscast or a syndicated program being shown on a local channel. However if the program is a national broadcast such as Sunday Night Football on NBC, an NCAA game on CBS, or the Super Bowl, you can access those type programs through Tunity by scanning the local picture on the screen. The app connects to the four network stations in New York City and provides you with that audio. This won't work on normal network programs like American Idol or The Big Bang Theory unless you are located in the Eastern or Central time zones. Those programs are shown in the east two hours ahead of the same broadcast in Denver for example or three hours before being shown in California. Another use of the app is to boost a single user's audio if TV is being watched in a crowded and noisy room. Pop in your headset and you can make the TV as loud as you want. Overall I think Tunity works well and deserves a look. It won't be for everyone but I think lots of you will find it will come in quite handy.
Meet other fans for the big game with Best Bars
Your favorite team has a big game coming up and you need to find out where other fans will be gathering to watch. Best Bars, a free universal app that requires iOS 6.0 or later should provide you with some good ideas. The app offers a list of watering holes that you can sort by distance based on your current location or a rating based on other users' evaluations. This will be especially useful if you are out of town on business or a vacation. The app provides a list of bars or a map showing where all the bars are located in conjunction with your current location. If you you pick one of the bars you get more info including the address and phone number, which teams' fans have selected that place as a team favorite, driving directions, and other information provided by bar managers such as daily specials and which games will be shown. Users can set up their own favorite teams in Best Bars so you can get the schedule of upcoming games and all the major sports are covered, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NCAA football and basketball, and major soccer leagues. Once you establish your list of favorites you can get a list of upcoming games and the app notifies you if there are any places where other fans of your team hang out. If you have friends who also use the app you can send invitations to them to meet you to watch the game. The app provides lots of basic information about sports hang outs but for it to be most effective the operators of the businesses need to become involved. The developer offers a merchant tool kit that allows the operators to update the information available about their particular establishment. With the tool kit, merchants can put out a daily list of what games will be shown, offer discounts and freebies to users of the app, send out alerts about specific games or deals and key those to fans based either on their favorite teams or the users' location. I checked out quite a few places around where I live and found almost no business had added additional information. Best Bars can be a big help to people who like to get together with other fans to watch games on TV, but needs more merchant participation to reach its full potential. But even now users will find an extensive list of watering holes near them. I did find a business for fans of my favorite team that I did not know about. Plus if you are away from your home neighborhood Best Bars offers quick and detailed access to places to watch your favorite team.
Meet friends and make new ones with Fanatic
One of the great enjoyment of watching sporting events is to be able to share the moment with friends and other fans of your favorite teams. Now with Fanatic, a free universal app, you can do just that even more easily than before. Fanatic is a sport social media app that hooks you up with places to go watch the games. If you are a Patriots fan for example you would be much happier in a place that caters to New England fans rather than in a bar full of Jets supporters. Now you can find out where the best places are to watch your favorite teams. Once you set up your profile which is just your name and location, you can start using the app. Next you select all your favorite teams from the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA basketball and football, MLS, and all the major European soccer leagues. Once Fanatic has that information users receive a list of upcoming games featuring all their favorite teams. If you tap your favorite team you get a list of the top places to watch that team's game across the entire U.S. Users can also select an upcoming game with one of their favorites and the app offers up the best place locally to watch the game. If there isn't a fan favorite watering hole in your town, the app provides a list of the best local spots to watch the game. Users can also add their favorite places to the list. Fanatic features a search function that users can find specific bars or restaurants. The app also brings up a list of local places. Tapping on the name brings up a page with the bars address, where it ranks among all the places in that community and a list of what team's fans congregate there on game days. On the search page besides the list of best overall venues to watch games users will can select maps. The map will bring up all the spots on the list so you can more easily locate them. It also uses logos of teams to indicate the top group of fans that go to that spot. This is also where you can select another city and find places to watch in case you are on a vacation or out of town working. Unlike other sports apps you won't use this app to track all the news, scores, and statistics about a specific sport or your favorite team. Fanatic does offer a news feed consisting of material culled from other sites including Twitter but it won't compete with the major sports news outlets. However, those sites can't compete with Fanatic on putting you in a comfortable spot to watch your favorite team and share the moment with other fans.
Akoo to use iPhone to control in-store on-demand displays
Akoo International announced plans to develop a web site optimized for the iPhone's Safari browser that will allow customers to use their iPhones to control in-store media displays. Presumably, store displays will announce their m-Venue URL and invite visitors to whip out their iPhones and take part. NikoDrakoulis, Akoo CEO, calls this "real-time consumer-to-brand interactivity." Done well, this may provide an amusing way to pass the time as one's spouse takes his or her time shopping. Done poorly, this will distract customers from actually purchasing products and will tick off the waiting spouses and children as the iPhone user plays with his or her toy. This press release suggests that restaurants and sports bars would be a great place to install these displays. TUAW could never imagine fights breaking out over which iPhone user gets to control the channel. Thanks Chris Tutor
Sports bars invest in HD to compete with home theater
Just like movie theaters, sports bars are feeling the crunch when it comes to home theaters encroaching on their territory. As much as fans might like the atmosphere, not many will come by to watch the game if the picture isn't as good as the one they've got at home. The ESPNZone chain is upgrading their locations with HDTVs everywhere, as well as many smaller establishments. The Chicago location wasn't done in time for the Super Bowl but expects to have their renovation completed next week. One bar owner quoted must have a few HD Beat readers as regulars as he noted that before HD some people would see their TVs, turn around and walk right back out. However, the occasional few-second delay in HD broadcasts can cause uncomfortable situations if some TVs are tuned to SD. It's good to see that establishments are aware of what they need to do to stay competitive, since sports is one of the top high-def draws.
No HD Super Bowl if your local affiliate and cable company can't agree
We've seen it noted in a few of the comments here, some HDTV cable subscribers having to go antenna or not at all if they want to watch the Super Bowl in high definition while their provider and the owners of local stations squabble. We know a lot of HDTV owners are sports fanatics, and so do advertisers and television companies who are determined to get every dollar they can.This article notes a typical battle currently going on in North Carolina and other areas. We recently posted about the owner of this affiliate, Sinclair, reaching a deal in Columbus, Ohio for HDTV broadcasts. Unless someone bends unexpectedly it doesn't look like Greensboro residents can expect the same. Is there anything customers can do when stuck like this? Switching to satellite or using an antenna isn't always feasible or desirable. I think local sports bars are at the bottom of a massive conspiracy, you heard it here first.
