The STA Group Access Innovation Newsletter - July 6
The STA Group
Shaping the future of sports by bringing together the brightest minds in science, engineering, design, and technology.
News – Instagram Threads: Twitter Competitor Launches Today
Facebook owner Meta is launching its new app to rival Twitter today. The app, called Threads, is available now on the Apple App Store and will be linked to Instagram. Screengrabs show a dashboard that looks similar to Twitter. Meta describes Threads as a "text based conversation app". The move is the latest in the rivalry between Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter owner Elon Musk.
News – AI Tech Shift is ‘Most Profound’ Seen in Our Lifetimes, Could Bring £400bn Boost to UK Economy, Says Google
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) marks the “most profound” technology shift in our lifetimes and has the potential to boost Britain’s economy by £400 billion by the end of the decade, according to a report by tech giant Google . In the firm’s first report on its economic impact in the UK for three years, Google said AI technology – such as the firm’s chatbot Bard and rival Microsoft’s ChatGPT – has the power to “turbocharge” UK productivity, which has been in decline for many years, by helping people back to work and unlocking new ways of working.
News – La Liga Announce EA Sports to Kick Off New Era of Spanish Football
LALIGA has signed a five-season partnership deal with Electronic Arts (EA) which will see Spain’s top men’s division become La Liga EA SPORTS, while the second tier will be called La Liga Hypermotion. The collaboration goes beyond the rebranding however, with EA's involvement bringing new graphics and advanced metrics to enhance the viewing experience, which aims to blend the physical and digital aspects of football to offer a ‘unique’ product to a wider audience.
In other LaLiga news, the league has relaunched its app to go beyond results and standings with a new customisable UX for fans. WSC Sports , a past Sports Technology Awards winner, provides a key innovation for the app that automatically converts horizontal video into vertical clips to highlight the action.
News – Pittsburgh Steelers’ Experiment with Helmet-Mounted Cameras to Enhance Performance Analysis
The Pittsburgh Steelers and a raft of other National Football League (NFL) teams are experimenting with helmet-mounted cameras on quarterbacks, accompanied by audio, to enhance performance analysis. The Steelers are using the camera with second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett to record and analyse his field vision before and during plays. The technology provides valuable pre-snap insights, allowing coaches to understand the quarterback's perspective and make improvements.
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News – NASCAR's First Chicago Street Race Made Possible by iRacing Simulation Partnership
NASCAR 's inaugural street race in Chicago will become a reality this month thanks to a ground-breaking simulation partnership with iRacing.com . Starting in November 2020, iRacing used a street-legal van topped with a laser scanner to capture measurements and create a virtual track, complete with realistic surroundings. The upcoming street race (July 9) will mark a significant milestone in NASCAR's history, showcasing the value of the simulation partnership in expanding the sport's boundaries.
News – EA Sports FC Unveils HyperMotion V Technology for ‘Most Immersive Football Experience Yet’
Electronic Arts (EA) Sports showcased the highly anticipated EA Sports FC during La Liga's Nueva Era event this week, promising an unprecedented level of immersion in the game. The centrepiece of the innovation is the HyperMotion V technology, which utilises over 590 million frames of real-world football game capture to create advanced in-game animations. This represents 80 times more data than used in FIFA 23's development and aims to ‘blur the line between virtual and real football’, resulting in an elevated sense of realism and player motion.
Opinion – Data and Analytics in Sport - Real Insight from True Experts
There’s a world of difference between information and insight. if you wanted to see just how much, we can help. The subject of ‘Data and Analytics in Sport’ isn’t simple but is big; it is an evergreen topic because it continues to evolve. For this reason, it is one of the core chapters of our Sports Technology Annual Review. We did an experiment; we asked a chatbot the same question we put to the people who author our Review chapters ‘tell us what is important in data and analytics in sports over the past 12 months in 1000 words’. Check out the bots’ answer alongside ours here. The difference is clear.
To see quality information in our other chapters, which span the subjects below, as well as last year’s Power List, click here.
If you are interested in working with us on a chapter for the next Annual Review, let us know as we’d love to talk to you. Please contact tanya@SportsTechGroup.org for more information.
The STA Group is a multifaceted sports technology business, operating at the heart of sport globally. Sign up for the full edition of the bi-weekly Access Innovation newsletter here: sportstechgroup.org and send us your news at: press@sportstechgroup.org.