football

YouTube's weapon against crude comments

Tuesday's top stories score a touchdown against trolls:

YouTube is hoping to reduce its troll population by letting users go by their real names. Google+ accounts can now be used as a YouTube identity. The switch can be done in settings. Before making the change, users can review past activity and delete any undesirable comments. But this isn't a required switch. Users can keep their existing account names.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts may not have the monopoly over pigskin for long. Back in 2008, EA was sued for making exclusive licensing deals with the NFL, NCAA and … Read more

Can an algorithm win your fantasy football league?

Human judgment hasn't done much for human development over the last, say, 50 years.

This has allowed machines to take over and begin to dictate.

You'd think that there might be limits. You'd think that politicians were selfless.

The latest machine creation which tries to squeeze the human mind and reduce it to a grape pip is Artificial Intelligence software that picks the perfect fantasy football team.

This is the brainbaby of three academics from the University of Southampton in England.

Lecturer in Computer Science Sarvapali Ramchurn, student Tim Matthews, and visiting researcher and George Chalkiadakis have … Read more

The 404 1,089: Where we go the extra mile (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 show:

- Soccer to adapt goal line, ball-tracking technology.

- Friday's history lesson: AOL's longest running employee on the history of AOL chat rooms.

- British Airways will google passengers in preflight.

- Hillbilly Alabamians celebrate Fourth of July by shooting guns into air.

- Best Buy lays off 650 Geek Squad employees nationwide.

Bathroom break video: Super Moonwalking!… Read more

Finally: Goal-line tech for English Premier League, World Cup?

There's a retrograde little sports event happening in England this week called Wimbledon.

The organizers still force players to wear predominantly white clothing. Yes, even on the practice courts.

And yet, way back in 1980, Wimbledon began employing Cyclops technology to make service line calls.

Meanwhile, soccer (or football, as most of the world knows it) contented itself with sad little men carrying flags, often somehow blind to balls crossing the goal line.

But that perhaps will soon be no more. For the BBC reports that the International Football Association Board has finally decided that it should experiment with goal-line technology, starting in December at the slightly insignificant FIFA Club World Cup (not to be confused with the World Cup).… Read more

Magnetic football perfect for butterfingers

I'm not one to watch an NFL game on TV or toss around the pigskin in the park, but if I did I would probably benefit from this magnetic football.

Ultimate Reception is a campaign on crowd-funding site IndieGoGo aimed at developing a magnetic football and gloves that improve catching ability.

Actually, the gloves are embedded with powerful magnets that attract a special layer in the football's skin. They're strong enough so that the ball will stick to the glove when the arm is outstretched and palm down. … Read more

Robots play American football (and suck at it)

Every year, between the months of February and August, there's a feeling of emptiness that falls over me, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. American football fans know this to be the period of time when there is no college or NFL games, and when we turn into sad lots, feeling cold and alone on weekends and Monday nights.

So imagine my delight when I stumbled across this story about robots playing American football--two of my favorite things combined into one. Score, right? Well, sort of. Unfortunately, the game barely resembles American football, and the robots suck at it. … Read more

The 404 987: Where we get nailed for intentional grounding (podcast)

Twitter reports that football fans sent roughly 10,000 tweets in the final 3 minutes of last night's game, but that wasn't enough to overthrow the all-time record for tweets per second.

Guess which film roped in 25,088 tweets per second last December? Hint: it wasn't made in America.… Read more

Is Bleacher Report ready for some football?

SAN FRANCISCO--The Super Bowl takes place in just over 72 hours, and Brian Grey and his lieutenants are trying to plan what is by far their most important day of the year.

Grey is the CEO of Bleacher Report, one of the largest sports Web sites in the U.S., and a place nearly 26 million people visited in January for the latest insights into their favorite teams.

Unlike many sports publications, Bleacher Report doesn't concentrate on breaking news with a team of paid writers. Instead, it relies on sports enthusiasts around the country and the world who are … Read more

Game day apps for football haters

It's the weekend of the big game, and all your friends are planning a party, but you hate football. What do you do?

OK, so maybe you don't hate football, but you're definitely not interested in watching it for half a day, even if it is the championship game. And that's totally fair. Either way, you're going to need something to occupy your time while the rest of your buds are glued to their television sets. So here's a collection of apps for iPhone and Android to help you escape the potential boredom of … Read more

Games for football lovers on iPhone and Android

The big game is this weekend and most American's will tell you it's a lot more than just a football game.

Many people make an event out of the game with parties, barbecues, and betting pools, even if their favorite team isn't in the running. Even the commercials shown during the game are an event in themselves with advertisers spending huge amounts of money for 30-second and 1-minute spots.

While you wait for the Sunday's festivities to kick off, I've put together a collection of mobile games to get you excited for the main event. … Read more