nfl

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

New rules in Europe prevent Internet advertisers from tracking people without permission

The next version of Apple's OS X operating system may have a do-not-track option in the built-in Safari browser

Toshiba has a new hard drive that will self destruct in the wrong hands

Google now allows you to set your own background image in Gmail

You can now control your Netflix queue with motion control in Microsot Kinect

The Nook Color is coming to Staples

The next Madden NFL game will launch August 30

The newly formed Green Sports Alliance will promote eco-friendly practices for professional sports teams and their stadiums.

The alliance, announced this week, was created by team owner Paul Allen and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers and co-owns the Seattle Sounders.

The Environmental Protection Agency and six pro sports leagues are endorsing the effort: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and Major League Soccer (MLS).

Six teams, including … Read more

Madden NFL 12 is scheduled to launch this August. And not even the National Football League labor dispute will stop it.

"Fans of Madden NFL will not have their seasons interrupted, regardless of when the labor issues are resolved," Rob Semsey, EA Sports' director of public relations, told CNET in an interview today. "We plan to release Madden NFL 12 in August as always."

Madden NFL 12 will be the 23rd release in the famed franchise. Since its launch in 1989, more than 90 million Madden units have shipped worldwide.

Unlike in previous seasons, Madden fans need reassurance this year.

Earlier this month, the collective-bargaining agreement between the NFL Players Association and the league expired as the sides failed to reach a suitable resolution that would extend their relationship. If the sides don't come to an agreement in the next several months, the 2011-2012 season won't be played. It's a real enough possibility that last month, Sports Business Daily reported that the NFL modified its deal with EA in the event no season is played.

According to that report, the NFL "significantly" reduced EA's "contractual obligation" to help the game developer.… Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Microsoft is said to be scrapping the Zune player, but not the Zune brand.

Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile follow AT&T's lead and drop some or all charges for calls and texts to Japanese, or connected to earthquake relief.

AT&T is about to set broadband data caps for U-verse customers.

Yahoo adds Facebook chat to its Yahoo Mail client.

AOL and T-Mobile launch Play by AOL Music for Android to stream music to your mobile phone.

T-Mobile announces a 10GB per month data plan that does not come cheap.… Read more

As strife grows between National Football League players and owners, the video game business is already feeling sidelined.

The NFL and Electronic Arts have restructured their deal over the famed Madden franchise, the Sports Business Daily reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources. According to the publication, the NFL has agreed to "significantly" cut down on EA's "contractual obligations" and has extended the agreement for one year beyond the original 2012 end date.

Sports Business Daily wasn't able to track down how much less EA will pay the NFL this year, but Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne … Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas--NFL teams including the Dallas Cowboys could soon be abandoning their traditional paper playbooks and game-day printouts of plays in favor of iPads or other tablets.

Pete Walsh, head of technology for the Cowboys, said his team and at least a "couple" of others are currently considering abandoning their playbooks in favor of iPads, a move they feel could save them as much as 5,000 pages of paper printouts per game.

Walsh explained this potential philosophical and technological shift to CNET during a discussion about Cowboys Stadium technology at Super Bowl Media Day here Tuesday. The … Read more

There are some who believe American football would be nothing without Vegas.

And the folks in Vegas seem a little unsure who might win Sunday's football game between Green Bay and Pittsburgh. The line is tight and the professionals are sweating in the Bellagio Sports Book.

Fortunately, the Web has allegedly been a foolproof indicator recently of which team will clutch the Vince Lombardi trophy and try not to say "F*** yeah!!" as did San Francisco's Tim Lincecum when his team won the World Series.

The folks at Infegy, which appears to be a sort of … Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas--In my role as a reporter, I've had the good fortune to visit a number of control and/or command centers, such as those running a massive radio telescope, a nuclear submarine, a national laser fusion facility, and several others.

For anyone who remembers the Matthew Broderick vehicle "War Games," the bar for what a control room looks like is high: massive screens, dozens of workstations, long tables, and people moving around everywhere. But in the commodity PC era, that kind of room is mostly long gone. While I've seen NASA control centers that approach … Read more

Sometimes it's hard to choose which social-networking site fully encapsulates man's generosity to man.

I wanted to plump for Facebook. Its depth of friending possibilities allegedly led one woman to attempt to drive over her cousin; her cousin had managed to become friends with someone whom the driver had not.

However, I have now decided that it is Twitter, thanks to the recent activities of--and alleged death threats toward--Maurice Jones-Drew.

Should you not know the name, Jones-Drew is a fine running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, on Sunday, he was one of quite a few current and … Read more