The Microsoft Surface tablets not functioning properly during the AFC Championship game "raises flags for the NFL as it approaches" Super Bowl 50, according to Edward Baig of USA TODAY. NFL Senior VP & CIO Michelle McKenna-Doyle said the league is "double and triple checking network connections, and 'building quite a bit of redundancy.'" She said, "You never know when a cable could go bad. We used military grade connectivity too -- it’s not like we’re buying our cords at Best Buy." Baig notes any glitch for Microsoft "would come at a sensitive time for the computing giant, just days after its vote-tallying app was the brunt of social-media jibes after some web sites crashed during the Iowa caucus." This NFL season "is the second in which Microsoft’s Surface tablets have been used on the sidelines, primarily to deliver color images to coaches and players." Microsoft Corporate VP Yusuf Mehdi in a blog post wrote over the last two years, the tablets have "supported nearly 100,000 minutes of sideline action, and in that time, not a single issue has been reported that is related to the tablet itself" (USA TODAY, 2/3).
AUGMENTED REALITY: TIME's John Patrick Pullen reported Microsoft yesterday revealed a concept video about the future of football, "showing what it could be like to watch an NFL game with its forthcoming HoloLens headset." Showing a "blitz of video, graphics, always-updating data, and hardcore fans, the two-minute preview is an eye-popping illustration of how the mixed-reality headset could change live sports." Wearing the HoloLens while "watching the game on an average-sized television could allow the video to spill well beyond the frame of the screen, giving the wearer a wall-full of field, similar to the upper deck view at a stadium." Meanwhile, graphics could "pop up outside the television’s display, showing fantasy football alerts with important statistics tailored to your team" (TIME.com, 2/2). MASHABLE's Lance Ulanoff wrote those wearing HoloLens "use gestures to control the augmented reality screen and to access game stats and other interactions." The developers edition "will cost" at least $3,000. Microsoft "is not fast-tracking HoloLens for consumer consumption" (MASHABLE.com, 2/2).
