The October Seed Talk Podcast with Sterling and Taylor Mack
Sports and Pop Culture Stories
TikTok Ghost Story
A TikTok user, during a remodel found a bloody rug in the back yard. Coupled with paranormal activity.
IU Football
IU Football is the first team to be bowl eligible in 2024.
Uconn Football
Jim Mora has Uconn Football rolling after a big win over Buffalo and a last second win over Temple.
Kirk Cousins and the Falcons
Are the Kirk Cousins led Falcons for real?
Sports Tech News
Pixellot
Pixellot, the global pioneer of AI-driven sports video technology is proud to announce the launch of its next-generation portable sports camera: the Pixellot Air NXT. Setting new standards in automated multi-sports streaming technology, the FIBA approved Air NXT comes with an array of enhanced features designed to deliver an unparalleled viewing experience for a wide range of sports including Soccer, Basketball, Ice Hockey, Football, Lacrosse, and Field Hockey.
The Pixellot Air NXT boasts significant upgrades in every aspect and seamless integration with Pixellot’s coaching, analytics, and OTT platform – a single eco-system for easy video and data management. With new digital stereo microphones, smoother video powered by NVidia technology, and up to four times more storage, the Air NXT ensures that every cheer, every play, and every thrilling moment of the game is captured with crystal-clear precision.
For Streaming Games and Tournaments
The Pixellot Air NXT is designed to cater to the needs of every level of play, from sports families, teams, and clubs to elite organizations, and it features a unique tournament mode that simplifies the live production of back-to-back games. The new camera offers enhanced storage capacity of up to 512GB and a long-lasting battery that can record up to 5 hours of video. The battery also charges 33% faster than the previous model, ensuring reliable and continuous performance.
Unrivaled Sports
Unrivaled Sports, a leader in youth sports experiences, today announced the launch of Football Youth, a new platform that will operate the inaugural All-American Flag Series, featuring some of the best young flag football players in the nation. Football Youth joins Soccer Youth and the All-Ripken Games in Unrivaled Sports' programming for individual athletes seeking top-level competition at premier facilities for flag football, soccer, baseball, and softball.
Unrivaled Sports Launches Football Youth and the All-American Flag Series (prnewswire.com)
Homage
Homage, a Columbus, OH-based vintage-inspired sports and licensed apparel brand, raised an undisclosed amount in equity funding. The round started with an initial investment from Ryan Reynolds’ venture firm, Maximum Effort, recently complemented by investments from Winnie Capital, former NFL pro-baller, Jason Kelce, who spent his 13-year career playing as a center for the Philadelphia Eagles, and 35Ventures, led by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman.
Other investors in the funding round included More Better, led by Emmy-winning Rob McElhenney; Adam Hansmann, co-founder of The Athletic; Haslam Sports Group, owners of the Cleveland Browns; Columbus Crew, shared controlling owners of the Milwaukee Bucks; and Wheelhouse 360.
Led by Founder and CEO Ryan Vesler, Homage is an official license partner of the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and MLB, numerous colleges and universities, and pop culture brands. Homage said its new investor group will further strengthen its foothold in the sports, media and entertainment industries.
Homage reported in a media release that it plans to use this capital infusion to expand production capabilities, grow its operating team and strengthen its technology and marketing infrastructure. The brand also aims to scale its partnerships within the licensed product industry, where it already collaborates with the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, and other major pop culture entities.
Puma
German sportswear-maker Puma is tapping generative AI for its branding and online sales efforts, part of an expanded partnership with Google Cloud, the company said Tuesday.
Puma said it has already deployed Google Cloud’s Imagen 2 model to help it craft personalized website images corresponding to the locations of some online shoppers. For example, shoppers in Japan may see an image of trail running shoes on the foothills of Mount Fuji, the company said.
Google Cloud Chief Executive Thomas Kurian said the tool is able to create a relevant image in several minutes, whereas the traditional process of conducting a photo shoot would require several days.
Exclusive | Puma Wants to Improve Its Brand. AI Might Help. - WSJ
Digital Athlete
Player safety is of paramount importance in contact sports, and as such the NFL has partnered with AWS to transform how its teams seek to avoid injuries to their players.
The development of the ‘Digital Athlete’ is enabling teams in the league to better predict and ultimately prevent player injuries by creating a virtual representation of an NFL player using AI and machine learning.
Running simulations to warn players at high risk of injury
The Digital Athlete is an injury prediction tool that collects data from sources such as the Next Generation Stats System (NGS), which provides data on each player’s location, speed, and acceleration at all times during a game. Elsewhere, data is also gathered from video footage of games and practice sessions, as well as sensors located around the stadiums which record performance metrics from devices fitted to the players’ equipment.
By combining these data points with other variables such as weather, equipment, and the type of play (such as a run or a punt), the Digital Athlete’s algorithms can run millions of simulations of specific scenarios during an NFL game to warn teams if a player is at a high risk of an injury. The insights generated can then be used to create personalised training, injury prevention, and recovery plans.
All 32 NFL clubs have had access to the Digital Athlete team portal since the 2023-24 season.
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