Referees are human and will miss calls, but the NFL wants to make them the best that they can be. That’s why the NFL is testing the use of immersive technology such as virtual reality to train referees, according to an email from an NFL spokesperson sent to SportsTechie.
The initiative is currently in the early phases, according to NFL’s chief information officer, Michelle McKenna-Doyle, speaking with BizTech Magazine. This new training may prove to be essential following this past season. Besides superstar quarterbacks fearing for their safety due to precarious missed calls from refs, the NFL even acknowledged that refs missed an astounding 16 calls in the September 11 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Little is known about how the NFL will use this emerging technology to train referees, but you can get somewhat of an idea by assessing prior VR training programs pursued by the NFL. At least seven NFL teams have used virtual reality to train players in the past year using either EON Sports or Strivr, two VR companies specializing in sports training. In 2015, the Minnesota Vikings would put the jerseys of the team’s next opponent’s defenders in VR and have their former starting quarterback Terry Bridgewater go through reps practicing.
“So [Bridgewater] sees their blitzes over and over, and in seven-on-seven, the different run fronts they have, and make checks off of them,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer told ESPN. “It’s a chance for them to play the game a few times before they play the game.” Applying that to referees, observing the smallest rule infractions — illegal contact on a receiver, a slight offsides — in realistic 3D detail could be a useful form of training using VR.
As long as the NFL does not bring back replacement referees, a little virtual reality training could benefit everyone — fans, teams, and players alike.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.