REPORTING FROM OAKLAND: It was a regular break in the action during the first quarter of Tuesday’s NBA playoff game at Oracle Arena when a familiar voice — at least here in Silicon Valley — echoed through the building. “Hey Google, turn down the lights.” Google’s popular voice assistant helped set the mood as the dance team took the floor for a quick performance before the postseason battle resumed. Such was the scene during Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals as Google, with its massive headquarters located just south of here, spent big dollars on a unique sponsorship with… Read More
Ever wondered who was the best basketball player in the Pac-10 in 1982? If that trivia item has been bugging you since the Reagan administration, Google Cloud Platform and the National Collegiate Athletic Association have some good news for you. The NCAA has named Google as its “Official Cloud of the NCAA,” which mostly means you’ll see a gazillion ads for Google Cloud during the basketball tournament in March. But sports junkies could learn some interesting historical data from this partnership, as the NCAA also plans to upload more than 80 years of sports data across a number of different… Read More
Bleacher Report CEO Dave Finocchio has some advice for Facebook. Speaking at the 2017 GeekWire Sports Tech Summit the co-founder of what has become the second largest sports website in the United States said social media can be a struggle for publishers big and small. He noted that Facebook pushed publishers to use its platform as a way to spread content far and wide, but over the years it became harder to get stories linke back to a website promoted. “I think the days of being able to drive massive referral traffic back to your website are coming to an… Read More
Millions of people watching Super Bowl 51 today will get a taste of Google Home. The tech giant will air a 1-minute Super Bowl advertisement during the big game this afternoon that features its smart speaker. Google just posted the ad here on YouTube. It’s a mash-up of people coming home and using Google’s $129 device to play music, turn on lights, answer questions, and more. If the commercial looks familiar, that’s because Google is re-using the same ad it published online back in October. Google Home debuted this past November and competes directly with Amazon’s popular Echo device. Some reviewers say Home… Read More
