Keeping A Finger On The Pulse Of The Olympics, One Tweet At A Time

NBC Sports together with Stamen Design have created a real-time visualization of the Olympic discussion on Twitter, similar to a feature I've viewed before on CNet news, I believe. The tool tracks the chatter and by monitoring keywords popping up on the social networking service. The more discussion on a particular topic, the larger the image displayed in the tool. Twitter Tracker continually scans and updates, clicking on an image will drill down on the topic and display the most recent tweets. I imagine there may be a lot of minimized browser windows pointed at Twitter Tracker... and much to my surprise and delight the dominant topic this morning as I write this is Curling! Either there are a lot of us curlers on Twitter or this Olympics is doing a lot for the profile of the sport.

EH, OH, Canada Go!

Source: NY Times Bits Blog

Confusion Over Blogging/Tweets By Olympic Athletes In Vancouver

It appears as though the athletes are unsure of the Olympic Committee's stance on blogging and tweeting from the games.however, Bob Condron, the Director of Media Services for the United States Olympic Committee says “Athletes are free to blog during the Games,”  “And Twitter is just a blog that’s written 140 characters at a time.”

There will be  some restrictions on what athletes can do online during the games. The IOC Blogging Guidelines for the 2010 Games, says that accredited people, including athletes, must keep their posts confined to their personal experiences. “You can’t act as a journalist if you aren’t,” says Condron. “You need to do things in a first person way.”

“These are going to be the Twitter Olympics,” says Condron. “There’s no telling where the updates will come from. It could be the bench during a hockey game, or even on the medal stand."

I wonder how much this will affect Twitter's numbers as the world tunes into the Olympics?

Source: Wired

Olympic Tourch Design Withstands Canadian Winter

I was fortunate to have viewed the Olympic torch run as it passed through our community and then even more fortunate to be able to handle one of the actual torches as a coworker's wife took part in the relay. Torchbearers were given the opportunity to purchase the torch that they carried on their leg of the journey, which I think is an incredible honor and a memento that will be cherished for a lifetime. If you've not had the honor of seeing and touching one of these treasures, it is truly a thing of beauty (imho) and a work of fine engineering. The manufacturer chosen to design and build the device that would carry the Olympic Flame on it's journey across the country was Montreal based Bombardier Inc.maker of aircraft, trains, and famous for their snowmobiles, fitting I guess.

A press release from the company yesterday says, among other things, "In collaboration with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), Bombardier engineers and industrial designers spent more than two years designing and testing the 2010 Olympic Torch. A fuel blend of propane and isobutane allows the torch to burn in colder temperatures than any other torch in Olympic history. A vent in the side of the torch allows the Olympic Flame to unfurl like a flag."  

If you feel the need to see the guts of the torch check out this link:  www.bombardier.com/files/en/supporting_docs/BI-Bombardier-torch.pdf/en/supporting_docs/BI-Bombardier-torch.pdf

Secret Science Equals Gold Medals?

With the 2010 Winter Olympics about to get underway in Vancouver, the Canadian government is hoping that money poured into it's "Own The Podium" program equates to  Olympic medals. One of the pieces of science that particularly interests me is research being conducted on the curling ice where researchers are using infrared and other technical methods of studying the effect of sweeping on a curling stone. The theory was always that the sweeping action actually melted the ice slightly giving the desired affect on the curling stone as it travels down the sheet of ice. Professor Tom Jenkin, University of Western Ontario, has dispelled this theory and has come up with dozens of other discoveries to assist the Canadian teams in their quest for gold.

Source: CBC

 

NBC - Yahoo Big Olympic Traffic

According to the NYTimes.com, "NBCOlympics.com served up more than 1.2 billion pages and 72 million video streams through Saturday, more than doubling the combined traffic to its site during the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2006 Games in Turin." Perhaps it was the huge time difference or the proliferation of broadband access to the home, but this year more people flocked to their computers to keep up with their favorite events / athletes. “The demand that we’re seeing has far exceeded even our wildest expectations,” said Jimmy Pitaro, the head of sports and entertainment for Yahoo. Alan Wurtzel, the head of research for NBC, concluded that many NBCOlympics.com visitors used the Web site as a video playback device. “People want to catch up on events that they miss,” he told reporters during a conference call on Aug. 13. “About half say that’s the main reason”

Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer - Not Your Fathers Speedo

As of Wednesday Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer had captured 42 or 48 swimming medals at the Beijing Olympics and since the LZR was unveiled in February, over 60 world records have been broken. According to the Globe and Mail "...Speedo enlisted the help of NASA scientists to sculpt the company's Pulse material into a shark-like second skin that reduces the drag on a human body in the water by as much as 10 per cent. Speedo created 3-D scans of more than 400 of the world's top swimmers in an effort to determine the shape of their bodies and how best to improve their aquatic movements." Loren Chiu, an associate professor of biomechanics at the University of Alberta says “They looked at fish and sharks and tried to recreate a surface that is similar to what they would have on their skin,” he said. “It's similar to the non-stick frying pans you use to cook your eggs. If you have a smooth surface, then instead of water sticking to the suit, which would cause friction, it slides along it. With less friction, the athlete then is able to move faster.” The LZR is expected to be made available to the general public this fall at a cost of about $550.00 (US).

Olympic Fireworks Display Impressive But Faked, Sort Of.

The opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics featured an impressive fireworks display that represented a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks, marching above the city from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest National Stadium. The fireworks display apparently did actually take place , however the version displayed on television and on the giant displays in the stadium where in fact computer generated graphics, created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at precisely the right moment. "It would have been prohibitive to have tried to film it live," said an advisor to the Beijing Olympic Committee. "We could not put the helicopter pilot at risk by making him try to follow the firework route." According to the Telegraph.co.uk "Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible: they sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter."

Keeping Up With The Olympics On Google

Check out Google's coverage of the Olympic Summer Games including a Google Maps rendition that tracks medals by country and displays where the events are taking place (stadium view) . You can also add the google gadget to your ig page and get a quick tally of medal standings.

Want To Find Olympic Coverage Onine? Checkout Wired's How-To Wiki

If you are a sports fanatic as well as a geek, Wired's How-to wiki has compiled a list of online destinations for getting Beijing Olympic coverage. With the opening ceremonies taking place this Friday, August 8th, and most of the events taking place while we in the western world are sound asleep, there are a dozen or so resources listed here that will help you keep on top of the action. Wired even gives you some tips on how to beat the regional restrictions.

Olympic Highlights Coming To Youtube In Underdeveloped Nations

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has struck a deal with Youtube to make highlights of the Beijing Games available in 77 territories in Africa, Asia and the Middle East where no broadcasting deals exist or the deals in place are not exclusive. "The Olympic Games will be played out on Facebook, YouTube and Flickr whether we like it or not. We need to engage, not disengage, with them," said London 2012 head of new media, Alex Balfour. "The main objective is to give as much access to as many people as we can," Youtube representative Anthony Zameczkowski told the CBC. With the games a half a world away, most of us will be getting highlights and rebroadcasts anyway, and with the surge in social networking it will be interesting to see how much amatuer video, photography, and commentary makes it to the likes of Youtube, Flickr, and Blogger.

Chinese Internet Users Show Support For Government With Color Campaign

The Globe and Mail is reporting a trend amongst Chinese web surfers. In an act of support for their government which has come under much criticism over it's handling of the uprisings in Tibet, as displayed by the Olympic Tourch Run protests, many Chinese web surfers are adding hearts and “CHINA” to their names when chatting online. In the article "This is aimed at all those forces which want to bring chaos to China," one user who posted a photo of herself dressed in People's Liberation Army fatigues is quoted as saying. I've not encountered it yet but I'm sure it will spread, perhaps there aren't that many Chinese who tweet yet?

International Olympic Committee Warns China About Internet Access During Games

Inspectors dispatched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have said that China is obligated to provide journalists with web access under its Games contract. The final inspection before the games begin in August is currently underway and IOC's Kevan Gosper has said "There was some criticism that the Internet closed down during events relating to Tibet in previous weeks - but this is not Games time," Gosper added that "Our concern is that the press is able to operate as it has at previous Games during Games time." 30,000 journalists are expected to be in Beijing covering the Olympics. I suspect that if there are incidents during the games and Internet access goes down, there will be a very good technical reason for the coincidence... whether it reflects poorly upon the host nation or not. BBC News Story here.