Duel Quiz is a fantasy app for global soccer fans

As the NFL football season rolls toward the playoffs and the Super Bowl, millions of Americans are checking their mobile phones for updates on their favorite teams and fantasy league players.

But in much of the rest of the world, fans are following a different sport, the one Americans call soccer. And those fans also have a mobile app and a fantasy game they can play.

Football Duel Quiz is a turn based multiplayer trivia game for all designed for soccer fans around the world. Users play as a member of their favorite club and they compete against other club fans. Points are scored in during six round of trivia questions.

To score points, players answer questions like this one: "Who was the first man to bring any major silverware for the Manchester United?" With each win, points are contributed to the player's chosen team. Like a real life football league, the game has clubs standings for each league, with rankings determined based on their fans' contributed points. And as in real club soccer, after each  season, the top two clubs are promoted to a higher football league while the bottom are relegated to a lower league.

The game includes the top 64 football clubs from around the world in three football leagues. The developers say more clubs will be added in the future.

Football Duel Quiz is available as a free download in the Google Play Store. 

By: Ric Manning On 12/20/2019

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Hockeybabble.com keeps fans on the ice

There is no professional hockey team in the area where I live, so there’s almost no news in the local newspaper about the National Hockey League, which has already iced the puck for the 2016-17 season.

So how can a fan follow their beloved Bruins, Red Wings, Oilers or Blackhawks?

Now there’s an online service called Hockey Babble that delivers news about NHL teams, whether they’re in the next state or across the Canadian border.  

The free Web app posts news from major newspapers and broadcast sites in hockey hometowns along with reports and commentary posted on blogs that follow the league and specific teams.

Users can set up a customized feed that focuses on their favorite teams or players. Users can also tag news sources as favorites to give more weight to their reports in their daily updates. And Hockey Babble also has a Trending button that shows articles regarding the most talked-about players.

Hockey fans can get the service for free by signing up at the Hockey Babble website. A native app for iOS mobile devices is slated to be released soon.

By: Ric Manning On 10/25/2016

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MySportsShare will support young athletes, teams and leagues

We have several friends whose children were highly-rated athletes in high school. One went on to play tennis for his college team while another snagged a softball scholarship to a prestigious East Coast school. We followed their exploits though reports from family members, but we would have welcomed the closer look that will be offered through MySportsShare.

MySportsShare is a website that will provide a platform for athletes, teams and leagues to both share their sporting lives and help fund their activities. And every parent of a sports prodigy knows that summer leagues and traveling teams can be an expensive proposition.

The website is the brainchild of Tony Hubbard, the child of a military family who found joy and achievement in his sporting life. “My friends, family, and community were my biggest supporters growing up, but being in a military family that moved so frequently, it was nearly impossible for any of them to keep up with me. It was the part of my youth that I most remember, but also the part that I most wish could have been better documented.”


With MySportsShare, athletes and their families will be able to post videos, stats and news updates for themselves, their teams and their leagues. It will provide tools for team and league managers to organize rosters and schedules and build a supporting community. The site can also be used to sell tickets and advertising and solicit donations.

Hubbard currently has a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo where he hopes to raise $50,000 over about one month. Perks are available for donors who contribute amounts ranging form $1 to $1,000.

For more details, check the video below, the MySportsShare website and the Indiegogo page.

By: Ric Manning On 12/08/2015

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Mentally Charged app keeps your head in the game

After we lost a doubles set the other day, my tennis partner reminded me of something every successful athlete knows. “The game,” he said, “is in your head.”

Of course it is, but how can I keep my mind focused? The people at Mentally Charged have developed a complete program built around that seemingly simple but elusive goal.

Mentally Charged uses a mobile app to deliver rich-media content that has been curated by professional athletes and industry experts. The idea is to provide guided training sessions and content that will improve an athlete’s mental health.

Users can open the app to watch skill-specific videos, listen to informative audio clips, and read motivating articles. They receive instant notifications with tools, tips and strategies that can improve your mental toughness.

Mentally Charged explains the program this way: “Our goal is to increase your confidence, focus, and motivation, while decreasing your stress and anxiety. Whether it’s hockey, working out, or getting through a tough time, MC will support you – providing you with the techniques and strategies that you need to not only cope with obstacles, but to overcome adversity.”

You can view some of the content on the Mentally Charged website and download the free iOS app in the iTunes App Store.

By: Ric Manning On 10/30/2015

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These man cave ideas include indoor golf

When our daughter and her husband bought their first home, I had two reasons to be delighted. One, the house is close to ours in the same neighborhood and two, it has a fully-finished basement. When my son-in-law first saw the basement, we had the same thought about it’s future: Man Cave!

Plans for his man cave have been a frequent topic of conversation ever since. Kyle is a great husband and father, but every man needs a place where he can get away and take a break.

For ideas, we checked out the Man Cave project section on the Best Buy website where we found a collection of ideas for turning an underused room into something unique and fun.

I’m a gamer, so I was immediately attracted to the layout for a PC gaming station. Best Buy illustrates how you can connect three monitors to create a wide-screen view for combat and adventure games. Some games support all three screens. With others, you can play on one monitor while keeping a voice chat window open on another.

Kyle, however, is an avid golfer and he focused on the plan for a smart putting green, which he figured would go over well with his wife. He could improve his game while remaining close by for chores and projects.

The smart putting green uses an indoor putting green that is available from several sources in a variety of sizes and prices. What makes it smart is the Blast Motion Sensor which Best Buy sells for about $150.

The sensor attaches to the club handle and communicates with an iPhone or iPad. It analyzes swing speed, loft, lie, tempo and rotation change, then downloads and stores data for later review.

The Blast works with both putters and drivers, so it can help him when he is out on a real course as well as his practice green. And, if he keeps his man cave refrigerator well stocked with liquid refreshment, it might even get me to take up golf. At least the indoor portion.

 
Note: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

By: Ric Manning On 9/08/2015

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Anglers are likely to love new drophook app

My brother-in-law Matt loves to fish. He ties his own flies and share pictures of his latest catch. He would be out on the Great Lakes every day if he didn’t have to work.

Matt's the kind of person who will love  drophook, a new app for anglers that is scheduled to be released this month at iCAST, the big fishing exhibition in Orlando.

Developed by Daryn Dalton, a professional captain and avid angler, drophook is designed to be an angler’s go-do digital companion. It will let users shoot and share pictures of their catches and log the bait, and tackle that they used. An auto-log function will automatically record the date, location and meteorological details of the catch.

Other drophook features will include interactive tackle boxes, a species identification menu and the ability to book and review fishing charters. A “Fish On!” button will instantly record the action. Dalton says it's a to capture  the story of “the one that got away.”

The drophook website is currently accepting email registrations if you want to be notified when the app is available for downloading.

By: Ric Manning On 7/03/2015

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