NBA Launchpad, the league’s new in-house accelerator, announced its first cohort of technology companies to assist and pilot. 
Announced last June, the R&D-focused NBA Launchpad sifted through hundreds of applications from 25 countries to target four areas of focus: ankle injury innovation, elite youth player performance, referee training and development and youth health and wellness. The five selected companies to work with the league for the next six months are:  
*BetterGuards, a Berlin-based ankle support device that seeks to offer high protection and national range of motion.
* Breathwrk, out of L.A., which created an app with guided breathing exercises to help athletes wake, focus and sleep.
*Nextiles, from Brooklyn, which makes sensor-woven fabric to track human movement such as the new KineticPro Sleeve for pitchers. 
  *Rezzil, which is headquartered in Manchester, U.K. and backed by several soccer superstars like Thierry Henry, Gary Neville and Vincent Kompany, created VR programs for cognitive training, rehabilitation and post-match analysis. 
 *Uplift Labs, whose home is in Palo Alto, Calif., does AI motion capture and biomechanical analysis using only two smartphone cameras, with adoption in MLB, golf and by soccer’s LAFC. 
ESPN’s signature MegaCast returns for tonight’s College Football Championship game between No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama, with 100 cameras, 100 microphones and 13 separate alternative broadcasts. 
The network claims it will litter the main broadcast from Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium with the following technology:
*An AllCam that “captures the entire field, allowing isolated shots on any player and activity on the field at all times.”
*PylonCams “at each corner of the end zone with the back line pylons now having ability to pan, tilt and zoom – covering more of the end zone than ever before.”
*Multiple Skycams that “include traditional and hi-sky, showcasing the action from various heights above the field.”
*On-the-field views “via cameras that are attached atop the caps of the officials.”
*Line-to-Gain angles that “will feature the pylon cam at the first down line (low angle).”
*Virtual reality graphics “that span across the entire field and appear via multiple cameras at the same time.”
Outside of the main telecast on ESPN, the alternative broadcasts include a film room with Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher on ESPN2; a Command Center on ESPNU that “features a multi-angle presentation, which includes up to four different vantage points at any one time, with statistics and real-time drive charts supplementing the game action”; an A T& T 5G Skycast on ESPNews featuring sounds of the game; a Spanish language telecast; Georgia and Alabama hometown radio calls on the SEC Network; a national audio broadcast on ESPN Radio; a 4K Skycam on DirecTV, YouTube TV and Verizon and five different streaming telecasts, including the two bands performing at halftime.
An autonomous race car whose control systems were developed by PoliMOVE—a team comprised of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Milan and the University of Alabama—won the first head-to-head autonomous racecar competition. CES staged the event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. 
The Indy Autonomous Challenge at CES featured nine teams spanning eight countries and drawing participants from 19 universities. The field included, among others, MIT, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the University of Virginia and Technische Universität München, the latter of which won a previous competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October.  
 All teams raced with the same model of autonomous race car, the Dallara AV-21. That prior event was a time trial in which the winning TUM team averaged roughly 80 mph per lap, although PoliMOVE recorded the top speed of 100 mph in Indy. In Las Vegas, however, PoliMOVE maxed out at 173 mph. 
 Energy Systems Network, which seeks to innovate more renewable and efficient energy solutions, sponsored the IAC in hopes of catalyzing further innovation of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems. 
 
Fitness+, Apple’s fitness service tailored to the company’s Apple Watch product, is introducing two new features to users Jan. 10: “Time to Run’’ and “Collections.’’ The service’s newest update will also include new Artist Spotlight workouts with Ed Sheeran, Shakira, Pharell Williams and The Beatles. 
Time to Run, a spin-off of the company’s Time to Walk feature which debuted in January of 2021, will release popular running routes every Monday for users in specific cities, with the goal of helping participants “become more consistent and better runners.’’ This Monday’s locations are Miami Beach, Brooklyn and London. Users will have access to notable sights and landmarks from those three cities throughout their run, including a music playlist specific to each locale. 
In addition, wheelchair user will be able to access a similar alternative program, called ”Time to Push.”
The second new activation for Fitness+ is Collections, a portfolio of workouts and meditations across Fitness+ which are tailored to achieving specific goals, like running your first 5K or improving posture. 
In September, United Healthcare became the first health insurance company to provide a free year-long subscription to Apple Fitness+, citing its benefits for physical and mental wellness.
Leading Latin American cryptocurrency exchange Bitso has become the newest sponsor of Brazil’s São Paulo Futebol Clube (SPFC). Bitso, which boasts a user base of more than 3.5 million, will have its logo featured on SPFC official team jerseys as part of its three-year deal with the club. 
“This partnership kicks off Bitso’s support for Brazilian sports, aligned with our growth goals in Brazil as we work to demonstrate that the crypto market is reliable, secure and simple,” Bitso Head of Marketing for Latin America Beatriz Oliveira said in a statement.
SPFC is the only Brazilian club to have captured three world titles and also is the first three-time winners of the Libertadores Cup of America. Its fans will have exclusive benefits at Morumbi stadium as a part of the new partnership, including a section of the stadium reserved for Bitso users. The club and cryptocurrency exchange also have plans to make it possible to pay for tickets with cryptocurrency in the future. 
 Formula 1 is working with technology consultancy Digital Catapult on ways to leverage 5G as part of as part of 5PRING, the UK’s first 5G-focused commercial application accelerator.  
 Through this initiative, Formula 1 will seek new ways to innovate fan engagement experiences through 5G, primarily by working with startups and small- and medium-sized companies. 5PRING launched a year ago in Birmingham, England, and added a live–events program this month. 
 The overall 5PRING accelerator curriculum taps into the experience and insights of its board member companies—Virgin Media O2, Deloitte, Wayra, West Midlands 5G and Digital Catapult—and includes access to private 5G networks. 
Baseball training company KineticPro Performance and smart fabric maker Nextiles have released the KineticPro Sleeve, a workload monitor and measure of elbow torque and force for pitchers, as part of a new product suite for biomechanical analysis. This is the first true competitor to Pulse, the Driveline Baseball-owned wearable formerly known as Motus. 
The KineticPro Sleeve uses Nextiles’ thread-based sensors that measure movement by the way the fabric bends, stretches and twists while also using some more traditional inertial measurement units (IMUs) such as accelerometers and gyroscopes. This 3D motion capture and force data is fed into the Kinnect app, an athlete management system developed by KPP that focuses on pitchers. 
KineticPro Performance, which was founded by former minor league pitcher Casey Mulholland, also integrated ProPlayAI’s smartphone camera-based biomechanical analysis into the Kinnect app. The company, based out of a Tampa training facility, previously created the KP Bands, which are resistance bands with force sensors. 
 
 
Crypto Gaming United (CGU), a gaming space built on blockchain that allows users to earn cryptocurrency as they play, has announced a partnership with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Josh Giddey — the company’s first-ever athlete partnership. 
On Jan. 2, Giddey became the youngest player (19 years, 2 months and 23 days) in NBA history to record a triple-double, surpassing LaMelo Ball’s previous record set last year (19 years, 10 months, 17 days).
Alongside CGU, Giddey will help produce new projects in the metaverse, including wearable tech and virtual events. Giddey’s first co-creation with CGU will be a series of Josh Giddey NFT wearables which the Thunder star will help to design alongside a group of artists. 
With this partnership, Giddey joins a growing list of NBA players and franchises to take part in the crypto boom, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers.
Healthcare company Abbott announced the development of a new line of biowearables called Lingo that could have broad implications on health, wellness and sports. 
 Lingo is a suite of sensor technologies that will help users monitor biomarkers such as glucose, ketones and lactate. In 2020, Abbott released the Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biowearable in Europe, with marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge among the adoptees to track his glucose levels for optimal nutrition, training, performance and recovery.  
 Kipchoge recorded a segment for Abbott’s CES keynote on Thursday, saying he used the biosensor to track his glucose consumption and no longer had to guess how much he needed to replenish. From the stage, Abbott chairman and CEO Robert B. Ford said the data collected from Lingo sensors “will offer unprecedented understanding of human metabolism that can improve decisions around general health nutrition and even athletic performance.” 
 
 
Pocket Radar, a velocity tracker and video tool, has signed a letter of intent to acquire software company The Scout Hub, which makes apps for coaches, players and organizations. 
Pocket Radar and The Scout Hub both serve multiple sports with a specialty in baseball. All 30 MLB clubs use Pocket Radar in some capacity, and The Scout Hub has developed a Baseball Scouting app that combines objective and subjective evaluations of players. Coaches can customize those reports for their particular needs. 
The Scout Hub is also known for its Athlete Résumé tool, which helps aspiring athletes showcase their talents as digital scouting and analytics grow in importance. The Dallas-based company is run by owner Todd Blyleven, who has played, scouted and coached professionally and whose father is Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven. Pocket Radar is led by co-founder and CEO Steve Goody. 
 
 
Break the Love, a social tennis app that helps players find opponents and court time, has raised a $2.5 million seed round. Break the Love is a graduate of the leAD Sports & Health Tech accelerator. The Lake Nona Fund, which is backed by leAD and the Tavistock Group, led the round. 
Founder and CEO Trisha Goyal started Break the Love to connect with other area tennis players. That has grown into an app with support for social clubs, instructional classes and competitive leagues. Based in New York City, the company has branched out to serve other regions in New York, as well as the Virginia-Maryland-DC area, Southern California and Southeastern Florida. 
Antler Ventures, Red Giraffe Advisors and Caddie Ventures were the institutional investors, and they were joined by Naomi Osaka’s coach (Wim Fissette) and a former Wimbledon doubles champion (Vania King), among others. 

source