Intel dives into sports technology

Sports is getting a big injection of technology from chipmaking giant Intel. The company, best known for the chips that power PCs and data centers, is charging into the sports world by providing the engineering for some revolutionary gadgets.

It's part of a trend that began with step-counting smart bracelets and has exploded into innovative technology that is expected to make a difference in how people view or take part in sports.

"Getting all this information is great, but at some point, telling people how many steps they took is not very useful," said Steve Holmes, vice president of smart device innovation at Intel. "You need to do something with it to help them improve their outcomes."

Some of it will find its way into the homes of sports fans this year, while other innovations are still being prototyped. Among the latest developments:

• 3-D technology that lets TV or PC viewers see a play from any angle.

• A button-sized module that athletes and viewers can use to track an athlete's performance.

• Smart eyeware with built-in audio and sensors that coaches users during a cycling or running workout with advice on performance techniques.

A tiny module called the Curie is generating a lot of buzz. It is a complete system in a package, with sensors, computing and connectivity. It's about the size of a button, battery included.

"We can provide an end-to-end digital experience that can transform sports," Holmes said. "We can put a Curie right on an athlete, design the radio that takes information off it and hands it to the cloud, take the information from the servers and write the software to turn it into meaningful information."

The module was demonstrated in January during the men's Snowboard Slopestyle Final competition at the X Games in Aspen, Colo. Attached to snowboards, its built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer, GPS and a tiny neural network recorded competitors' speed, distance, height and G-force as they landed after flipping and corkscrewing through the air. The results were broadcast along with the video on ESPN.

"For the first time, viewers could see how far the athletes were jumping, how much they were rotating, how hard they hit the ground," Holmes said. "It really will connect the fan to the athlete in a much more fundamental way."

Intel and Red Bull Media House have announced a partnership to incorporate Curie modules in some of its extreme events.

The close collaboration between Intel and Replay "is for them to look into how they can forward the technology," said Replay spokesman Preston Phillips. "They've made a push to be more commercial, to say 'Hey we're more than a chipmaker, we're the fun guys.' "

Being able to view a play from any angle you choose on your PC is coming soon in the form of an application that will allow viewers to freeze a play and watch it from any vantage point.

"We don't have the app out there yet," because negotiations are still taking place with the leagues, said Jeff Hopper, Intel's general manager of immersive experiences.

Creating and editing these clips takes a lot of computer power, which is why Intel is involved. Replay places many cameras around the court, diamond or field, and the number-crunching to assemble a freeD slice of a game takes place on Intel's servers.