Wimbledon hits the Net: IBM Seer and Twitter tennis

By Rich Trenholm on 23 June 2009, 9:37am

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New balls, please. It's Wimbledon! While the closest we usually get to a racket is turning Spotify up really loud, we were interested to see IBM has served up a couple of aces, with an augmented-reality application and some clever use of Twitter. Aces, d'you see? Oh never mind. We're more Harvey Dent than Taylor Dent, more Project Natal than Rafa Nadal, so we'll leave the tennis references to the experts.

Whatever your interest in tennis, this year's event does boast some seriously well-thought out use of the Internet and social media. They've got online video, mobile apps, various Twitter feeds, a mobile game, online radio, podcasts -- there's even a fashion blog. Sounds like game, set and match. Chortle.

IBM Seer

Just last week we covered Layar, an augmented-reality application from the Netherlands. Now, IBM Seer tells you about Wimbledon simply by drawing a bead with your Android phone. It works out where you are with a combination of GPS and compass information, then displays information on interesting points when you use your phone's camera to look around you.

If you're lucky enough to have tickets to Wimbledon, train your phone at the nearest court and an onscreen pop-up will tell you who's playing, the score, and who's up next. Or you can look for the nearest ATM, shop, toilet or purveyor of strawberries and cream. This information can be displayed on a map, and a 'take me there' option switches from camera to map to guide you to your destination.

Even if you're not making the pilgrimage to the furthest depths of the District Line, Seer does give you a neat overview of proceedings on court. To get the app, text 'smart' to 60999, and you'll get a download link sent back to you. It didn't recognise our HTC Magic at first, but a quick shufti at the Android Market found the 3MB app.

Click 'Continue' for some more options to take in the tennis this fortnight.