In case you haven’t heard, the London Olympics starts today. It’s big. How are you supposed to make sense of it all? Here are some tools, not necessarily listed in order of preference or quality, to help you through to the closing ceremony on August 12.
London 2012 Join In (London Organizing Committee, Free, Android)
This is one to use if you’re going to be there, as it’s the official visitor’s guide app from the event organizers. Includes all the happenings and goings-on in the Olympic Park, London, and across the UK. Use the search and filtering tools to find out what’s happening near you. If you’re trying to meet friends you can share a pin with them on a map. You can add events to your personal schedule and set an alert to remind you, and get details about facilities using interactive, searchable maps. Has live updates with news, photos and social commentary from the Games, plus integrates with Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare.
ESPN Olympics Guide (ESPN/Agence France-Presse, Free)
This isn’t really an app, but more of a super-helpful Web site that will make you the smartest person in your Games-watching party. Every Olympic sport is here, with rules and a visual explanation of how it works, plus trivia and a timeline of historic moments in that sport and the biggest stars in that sports’ history.
NBC Olympics Live Extra (NBC Universal, Free, iOS and Android)
NBC has to stay on top of 3,500 live hours of sporting so good thing it delivered an app that lets you watch all the action for free. Includes alternate camera angles (uneven bar-cam, anyone??) and replays. Handles simulcasting of the programming on all the NBCUni channels. You can follow your favorite events and sports and get push notifications for event start times. Delivers the Games in 1080p HD for Retina display iPads. Downside: viewing is still subject to the same annoying blackout rules determined by your cable, satellite or telco TV subscription. Also, it’s not getting many positive reviews in iTunes store, so let me know what you think of it if you get it.
Medals 2012 (eGaming Consulting, Free)
It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s what color you get around your neck. This free app for iOS and Android boils the Games down to its essential stat, tracking medal counts for any country of your choosing while keeping track of the every country’s ranking. Includes schedules of medal events by day and push notifications so you can stay on top of events like foil fencing that don’t exactly air live.
London 2012 Olympics Results App (London Organizing Committee, Free, iTunes and Android)
Another “official” app with all the latest news, schedules and results, allowing users to keep up-to-date with the latest action LIVE across all Olympic sports. Includes an up-to-date list of all athletes participating in the Games, including biographies, news stories and their personal performance at London 2012. You can search for athletes by sport and by country, and select individuals as favourites in the My Games section of the app. Key features include results, live updates, calendar schedule, details of sports, medal tables and athlete profiles. Users can also follow specific countries, and receive official news and updates tailored to them all in one app.
Facebook has aggregated onto handy-dandy page all the opportunities to connect with athletes, sports, country Olympic organizing committee and (hey!) advertising partners. Follow your favorites athletes from here.
London 2012 Calendar (TorqueSoft, Android, Free)
All the events and times straight to your phone. Listed chronologically or by event. Includes record-holder info, too.
Chrome Scheduler (NBC & YouTube, Chrome Browser, Free)
This Chrome browser extension organizes the Games the way you want for your laptop or tablet. Create a playlist based on athletes or events. You get alerts when your selected events. Click and you’re watching them on NBCOlympics.com.
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