9781422286784

RoboWriter We promise that a real human being wrote these words. But without that promise, you might not know. Several compa- nies have created computer algorithms that can mimic human writing. One of the most popular uses for this technology is in sports. Because so much of sports reporting is numbers and stats, and because the lan- guage of a sport easily can be organized, programming a computer to create a sports story has never been simpler. Numerous small newspa- pers use products from companies such as Narrative Science to create sports reports. The fantasy sports leagues from CBSports.com deliver weekly updates to their baseball leagues, all written by a computer. The program takes in statistical results, merges them with one of the thou- sands of preprogrammed phrases, and what comes out is, usually, very much like what a human would write. Now journalists, like factory work- ers, have to worry that a robot might take their job!

Fitness bands worn on the wrist are the most visible evidence of this trend. The bands record data and beam it to the smart-

phone app to record and track progress. FitBit, Nike+Running, and My- FitnessPal are just some of the app-plus-band products being used by elite and weekend ath- letes alike. According to Nielsen, women make up the majority of the

An athlete can read information on a wrist screen that is beamed from the sensor strapped to his or her chest.

athletes

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