Cutting-edge online and mobile tools will bring the Games to you as never before -- but beware of cyber baddies waiting to trap sports fans.
August 3, 2016: The 31st Summer Olympics got underway yesterday ( August 5) and if you are a sports fan, a rich feast of multimedia viewing awaits you over the next fortnight, harnessing never-before deployed technology like 360 degree views, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Round the clock TV coverage is nothing new. What is new , this time, is the extent to which resources are available on Web and mobile phone.
The official website is www.rio2016.com and you can turn here for comprehensive coverage of the events. But it makes sense to download the mobile app ( iOS, Android or WindowsPhone) which can be found on the same site so that you can get news and live action feeds on the move.
If you are an avid fan, you can sport a new theme picture on your PC, or laptop, featuring Vinicius, the Olympic mascot for the 2016 games. Named after Brazilian lyricist Vinicius de Moraes, the design represents Brazilian wildlife, combining "the agility of cats, sway of monkeys and grace of birds". You can find the desktop theme on the home page under " mascots" -- and can even print out Olympics- themed coloring books or a cut-out Vinicius doll for your children.
Surprisingly, the Rio2106 YouTube channel is not due to go live till the last day -- August 21. But don't let that curb your enthusiasm. YouTube this year can be expected to showcase 360-degree 3-D images from other providers, where you can use your mouse or finger to zoom, around images in a manner that has never been possible before with a major sports event. As we put together this report we are not too sure if the promised Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality extension to video coverage which the world's major TV networks like BBC and NBC have promised for their Olympics coverage will be accessible live, in India. But keep looking in YouTube -- some one will offer it!