- Time Magazine:10 Questions for Lindsey Vonn
If you really want to feel like you’re slopeside at Whistler, take a look at Cowbell 2010. The new iPhone application turns your phone into a clamoring cowbell, just like the ones cheering on Olympic alpine skiers. Launched by Boulder, Colo.-based Rage Digital, the 99-cent app has been downloaded more than 20,000 times by people in 34 countries and is the second most popular paid sports application in Apple’s App Store.By KI MAE HEUSSNER
Feb. 23, 2010Cowbell 2010 Lets You Cheer From Your Living Room
“The cowbell is such a vibrant tradition of the Olympics and the iPhone, with the accelerometer, has the ability to detect movement,” said Tom Guggenheim, CEO of Rage Digital and the app’s creator. “[It] was the perfect platform to create a cowbell.” He said the cowbell tradition originated in Switzerland, where cowherders would ring their bells from pastures to encourage the athletes. Users can personalize the app with the national flag of their choice, access an event schedule, read athlete tweets and post their own messages and photos to Facebook. After the Vancouver Games, he said his company plans to re-design the bell for the World Cup in June.
February 18, 2010
It’s a tradition at the Winter Olympics to use a cowbell to cheer for athletes — it’s louder than clapping with mittens on. A new iPhone application called Cowbell 2010 turns your iphone into a cowbell. At 99 cents, the app is one of the top sports downloads in the iTunes app store.
Transcript
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: With the Winter Olympics in full swing, our last word in business today comes via the late night comedy show, “Saturday Night Live.” (Soundbite of TV show, “Saturday Night Live”) Mr. CHRISTOPHER WALKEN (Actor): (as Bruce Dickinson) I got to have more cowbell, baby. (Soundbite of laughter) WERTHEIMER: The word is cowbell. Its a tradition at the Winter Olympics to use a cowbell to cheer for athletes. Its louder than clapping with mittens on. But if you dont have your own cowbell, dont worry - theres an app for that. A new iPhone application called Cowbell 2010 turns your iPhone into a cowbell. All you do is download and shake. (Soundbite of cowbell) WERTHEIMER: Theres your cowbell. At $.99 a pop, the app is now one of the top sports downloads in the iTunes app store.
Fans at the Winter Olympics have long used cowbells to cheer for athletes, and now a new iPhone app allows you to recreate the experience even if you don’t have a brass bell handy.
Cowbell2010, available for 99 cents, turns your iPhone into a virtual cowbell that makes a convincing clanking sound when you shake the phone. Ted Guggenheim, CEO of app maker Rage Digital, said he tried about 10 different bell tones and spent 10 to 12 hours perfecting the sound for the app.
According to this article in the Vail Daily, the cowbell tradition began when Alpine herders took bells ordinarily worn by their animals and incorporated them into cheers for skiers. It’s tough to clap loudly when you’re wearing mittens, so the cowbells caught on. The virtual version of the cowbell adds a couple of 21st-century features to the tradition: A Twitter feed follows hundreds of athletes who are tweeting from the games, and a Facebook-style wall lets users post photos and text to share with other app users or Facebook friends. Users can decorate their bell with one of 35 flags provided on the app, and a schedule of events and medal count also are available.
In a test of the app, the cowbell itself was a fun conversation starter and sounded remarkably like the bells heard on the slopes. The Twitter feed and wall were nice additions, although the wall required a very good 3G connection or Wi-Fi to work without a hitch.
Until now, Rage Digital, a three-employee firm in Boulder, Colo., has made apps only for clients. “We had always contemplated doing a direct-to-consumer app but hadn’t found the right niche. You have to do something pretty unique if you want to compete,” Mr. Guggenheim said. The team decided just before Christmas that the Olympics offered them a good opportunity to do something different that could reach an international audience. With the company being based in Colorado, Mr. Guggenheim said, “Winter sports are big here. We definitely feel a strong connection to the Games.”
The developers at Rage Digital put the app together in about a month. “This is a test to see how we could compete in a very crowded app store,” Mr. Guggenheim said, adding that he and his staff have so far been pleased with the results. Cowbell2010 is currently the No. 1 paid sports app in the iTunes app store, and Mr. Guggenheim said it had been downloaded 12,600 times as of Monday.
(Full Post)
OUTDOOR EXTREMES — BUY
POSTED: 02/16/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
What do fans of alpine sports, “Saturday Night Live” and Blue Oyster Cult have in common? You’ve got it: They need more cowbell. Lucky for them, Boulder-based Rage Digital is here to provide with a just-in-time Olympic iPhone and iPod Touch App it’s created called Cowbell2010. At 99 cents, it costs about the same as the Cult classic “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”
Download a virtual cowbell wrapped in the flag of any nation you might be cheering for during the Vancouver Olympic Games. The App also includes a complete Olympic events schedule, Olympic medals count by country, Twitter feed from more than 150 Olympians and a Live Wall where folks can upload pictures of themselves and their friends or comments about the Vancouver Games.
Get it:atwww.cowbell2010.com or from the iTunes Store.
Cowbell 2010 is designed for die-hard supporters - named after the bells that spectators like to ring (it’s hard to clap in mittens). You can even shake your phone to ring the bell. The app lets you nominate your favourite country and bookmark events.
Cowbell 2010’s other handy feature is that it lets you keep track of Olympics-focused Twitter feeds. Ringing the bell is a bit of fun but, considering the app lets you drape your cowbell in your country’s flag,
Now that I have an “app phone” (as David Pogue says) I think its time to begin reviewing some of these apps. Are they revolutionary? Are they a waste of time? Or do they somehow skirt the line between the two? I bring you… Cowbell 2010.
I discovered this little gem while surfing the “featured” apps in the Apple iPhone App Store (it’s also available on iPod Touch). It was only 99 cents, and it looks appropriately dumb enough to use on the radio version of this column (I feature a new app every Friday on the Lambert and Lindsey show on 102.3 The Max). It seemed perfect for the radio bit, because it has an audio component.
Here’s what it is… It’s a cowbell, and when you shake your phone (or tap the screen) it makes the sound of a cowbell. Neat, eh? Not really. Revolutionary? Nope. Kinda annoying? Yep. I used the app to irritate the bejeezus out of my cohosts on Friday morning’s show.
What you don’t realize at first, however, is that this isn’t really JUST a ringing cowbell app. It’s a winter olympics app. Cowbells, as you may hear every time you watch the games, are a sort of “applause” for winter sports. People stand on either side of the ski trails and ring them constantly. Now, with this app on your phone, you can cheer on your favorite athletes. You can even decorate the bell on the screen with the flag of your choice.
Not only that, the app has a running schedule of the Olympic events PLUS a running medal count. And a twitter feed if you want to follow it.
So not only can you irritate your friends, but you can also cheer on the USA and follow the Olympic schedule. Kinda worth 99 cents now, isn’t it?
Well maybe not. But it’s better than just the sound of a cowbell. Available in the app store - search “Cowbell 2010.”
If you’ve got Olympic fever, the only prescription is more cowbell. Sadly, everyone’s favourite bovine soundtrack to downhill skiing weighs a ton and is tricky to sneak through airport security - unlike this lightweight, low priced app.
Simply skin the virtual cowbell with the national flag of your choice and shake your iPhone in the air to recreate the authentic atmosphere of Team GB finishing second to last in the giant slalom, just ahead of Western Samoa.
As well as the cowbell, you get a full schedule of Winter Olympic events, a handy Twitter feed of dozens of Olympic athletes, media outlets and bloggers, and a live medal table (where they haven’t even bothered to include Team GB - although Kazakhstan gets a place).
There’s even a ‘live wall’ where you can post comments and photos, and simultaneously post them to Facebook or Twitter. Overall, Cowbell 2010 might not be the ultimate Winter Olympics app for hardcore snowsports fans, but it’ll make an excellent sonic impression if you happen to be in the pub - or are lucky enough to be in Vancouver - when the Games are on.
Published 11 February 2010 16:49 by Mark Harris
This robust Vancouver Games inspired app boasts a full event schedule, a real-time medal tally, and social media features like a Twitter feed following hundreds of athletes, and a F-book connected “Live Wall”, all while sonically aping the distinctive clamor of the Alpine Cowbells traditionally used to support winter athletes by utilizing the iPhone’s shake feature, so you can shake, shake, shake…shake your Moo-ty.
Posted: Wednesday 10th February 2010 | 18:08
IN the modern age of mobile gadgets, a number of companys have launched a series of iPhone applications to keep everyone connected with goings-on at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
GET RINGING: Cowbell 2010 is set to revolutionise mobile coverage of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver (www.cowbell2010 / Rage Digital)
Whether you are travelling to one of the nine Olympic venues in Canada or are on the other side of the world wanting to find out the latest results, apparently there is an app for you.
Free apps such as the free Canadian Olympic channel (CTV Olympics 1.5.1) and the free official Vancouver 2010 guide (Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games: The Offical Guide 1.0) have benefits that speak for themselves.
And while the only sport to have its own app is ice hockey (Vancouver 2010 Hockey 2.1), the stand out app must be Rage Digital’s Cowbell 2010 (Cowbell 2010 1.1).
For generations, ringing cowbells has been a favourite way for fans to cheer on cross-country and alpine skiers and now you can do it from the comfort of your own sofa, without even having a bell.
It’s a noisemaker that does exactly what it says on the tin and will be the perfect weapon to annoy anyone in your immediate vicinity.
So we say, get ringing! Just be careful not to drop your iPhone in the snow.
Follow Sportsbeat’s James Toney and Ryan Bangs from Vancouver via twitter.
