MileSplit Roku Channel

We are very close to launching our new channel on Roku, bringing MileSplit to your TV. We will update this article with details once it debuts!

The Google Effect – Blackout Protest Slows Down Crawling Makes Huge Impact on Load

January 18, 2012

In the graph above you will notice a sharp drop off at precisely midnight eastern time. This is the hits per minute on one of our servers. It’s not because everyone spontaneously decided to go to sleep at midnight. It is most likely a direct visible result of Google substantially slowing down its crawler in part of its protest of SOPA.

We would expect to see some impact, but this is pretty ridiculous. It should be kind of eye opening for how hard Googlebot is hitting our servers on a regular basis!

Latest Browser Stats for November 2011

Overall Stats

I separated out mobile devices and tablets here, since to me they are vastly different devices and its a mistake to lump them. But I also grouped all different specific mobiles and tablets to make it more clear the trend.

You see our audience continues to be ahead of the overall curve from wider stats we see of the internet. Our audience is younger and more tech savvy and weighted heavily in the education system. For that reason, I think, we see a few things: faster adoption of mobile/tablets, accelerated downtrends of Internet Explorer, and higher use of Safari (more Mac usage than average, see our operating system stats below).

I am actually closely watching and very interested in the small (but somewhat growing) percentage of TV console users. Right now Wii is about 60% of that market, PlayStation 3 about 28%, Google TV about 10%, and then other makers like Samsung and other embedded TV OSes with tiny slices. Wii is based on a version of Opera and is really difficult to work with. Google TV’s Chrome version is pretty decent. Not sure about PlayStation 3… need to research that one. I think this space at some point will be really important as HTML 5 browsers on TVs get larger we will be able to create compelling new experiences targeted at the large screen.

Closer Look at Internet Explorer Users

Keep in mind these percentages above are of the 35% of our users on Internet Explorer. So when you see that 14% are using Version 7, that actually represents 5% of our total user base. So that’s pretty encouraging.

Interestingly Version 6 usage seems to be leveling out. I haven’t see a drop in its relative share for several months now. Basically, it seems like IE 6 users either can’t upgrade, don’t want to, or don’t know how.

The biggest trend here we are seeing is IE 8 and to a lesser degree IE 7 users moving toward IE 9. That is very encouraging…. especially IE 7 decreasing at a steady pace. Our policy is currently that we do not support IE 6 at all. If it works for them great, but we can’t test it and won’t attempt to debug issues with that browser. For IE 7 the policy is currently in flux… it is going from full support (which was policy at the start of the year) to now one of attempting to make the site functional to its users, but NOT attempting to make it visually similar. We are attempting a graceful degrade policy and considering really stripping down the experience via alternate stylesheets for IE 7 users. That is the current path. We will probably have to partially support the browser for another couple of years before it can be completely cut out.

Mobile Browsers

Interesting little chart to see… not surprising. Our audience seems to favor Apple products more than the national average, which shows Android and iOS much closer. But Android does continue to close the gap for our users as well. BlackBerry has continued to fall off the planet. Windows Phone hasn’t gotten any traction for us yet.

Desktop/Laptop Operating Systems

This is really not relevant for us as far as how we design the site. But it is none the less interesting to see how it breaks out. Again this shows how our users are more largely Apple fanboys.

Not visible on the chart, but we saw a few alternative OSes ringing in… UNIX, SunOS, a small spike lately for ChromeOS (“Chrome Books”), and other crazy ones like OS/2 and AIX!

Contributing to Open Source Community

We have done some more work in our quest to open source some of our projects…

MileSplit Open Source Projects Page

Open Source Project: Prereq

We at MileSplit are developing a lot of what I can foundational code right now. We’ve been rewriting a lot of what our base platform and framework is, slowly having this huge reusable object oriented base to build upon going forward. Sometimes it feels like we’re moving too slowly because of this, but in the end it will pay off.

Part of what we want to do with a portion of that foundation is make a concerted effort to open source some of these items.

Several months ago I did open source one small, but powerful little bit of code that we wrote… and that I personally love. It is called Prereq. It is, yes another script loader. It allows you to load scripts asynchronously, control the order of load, and have script to executes after certain pieces have loaded.

There are a lot of others out there like it (LabJS, HeadJS, YepNope, and plenty more), but there were none that really met my goals and only my goals:

Focused in its purpose: don’t get sucked into doing more than just loading scripts.
Event based
Simple syntax handing for dependencies and callbacks
Load all scripts right away (with some exceptions)
Be able to define the requirements in the external js file… for more modularization
Don’t get sucked into trying to support every old browser known to man. If they’re still using IE5 or Netscape they are used to sites not working.
Keep it as small as possible.

Here is the project in GitHub: https://github.com/milesplit/Prereq

One of our own gets married

Last week Todd Grasley, a multimedia producer at MileSplit, married his bride Stacy and now the two are off on their honeymoon on a Mediterranean Cruise.

Here are some photos from the wedding and reception. For those of you not from Florida, the beach wedding may seem amazing… for us, it’s typical. Yes, we live in paradise. And, yes, Jimmy Buffet music was playing in the background pretty much the whole time.

It was a great time meeting new friends and members of our co-worker’s family. One thing that I did learn, which should have been obvious from the pathetic attempt at karaoke I saw on in NYC after New Balance Indoors, is that Todd is perhaps the only person on the planet who dances worse than me. I didn’t think that was possible! After the entire song completed, I still don’t think he got the letters to YMCA right once.

Congrats Todd and Stacy! Safe travels and come home soon!

ArmoryTrack to Regain Independent Status in August

Press release we are sending out this morning.

—–

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ArmoryTrack to Regain Independent Status in August

JUNE 18, 2011 – NEW YORK CITY, NY

Four years ago, ArmoryTrack.com (a division of the Armory Foundation) joined MileSplit as the network’s New York affiliate site. That chapter in the site’s history will come to a close in August when ArmoryTrack will once again operate as an independent publication.

Dr. Norbert Sander, president of the Armory Foundation, says the affiliation has been a positive one for their organization and the decision to leave was not an easy one.

“The Armory Foundation has been proud to partner with and (has greatly benefited) from our four year collaboration with MileSplit. The addition of invaluable technology by MileSplit has created a wonderful service to our thousands of young runners and field athletes from throughout New York State,” said Sander.

Despite the successful relationship, which has given rise to unprecedented levels of coverage and soaring traffic for both the ArmoryTrack affiliate and the MileSplit Network as a whole, Sander says that the organization needs to refocus its efforts.

The core purpose of the site has always been to bring awareness to the many meets, programs, and outreach efforts going on at the Armory, a New York City landmark that Sander helped salvage from disrepair in the early ‘90s. The practicing doctor and former New York City Marathon winner stated further the decision centered on their “regional impact and need to continue development and coverage of the many programs specific to the Armory.”

MileSplit founder and CEO, Jason Byrne, admitted he was disappointed when he found out that the Armory Foundation would not be renewing its contract; however, believes in the end it may be what’s best for both groups.

“We have really enjoyed being affiliated with such a stellar group and have forged some really great friendships as well,” Byrne explained, “the Armory has been a tremendous success story and a pillar in our sport and it’s been great to work with them. However, I fully understand their need to reemphasize their focus on their immediate goals and the mission of the venue and the Foundation more directly.”

Byrne though insists that MileSplit’s coverage of the state of New York is anything but over. “Absolutely not, we will be re-branding our New York portal and looking for a new team to maintain our presence in the Empire State. I think it’s an opportunity for us, for the Armory, for an aspiring new webmaster, and for the state of New York.”

While ArmoryTrack will no longer be a direct member of MileSplit, both groups unequivocally state that the working relationship will continue to thrive. “We are already talking about ways we can continue to partner (with them)”, says Byrne, “and we stand with them in their goals of promoting and growing the sport.” Sander concurs and says the Armory Foundation “will continue to work closely with MileSplit to enhance their mission of great dedication to their viewers… our profound thanks to Milesplit… for their professionalism and creativity. We will all continue to work together in service of this great sport.”

Anyone interested in potentially being the new editor(s) of MileSplit’s re-branded New York affiliate is encouraged to contact MileSplit COO Don Rich by emailing inquiries to jobs@milesplit.com for more details. Ideal candidates are experienced with (or eager to learn) media in its various forms (written, video, photos), bring an entrepreneurial spirit, can work a flexible schedule, and—according to Byrne’s description–are “multi-tasking, stat-junky, social networking ninjas with a passion for track & field (especially on the high school level)”.

# # #

ABOUT ARMORY FOUNDATION

The Armory Foundation, a NYC not-for-profit and home to the premier indoor track and field center in America, is committed to serving youth by promoting excellence and fitness through a broad range of athletic, educational and community programs.

The Armory Foundation’s primary emphasis is reaching and motivating the youth of all five boroughs by offering them competitive track and field activities and broadening their horizons with computer classes, college preparation programs and a variety of cultural and school-coordinated educational activities.

The Armory Foundation promotes excellence, fitness and community by hosting over 100 track events each year, maintaining the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, operating the largest after school activity center in New York and offering a variety of community support programs in its world class facility.

Contact:
http://armoryfoundation.org/
Rita Finkel, rita@armorytrack.com, (212) 923-1803 x32 (office)

ABOUT MILESPLIT, INC.

MileSplit is the premier network for high school track & field and cross country. We believe that the heart of the sport is on a local, grassroots level. By facilitating the publishing and business process for our state affiliates, we are able to provide in depth state-by-state coverage of the sport. At the same time, these state portals feed content into a national database allowing us to provide an unprecedented depth of coverage on the national level.

Designed around powerful proprietary database software that unites all of the important aspects of covering the sport–results, rankings, articles, videos, photos, statistics, etc.–MileSplit is the only online publisher in the sport with the tools to provide a high level of timely and comprehensive nationwide coverage.

MileSplit, Inc. is a privately held Florida corporation. Its corporate offices are located in the Sanlando Center in Longwood, Florida (just north of Orlando) and overlook the Seminole Wekiva Trail.

Contact:
http://www.milesplit.com/help/about/contact
Jason Byrne, jbyrne@milespilt.com, (877) 833-7223 x601 (office), (321) 385-7223 (mobile)