Behind the scenes at the 100th Indy 500: Day Four

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The culmination of our trip to the Indy 500 for the IndyCar Mobile app by Verizon was the running of the 100th race in history. Each day got us all the #InsideIndy access we could handle and Day Four did not disappoint.

400,000 of our closest friends attended the track on raceday, which featured a daylong EDM festival headlined by Skrillex on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield while the race was going on. Delve into the madness of Day Four below.

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Video: Pro Bowl running back Matt Forte on career with Bears, NFL Draft, Verizon NFL Mobile App

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Eight years ago this week, the Chicago Bears spent a second round draft pick on a largely unknown running back from the University of Tulane. Then Bears GM Jerry Angelo was well-known for two things: finding late round steals on defense and for being completely inept in selecting offensive players in any round.

When Angelo used the 44th overall pick on Matt Forte, just two years removed from major knee surgery, Bears fans all over the world groaned in unison.

But the player the Bears ended up with exceeded everyone’s expectations. In eight seasons, Forte became the face of the franchise.

He was selected to the Pro Bowl twice, set an NFL single-season record, and left the franchise second all-time in rushing yards and sixth in receiving yards.

In the video below, we spoke to Matt about his time with the Chicago Bears, what he remembers about his own draft experience, and teaming up with Verizon on the NFL Mobile App.

 

  

Saturday Night Live…and in Color?

This week Saturday Night Live is celebrating the end of its’ 37th season on air (yes, you read that right) by pulling out the usual bags of tricks. That includes rock god Mick Jagger taking on hosting duties, while Arcade Fire and the Foo Fighters provide the marquee music interludes (plus there will be comedy sketches…at least I think they still do those).

But while the cast and crew will mostly be sticking to the traditional SNL formula for success, they are throwing one new variable into the mix for this monumental occasion. That comes in the form of a partnership with the Facebook app Color.

Some of you may remember Color as the app that allowed you to share your photos and short (about 30 seconds) live video clips with a network of your closest friends. More likely though, you remember the story of how the program managed to raise $41 million dollars for its launch, only to fade into obscurity sometimes after that. It’s not that the program didn’t work; it just didn’t manage to catch on in the ever growing app market.

But now, thanks to a new partnership with Verizon, Color is looking to make a big comeback. Not only will Verizon start making the app standard on all new Android phones, but Color has also beefed up its’ own services, particularly in the video area which now has a better broadcast quality, sound with your live feed (for Verizon customers), and the ability to notify your friends immediately for live broadcast.

To celebrate (and most importantly, to promote), Color will be teaming with SNL to have the actors, crew, and guests take backstage footage of the evening, and fill in the breaks and commercials with exclusive footage that will be broadcast to anyone who friends Verizon on Facebook.

Color certainly seems more focused this time around. It’s no wonder either considering the recent $1 billion Instagram acquisition by Facebook, and how Facebook itself is preparing for the richest public offering anyone has ever seen. But if you’re looking for the new Color’s greatest motivation…that may actually be Twitter. It’s a smart move to try to set up a service that could be similar to Twitter, but uses video instead since that would seem to be the logical progression of the medium.

If you’re interested in the footage,you just have to like Verizon on Facebook, and download the Color for Facebook app on your mobile device. While Verizon customers are the only ones that get sound with the feed, anyone can sign up for it.

It’s easy to see that the team behind Color believes in their product, and their dedication to getting their name out there shows that. If the SNL show is a success, it’s easy to imagine the public imagination taking hold of this app and making something unique out of it.

And , maybe Mick will even sing “Start Me Up” for them.

Hey, it worked for Windows.