Two World Series athletes keep in shape thanks to this Houston-based technology

There's an app for that

Hometown hero, George Springer, keeps in top shape thanks to a Houston organization's technology. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

As the Houston Astros head into game three of the World Series tonight, two players taking the field can credit a West Houston fitness training facility's mobile app for keeping them in shape both during the off season and between games.

Fairchild Sports Performance has been in the professional, collegiate, and amateur sports training business since 2012. A couple years ago, Founder Ben Fairchild decided he wanted to take things to the next level.

"The FSP app is for anybody who has a body," Fairchild says. "We want to find solutions for long-term health and fitness challenges for people of all walks of life."

While the app and the training is for everyone, Fairchild's app has been attractive to professionals. FSP has 15 professional athletes as clients. George Springer, right fielder for the Houston Astros, and Anthony Rendon, third baseman for the Washington Nationals, train with Fairchild — and they both rely on the app to tell them what their bodies need.

The app, which is run by FSP Online Director Steven Hamner, allows the athletes to log and track their progress, view workout demonstrations, and access Fairchild's fitness instruction from anywhere.

In the two seasons the app has been live, FSP's MLB clients have achieved career highs in different categories, All-Star game appearances, MLB debuts, and World Series wins.

"The in-season program and philosophy is based around having a training program year-round as opposed to just a few months out of the year in the offseason," explains Hamner. "In having a program year round it enables us to constantly progress through out the year with the offseason and in-season programs looking completely differently as it relates to frequency, volume, and intensity in the weight room."

While keeping in shape is key during the off season, the app is helpful to these professional athletes during the season too. And, since they have everything they need at their fingertips, it's convenient for away games as they travel across the country.

"The goal for training in-season is to facilitate recovery throughout the season, limit fatigue as much as possible, especially towards the end of the season, and set athletes up for a positive starting place in the offseason," says Hamner. "This will lead to a better physical state going into the following spring training. We always have the long-term best interest of the player in mind, this is their career earning potential, which is tied to their health and performance."

The sports technology business is booming, and Houston has become a hotbed for startups creating technology — like Truss, Integrated Bionics, and Win-Win. Fairchild says he has some interest in the power of data and technology for sports performance, but he won't be going overboard.

"Data gathering possibilities are enormous in this day and age," Fairchild tells InnovationMap. "However, data is only as valuable as one's ability to make use of the results and effect change. That said, we try to get the most valuable measuring tools, be it for evaluation of pitching biomechanics or rate of force delivery on an exercise, to help shape workouts. We don't get carried away with tech — we trust the eyes of experienced people. But we use tech to the level that is beneficial.

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Houston-based HPE wins $931M contract to upgrade military data centers

defense data centers

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), based in Spring, Texas, which provides AI, cloud, and networking products and services, has received a $931 million contract to modernize data centers run by the federal Defense Information Systems Agency.

HPE says it will supply distributed hybrid multicloud technology to the federal agency, which provides combat support for U.S. troops. The project will feature HPE’s Private Cloud Enterprise and GreenLake offerings. It will allow DISA to scale and accelerate communications, improve AI and data analytics, boost IT efficiencies, reduce costs and more, according to a news release from HPE.

The contract comes after the completion of HPE’s test of distributed hybrid multicloud technology at Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) data centers in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and Ogden, Utah. This technology is aimed at managing DISA’s IT infrastructure and resources across public and private clouds through one hybrid multicloud platform, according to Data Center Dynamics.

Fidelma Russo, executive vice president and general manager of hybrid cloud at HPE, said in a news release that the project will enable DISA to “deliver innovative, future-ready managed services to the agencies it supports that are operating across the globe.”

The platform being developed for DISA “is designed to mirror the look and feel of a public cloud, replicating many of the key features” offered by cloud computing businesses such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, according to The Register.

In the 1990s, DISA consolidated 194 data centers into 16. According to The Register, these are the U.S. military’s most sensitive data centers.

More recently, in 2024, the Fort Meade, Maryland-based agency laid out a five-year strategy to “simplify the network globally with large-scale adoption of command IT environments,” according to Data Center Dynamics.

Astros and Rockets launch new streaming service for Houston sports fans

Sports Talk

Houston sports fans now have a way to watch their favorite teams without a cable or satellite subscription. Launched December 3, the Space City Home Network’s SCHN+ service allows consumers to watch the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets via iOS, Apple TV, Android, Amazon Fire TV, or web browser.

A subscription to SCHN+ allows sports fans to watch all Astros and Rockets games, as well as behind-the-scenes features and other on-demand content. It’s priced at $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually (plus tax). People who watch Space City Network Network via their existing cable or satellite service will be able to access SCHN+ at no additional charge.

As the Houston Chronicle notes, the Astros and Rockets were the only MLB and NBA teams not to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option.

“We’re thrilled to offer another great option to ensure fans have access to watch games, and the SCHN+ streaming app makes it easier than ever to cheer on the Rockets,” Rockets alternate governor Patrick Fertitta said in a statement.

“Providing fans with a convenient way to watch their favorite teams, along with our network’s award-winning programming, was an essential addition. This season feels special, and we’re committed to exploring new ways to elevate our broadcasts for Rockets fans to enjoy.”

Astros owner Jim Crane echoed Feritta’s comments, adding, “Providing fans options on how they view our games is important as we continue to grow the game – we want to make it accessible to as large an audience as possible. We are looking forward to the 2026 season and more Astros fans watching our players compete for another championship.”

SCHN+ is available to customers in Texas; Louisiana; Arkansas; Oklahoma; and the following counties in New Mexico: Dona Ana, Eddy, Lea, Chaves, Roosevelt, Curry, Quay, Union, and Debaca. Fans outside these areas will need to subscribe to the NBA and MLB out-of-market services.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Rice University researchers unveil new model that could sharpen MRI scans

MRI innovation

Researchers at Rice University, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have developed a new model that could lead to sharper imaging and safer diagnostics using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.

In a study recently published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, the team of researchers showed how they used the Fokker-Planck equation to better understand how water molecules respond to contrast agents in a process known as “relaxation.” Previous models only approximated how water molecules relaxed around contrasting agents. However, through this new model, known as the NMR eigenmodes framework, the research team has uncovered the “full physical equations” to explain the process.

“The concept is similar to how a musical chord consists of many notes,” Thiago Pinheiro, the study’s first author, a Rice doctoral graduate in chemical and biomolecular engineering and postdoctoral researcher in the chemical sciences division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in a news release. “Previous models only captured one or two notes, while ours picks up the full harmony.”

According to Rice, the findings could lead to the development and application of new contrast agents for clearer MRIs in medicine and materials science. Beyond MRIs, the NMR relaxation method could also be applied to other areas like battery design and subsurface fluid flow.

“In the present paper, we developed a comprehensive theory to interpret those previous molecular dynamics simulations and experimental findings,” Dilipkumar Asthagiri, a senior computational biomedical scientist in the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in the release. ”The theory, however, is general and can be used to understand NMR relaxation in liquids broadly.”

The team has also made its code available as open source to encourage its adoption and further development by the broader scientific community.

“By better modeling the physics of nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation in liquids, we gain a tool that doesn’t just predict but also explains the phenomenon,” Walter Chapman, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice, added in the release. “That is crucial when lives and technologies depend on accurate scientific understanding.”

The study was backed by The Ken Kennedy Institute, Rice Creative Ventures Fund, Robert A. Welch Foundation and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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