The Sochi 2014 Olympics officially kick off on Friday in Russia. Here are four apps to help you watch, or at least stay updated on, the winter sporting events. There are some questions about whether Russia is actually ready for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. (Opening ceremonies are Friday.) But you can be prepared for the games by downloading a few apps in advance. Here are four to get you started. NBC Sports Live Extra NBC is the official Olympics broadcast network in the United States, so this is a must-have app for Olympics fans. It’s free and available for Android and iOS. The app lets you watch all Olympic events in their entirety, either as they’re broadcast or after the fact — as long as you have a subscription to a cable, satellite or telco TV service. Logging into my Comcast service through the app was easy. But if you haven’t yet set up online access to your pay-TV service, now’s the time to do it. NBC’s app sends you push notification reminders for events you don’t want to miss. And it’s not just an Olympics app. You can also watch other NBC sporting events, such as NHL games and the Golf Channel. The app is far from perfect — many users complain about technical problems in their reviews. But as far as Olympic viewing apps go, it’s the most complete. NBC Olympics Highlights Don’t have a pay-TV subscription? This free Android and iOS app for U.S. viewers serves up video highlights as well as news and photos. Let’s hope the developer (NBC Universal Inc.) gets around to updating the app’s descriptions on the iTunes and Google Play stores, however — both still beckon you to “follow every event from London.” Whoops. ESPN SportsCenter ESPN’s iOS app was just updated with a new Winter Olympics tab, which promises to keep you in the loop on event news, scores and medals awarded. ESPN’s updated app also adds enhanced Twitter integration and iOS 7 improvements. As of this writing, however, the SportsCenter Android app has not been updated for the Olympics. Sochi 2014 Medal Alert Developed by the International Olympic Committee, this free Android and iOS app does one thing: notifies you whenever a medal is awarded in your favorite sporting event and to the teams you follow. That’s it. But if you want to stay updated and don’t have much time to watch the events, that’s plenty. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe