Role of technology in the World Cup
( From Economic Times)

The Smart Ball:
To start with each match is being played with a new Adidas "Teamgeist" ball, rounder than ever before with only 14 panels and fewer seams, making its surface smoother than conventional footballs with a 26 or 32 panel hexagon-based pattern. The new ball construction promises to give players increased accuracy and control.

Boots:
The sports gaint Adidas has developed +F50 Tunite football boot for the players. The shoes come with three interchangable components so that each player can easily customize their own shoes. For example, the players can adapt these cleats according to weather and field conditions. The company has personalized "boots" for each team. They retail on Amazon.com for $168.

Tickets go RFID:
There are RFID tags on tickets to expedite ticketing and prevent fraud. The tag will include information such as game and seating.FIFA has no plans to track the movement of spectators. The project is collaboration between Philips Electronics and FIFA.

Mobile TV:
Mobile TV will make its presence felt for the first time at the World Cup. T-Mobile in Germany will broadcast 20 games live, and live matches will be available in Italy.

Hail the Gatekeeper:
The automated access "Gatekeeper Handshake" system facilitates the admission of e 69,000 fans in an hour and a half, funnel supporters of opposing teams to separate sections, track occupancy of those sections in real time, block tickets in the event of theft or loss, and regulate turnstiles to ensure orderly exits. Handshake connects a hub server to a plethora of access points throughout the arena. Information can be sent from Handshake to phones or PDAs carried by security personnel. The product is deployed at high-profile venues around the globe, including four 2006 World Cup stadiums: Hamburg, Kaiserslautern, Munich and Stuttgart.

VoIP Wins: As a large percentage of the cellphone-wielding attendees at the World Cup will be from non-European countries such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, the World Cup may also be the coming-out party for mobile VoIP services. According to a report from Informa Telecoms & Media (ITM), the expected 1 million World Cup attendees will spend $46 million on mobile calls and text and video messages over the course of the month-long event.

Internet TV:
The World Cup is offers the nascent Internet TV a big opportunity. That theory will be put to the test this summer when national soccer teams from 32 countries arrive in Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Yahoo, which owns the Internet rights to the World Cup, currently plans to show only highlights of the 64 matches rather than entire games streamed live.

Google creates Joga.
Search icon Google has partnered with Nike to create a soccer-themed social networking site. The company joined hands with Nike in March this year to launch joga.com, a networking site targeted at the globe’s soccer fans. Joga, which means play in Portuguese, is sort of the equivalent of MySpace for soccer fans. Logins are via Google accounts, and invitations can be received by submitting your email address on the homepage or via a Joga member. Joga is about getting to know your fellow fans; creating games and clubs; accessing athletes from Nike; and enjoying video clips and photos

Innserve will use new technology to ensure that the beer keeps flowing on about 750,000 beer lines during the World Cup matches. Mobile technicians will use PDAs to monitor the flow of beer at more than 100,000 S&N and Newcastle pubs and clubs in the UK.

Internet and Blog:
The Web has become a spiritual center where soccer fanatics can share their feelings of joy or despair and organize action on message boards, chat rooms, IMs or e-mails. There's also World Cup Blog Photo Contest. "No The site 'WorldCupBlog.org' is open to everyone and offers prizes.

Brazil -The winner ?:
After analysing over 4,500 matches played since 2002, involving all FIFA registered countries, a computer tipped Brazil as the favourite to lift the coveted cup for the sixth time. And that Germany, France and Holland will all get to the semi-finals. It also forecasted that England would not go beyond the quarterfinals. The computer named Angola, Togo and Saudi Arabia as having zero percent chance of winning the Cup.