Friedbeef’s Tech

Ah, World Cup season is upon us. 32 countries, 3 billion raving fans, all part and parcel of the largest sporting event in the world. Not that anyone needs help getting into the spirit of the beautiful game, but here are 7 ways to do it the high tech way.

1. Yahoo (Konfabulator) Widget:

This is a little widget (mini-application) which sits on your desktop, in the background, and grabs you the latest world cup headlines, photos, and match fixtures from the world cup without having to open your browser.

2. ESPN Podcast

No time to read about the world cup? Just download the latest news and commentary onto your MP3 player and listen to it on the go. (Also available via Itunes)

3. Footiefox Firefox Extension
This Firefox browser Add-on integrates smoothly in the status bar of your browser. A nonintrusive panel on the status bar displays two little flags and the score - that’s about it! Handy even after the world cup, for normal league matches.

Features include:

• display of current soccer scores in your status bar
• all matches at a glance on the customizable score board
• support of more than 18 European leagues plus many international championships
• visual and acoustic notification when goals are scored
• kick-off times in local time, world cup teams in local language

4. Google IG Module

Google has released a gadget which you can publish the latest live scores, matches and standings via their personalised homepage Google ig. Get more information on Google’s complete world cup arsenal in the related link below.

5. Soccernet Gamecast

If you’re stuck somewhere without a TV during a match, find a TV fast. Failing which, get a running text commentary of the ongoing game with Soccernet’s Gamecast (look under live scores section -> Gamecast)

6. BBC Football’s RSS Feed

Don’t waste time checking in on your latest soccer news by repeatedly visiting your favourite football website. Let the news come to you instead via RSS.

7. World Cup 2006 Official site

Of course, round up your world cup tech journey with a visit to the official site where aside from the usual news, and photos, you can get your hands on video match highlights.

Related Links:

Google world cup service compendium