shiro mp3 player inspired by soccer ball [technabob]

The available countries are "England, Italy, Holland, Germany, France and Spain", with Spain and Holland already going home. Better hurry and order these now or else it may be too late! – Jason Chen

Product Page

Memorex World Cup USB drives [Tech Digest]

So let me get this straight. The World Cup has millions of RFID embedded tickets, biometric face scanning, on-the-fly fingerprinting and ASENDRO robots, but they won't use a replay technology because it isn't perfected yet?

The governing body's president Sepp Blatter said that football must have a "human face" and "human error" to go along with it, but why punish a country for one ref's lazy eye or his previous night out in the Hanover red-light district? Maybe FIFA should take a hint from their fellow American football brotheren and start using replays. There are 800 different camera positions at each game this year, surely one of which will give a clear angle of the questionable play or goal. – Travis Hudson

Goal-line technology not yet an option: FIFA [Reuters]

We're still a long ways off from meeting the goal that the Robot Team can beat a human team by the year 2050, since it's a miracle these things can stand up and move around right now without falling over, but we're getting there! – Jason Chen

Robot scoccer world Cup kicks off [BBC]

Also of note is that Beckham will lend his name and image to help promote the MOTO(RED) campaign, which aims to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. – Nicholas Deleon

David Beckham Becomes Motorola's Global Brand Ambassador [Mobilmedia]

5,000,000,000: Viewers expected to watch the games
$100,000,000: Estimated cost of voice and data network deployed by Avaya
3,500,000: RFID embedded tickets
45000: Estimated number of network connections for TV production
2200: Hours of feeds produced
2000: Staff of TV productions
2000: Press, commentators
1300: Kilometers of cable for 12 venues
800: Camera positions
750: kilometers of audio/video cables
736: Players
100: Fujinon HD lenses deployed
70: TV studios
64: Number of matches broadcast in HD for 2006 FIFA World Cup
64: Total number of matches played
48: Matches broadcast in HD for previous World Cup (2002)
25: HD cameras used to cover each match (per stadium)
20: Outside broadcast trucks
14: Panels on current FIFA football
12: Cities hosting matches
9: PanAmSats used to send HD signal worldwide
6: Number of television directors
1: Pool feed for broadcasters
– Charlie White

FIFA World Cup by the Numbers [Audio Video Producer]

AP2006: it's the antipode(e) [dapreview]

Compared to most other soccer balls which have 26 or 32 sewn panels, the Teamgeist only has 14, making it far more smoother than ever before. This fact has goalkeepers going crazy since the smoother surface gives the ball a more unpredictable trajectory in the air. Translation: be on the lookout for what seem to be silly goalkeeping errors.

Backed by what Adidas calls "unprecedented" performance, the Teamgeist, which is supposedly the roundest soccer ball ever produced, is also nearly completely waterproof, thanks to a thermal bonding technology. Finally, FIFA rules state that balls must not have a more than 10 percent weight increase when wet; the Teamgeist far exceeds that requirement with less than .01 percent weight increase.

Now all FIFA and Adidas have to do is design the sport so Americans actually care about it. – Nicholas Deleon

New World Cup soccer ball will unsettle goalkeepers, predicts scientist [EurekAlert]

Teamgeist World Cup 2006 [Soccer Ball World]

Product Page [Adidas]

32 Qualified Soccer Balls [Via Neatorama]

Two important devices put together into one uber-device means you'll never lose the remote: since someone's going to be asking you for the opener every 5 minutes. – Jason Chen

Gadget Blog [via Uber-Review]

Plus, there's a practical aspect to it. It keeps the splashing down and prevents cigarette butts and such from clogging up the works. At $8.13, it might just be cheap enough to drop off at your local pub to enhance the World Cup festivities. – Charlie White

Product Page [lazybone]

The whole point of this tournament, where robots play against each other (and by the looks of the photo, torment small children in the penalty box) is to aide in the development of robot technology so that a team of robots will be able to beat the human world champions (c'mon, Andorra!) by 2050. Hopefully the Web will still be around by 2050 so we can report on the tournament's success. – Nicholas Deleon

RoboCup Official Site [RoboCup Federation via Who Ate All The Bratwurst]

Their England Drinking Hat works much the same as ours do. Put two cans on top, shove the straw somewhere near your pie hole, and start sucking. Only theirs are patriotic, in a World Cup sort of way.

Available for £8. – Jason Chen

England Drinking Hat [The Gadget Shop via CoolBuzz]

In addition to the RFID tickets, there is also a center based in Berlin that has been and will continute monitoring all World Cup security activity. There will be surveillance camera monitoring throughout the stadiums—including biometric facial recognition. The center will also monitor reports from German police, Interpol and other intelligence services about suspicious activity relating to the World Cup.

Some of the police officers on duty at the games will have fast ID fingerprint scanners. It will scan the fingerprints of a suspect hooligan and match it up against massive databases. Crazy football hooligans will be shut down this year, hopefully. – Travis Hudson

Security Scores Big at World Cup Tournament [PC World]

The desk has it all: an integrated PC, retractable 19-inch LCD screen, 320W sound system, TV tuner (for soccer games, duh), and best of all: a mini-fridge. All integrated into a smooth desk that rocks the flag of your favorite country soccer club. This desk carries a hefty, $15,000 price tag.

Product Page [Via Techeblog]

The cases are made of that silicone that's all the rage these days and include a screen protector, so there's no need to worry about the special breaks-very-easily screen from getting damaged. Are the cases as tacky as previously discussed items? Perhaps, but they're only $15 and besides, it's the World Cup, and that only comes once every four years.

Unless, of course, your name is Rooney, in which case you'll be watching from dreary Manchester whilst all your pals are in Germany.

Product Page [AVA]

Since we're Americans and don't really care much for an unbelievably boring sport that assumes that arms are a marginally useful part of the human body, we're thinking this product would be a lot more desirable if it offered variety of themed covers; anything but soccer.

Product Page [USB Geek]

Prove your dedication to the Queen and England by sporting these, then watch your mates go green with envy. Either that, or steal them from you. Damn hooligans.

Product Site

St. George's iPod nano case and England earphones [Tech Digest]

3 to broadcast footy World Cup highlights [The Register]

iTech website [via Tech Digest]