Hasta La Gadget!

Football’s ruling body, FIFA, has already decided that goal-line technology will be used at next year’s World Cup in Brazil, which, in and of itself, was an indirect nod for other competitions to follow suit. Today, one of the globe’s biggest leagues announced it too will implement the recently approved tech in its matches, with the Premier League letting it be known that the 2013-2014 season is set to be the first to adopt the new system. Speaking of which, the Football Association decided to go with Hawk-Eye, a technology currently present in professional sports like tennis and cricket — one that provides seven fast-frame shooters around the two goals and uses software to quickly analyze if the ball indeed crossed the line. For the football (soccer) faithful, it’s been along time coming, so here’s hoping this makes the game less prone to errors. After all, Howard Webb and Mike Dean need all the help they can get.

[Image credit, Premier League]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Comments

Source: BBC Sport

Recently, the popularity of football (soccer) among children is soaring because Japanese football players and the Japanese women’s national football team have become very successful around the world. Now, TAKARA Tomy Arts is releasing the “Pokemon and Japan national football team T-shirt” on March 23.
On the doubled-licenced T-shirt, the emblem and mascot of Japan’s national football team, the logo of each team’s nickname “SAMURAI BLUE” for the …

This unique ball turns the beautiful game into the energy-generating game. Made by a small company called Uncharted Play, the Soccket is a football that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. In other words, you get electricity simply by playing with it.

As you roll and bounce Soccket around, a pendulum inside it cranks a small generator, which in turn is connected to a small battery.  I wouldn’t be surprised if a typical hand-cranked generator can convert energy more efficiently, but of course that’s not as fun to use as the Soccket.

The Soccket weighs 17 oz., just 1 oz. heavier than a normal football. Aside from its power generating capability, the Soccket is also water-resistant, is airless and will never deflate.

Pledge at least $89 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Soccket. As of now, the electricity stored within the ball can only be used by one device – the complementary LED lamp. But Uncharted Play did say that they’ll come up with more complementary gadgets as well as a USB adapter if Soccket reaches its goal on Kickstarter. Can you imagine if all kinds of sporting balls in the world had a generator inside? We would hate ball games. Just kidding.

FIFA has announced that—finally!—goal line technology will be used to assess whether balls really do cross the line at the 2014 soccer World Cup, which is due to be held in Brazil. More »

Not since the tennis ball has a product promised to so radically change the face of pick-up kickball games. Gone are the days of kids having to place two backpacks side-by-side to create an impromptu goal because Golme’s new Urban Pac backpack features a five-foot wide pop-out net. More »