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Spanish researchers to train FIFA referees on calling plays with stereoscopic 3D, won't help catch dives
Spain might be on Cloud Nine after clinching victory in UEFA's Euro 2012, but a team at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid isn't resting easy. To help referees know when they should blow the whistle, researchers have recorded 500 simulated offside soccer (yes, football) plays in stereoscopic 3D to give refs a more immersive sense of what it's like to make the call on the pitch. The hope is to have FIFA more quickly and accurately stopping play without having to spend too much actual time on the grass. We don't yet know how many referees if any will be trained on the system by the 2014 World Cup, or if it will spread to other leagues -- what we do know is that no amount of extra immersion is needed to catch a theatrically fake injury.
Brazil's World Cup host cities first in line to get 4G upgrades
Well, it looks like folks in Brazil that live in one of the twelve host cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup now have another reason to be glad their city was chosen. The Brazilian government has just announced that those cities will be the first in line to get 4G service when the country's long overdue network upgrades eventually begin. Unfortunately, it's still not clear exactly when that will happen -- a government official only said that companies will go through a bidding process to win the contract for the network, which should presumably roll out sometime before the World Cup kicks off in three years' time.
Qatar building fleet of remote control 'clouds' for World Cup 2022
When Qatar, an insanely wealthy Arab emirate roughly the size of Connecticut, won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, one of the stipulations was that its newly constructed open-air soccer stadiums would be air conditioned. Of course, this is Qatar we're talkin' about here, so the solution would have to be as extravagant as its insanely wealthy Arab emirate status implies. That's why it was no huge shock when The Peninsula reported plans to cool at least some of the nine stadiums by using a fleet of solar powered "clouds," designed and constructed by a certain Dr. Saud Abdul Ghani and his team. Dr. Ghani, the head of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Qatar University, said that the aircraft (more accurately described as really, really slow drones) will be operated by remote control, made of 100 percent light carbonic materials, and will initially cost half a million dollars each. But, really, what's a few million dollars when it's for a good cause?
World disappoints us once again: Japan loses 2022 3D holographic World Cup bid
Look, we don't know anything about World Cup bids. They probably have a lot to do with "infrastructure" and "taking turns" and stuff like that. But really, world? You couldn't pick Japan just this once? Japan's incredibly great 2022 World Cup bid involved projecting 3D holograms of the games live onto soccer football fields around the world, allowing folks that can't make it to Japan for the actual games to get a pretty great simulacrum, while standing next to people that look like them and are probably rooting for the same team. "I have to admit that the idea of this blows my mind away," said Japan's committee chief Kohzo Tashima. Did you get that, world? Japan was offering you 3D holographic full field broadcasts, and you just turned a cold shoulder. Congrats, Qatar, we hope you're happy with 2022, and we're sure you earned it based on whatever arbitrary metrics FIFA uses to select World Cup countries. But you'll never earn our hearts. Video of Japan's bid is after the break.
The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D Blu-ray review
It's hard to believe that the 2010 World Cup was just a few months ago, but even though many 3D events have come since, it was certainly the biggest broadcast at the time and this week viewers at home can archive it with Sony's The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D disc. This 3D Blu-ray disc (don't even try it in 2D players, we have no idea what will happen but the warnings are very somber -- we suspect a universe eating wormhole) captures 64 minutes of action from all the key games and matchups from South Africa in the highest quality you'll find. While we're currently experiencing an unprecedented flood of movie releases on Blu-ray 3D, this is our first opportunity to dive into some real sports action, check after the break to see if we found it worth the effort.
Sony queues up The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D on Blu-ray for November
Just in case you missed out on the 3D broadcast of this year's World Cup or if you simply want to relive the experience, Sony has followed through on its promise of a Blu-ray 3D release, scheduled for November 16. If there's any disappointment (other than remembering the United States team's exit against Ghana) it's that despite a $39.95 MSRP ($27.99 on Amazon currently) it has a running time of a mere 64 minutes and no extras are listed yet. Of course, if you're looking for something to hold you over until 2014, we guess this will have to do, but even if you don't purchase we're sure this is a demo disc that will be playing in Sony Style stores for quite a while.
Japan still looking into holographic broadcasts for World Cup 2022
Sure, we'd prefer if Japan spent its time working on giant mecha suits to combat any potential alien threats, but right now the National Institute of Information and Communications Studies seems focused on trying to create holographic broadcast technology in an effort to secure Japan as the location for the World Cup in 2022. According to Variety, the team has already developed real time color holography in 3D for small toys and other objects, and plans to show off the technology using 8K Super Hi-Vision Cameras at CEATEC in October. Research leader Taiichiro Kurita compares the work done so far to the decades it took to perfect high definition TV and supposes live holographic broadcasts could be as little as 15-20 years away. Of course, to get there, they'll need more funding to continue research and so far the commercial giants are unsure if there's real product coming anytime soon -- we've got $5 on it, anyone else?
Toshiba reneges on promise of free laptops and TVs if Spain win World Cup
Buy a Core i5 laptop or a Toshiba TV, and if your country wins the World Cup Final, we'll refund your money. Simple and to the point, don't you think? Toshiba ran this advertising campaign in Germany, England, Portugal, Italy and Spain in the run-up to the global football tournament, but now that one of those nations has actually gone and scooped the silverware, refunds seem remarkably hard to come by. As it turns out, the small print on that ad included instructions to see Toshiba's site for further details, which elucidated a requirement that all claimants must register their product by the 17th of June. Naturally, that's now led to a whole heap of peeved Spaniards feeling cheated, and big time consumer association Facua arguing that such a major condition to recovering your cash shouldn't have been hidden away online. In the absence of it being clearly marked on the promotional materials, it argues, Toshiba should honor everyone's receipts irrespective of registration. We're inclined to agree -- maybe the Japanese company can recover any losses from the wages of its cheeky advertising staff.
World Cup ball gets NASA's official mark of disapproval
If you've been following World Cup tourneys through the noughties, you'll have noticed that criticizing the official tournament ball has turned into something of an unspoken tradition. The latest offender of football purists' stringent standards is the Adidas Jabulani ball, which was introduced especially for World Cup 2010. That wouldn't be notable in itself, but this time it's apparently gotten bad enough for NASA to pipe up and drop some science on the subject. The aerodynamics experts (at least we hope they're experts) of the American space agency have said that the 440-gram ball becomes unpredictable when propelled at over 44mph, resulting in the unnatural swerves and deviations that have been plaguing footballers this year. So there you have it, England, Italy and France: a rock solid excuse to pin your lackadaisical exhibitions of mediocrity this year -- it was the ball's fault.
Poll: Are you still watching the World Cup?
We'll admit it, not long ago it still looked like the US had a clear road to the semifinals and by Jingo, the Engadget HQ was in full World Cup frenzy mode. But then came a major disappointment vs Ghana, and we're wondering if anyone else is still hanging on to a game most of us ignore outside of this once every four years event. The quality of the games being played hasn't dropped a bit (Germany and the Netherlands, wow) and the broadcasts are looking good in HD and 3D, so let's have it, who's still tuned in? %Poll-49044%
FIFA to again explore 'goal-line technology' after blown World Cup officiating (updated)
Maybe it's just us, and by "us" we mean the US -- a country accustomed to using technology as a means to validate human officiating during our professional sporting events. As such, it came as a shock to Yanks, many of whom were watching international soccer football for the first time, to learn that FIFA had no such system of checks and balances in play at what is without a doubt the Earth's most important sporting event: the World Cup. In particular, the USA, England, and Mexico teams suffered severely at the hands of FIFA referees... and the tournament hasn't even reached the quarter-finals. Today, FIFA President Sepp Blatter apologized to England and Mexico for refereeing mistakes that helped eliminate the teams from the competition. Importantly, he said that FIFA would "reopen the file" on the use of video technology when the rule-making panel meets in Wales next month, adding that it would be "nonsense" not to consider such changes. Let's just hope that a solution can be applied to keep the game beautiful without turning it into some kind of stuttering bureaucracy played by men in short trousers. Regardless, surely it's time to inject a little proven technology into the game instead of relying upon the hand of god to guide FIFA's officials? Update: The New York Times has a more detailed account of Blatter's statement that specifically excludes consideration of "video replay." According to the NYT, Blatter said, "The only principle we are going to bring back for discussion is goal-line technology. For situations like the Mexico game, you don't need technology." Okaaay, then what's the solution Sepp? Afterall, it was the video replay that instantly showed the world that Argentina's Carlos Tevez was offsides when scoring against Mexico, something your officials on the field missed completely. [Image courtesy of iA]
GOAL! EyeTV filters out the vuvuzelas at the World Cup
Just in time for the US to advance to the round of 16 in the World Cup (sorry, Algeria), Elgato offers a special edition of its EyeTV software that does what just about everybody (who's watching the World Cup) wants: filter out those horrible plastic horns while you're watching the games live through your EyeTV hardware. [If you're one of the people who actually went and downloaded an iPhone app to simulate the dang noise -- you know who you are -- knock it off. –Ed.] You can call me culturally insensitive, but it's a plain fact that the vuvuzelas create that constant, loud buzz behind the games, drowning out everything else like a massive swarm of angry bees. The EyeTV filter can be quickly switched off from a contextual menu in EyeTV. The constant drone is at a pretty narrow frequency that you can "duck" (notch filter) easily, and I assume that's what this edition of EyeTV is doing. If you have your EyeTV setup running on a TV, you suddenly have an even more enviable setup, and should immediately let all of your friends know that the next game is at your house. I've been trying to pull this off myself with some line filters ... now I know I should have had my Mac mini media center up and running before the tournament started. The software is free to EyeTV users, but only available for a limited time (the length of the Cup). If you update your software right now, it will be there. It will be gone just as quickly with the next software update, but if you're an EyeTV user who'd like to be more annoyed with bad calls and disallowed goals than with the headache-inducing background noise, here's your answer. Catch a demo clip here.
Samsung 3DTVs put to the test with World Cup, Monsters vs. Aliens and... iCarly?
Of course we've talked 3D to death and back, and we've seen several reviews and previews, but Technologizer took some time out to grab a more "man on the street" impression of the technology. With a mini focus group intact they checked out the Samsung Experience in NYC, taking time to focus on the top of the line 55-inch C9000 LED LCD HDTV. With not much 3D content (the initial viewing was before the world Cup started) they checked out some regular 2D content converted by the display into 3D, while viewers were surprisingly receptive to The Daily Show and Transformers 2 that way, iCarly and American Idol didn't fare quite as well. Still, viewers seemed excited by the 3D Blu-ray movie pack-in, and a short time later, some German 3D fans were impressed by the World Cup presentation, though like our impressions the effect varied based on the camera angle. Ultimately, none of the people asked seemed ready to buy a 3DTV yet, citing lack of content and prices as their main reasons. click through for the full impressions, we'll wait a week or so and see if there's a followup when there's two or more 3D channels and Blu-ray 3D movies to watch.
ITV HD fails to show England's first World Cup 2010 goal to the home fans (video)
While ESPN's World Cup presentation has improved by leaps and bounds over the 2006 effort, UK watchers got a nasty surprise on the high definition feed of ITV during yesterday's highly anticipated United States / England match. At the exact moment England scored its first goal, ITV HD inexplicably switched to a commercial (archived on YouTube after the break) ruining the first great moment of the tournament for many fans. Apparently this isn't new for ITV, which had a similar mistake last year when it made an automated switch to commercial just in time to miss the winning goal in the FA Cup. In this case, what's done is done and the network has already apologized for the "transmission error" (sounds familiar) let us know in the comments -- especially those outside the US -- how your network of choice is handling the beautiful game.
PlayOn adds ESPN3 streaming for your World Cup viewing pleasure
PlayOn's apparently been hard at work to make sure it's worthy of the new premium pricing, and now is ready to offer ESPN3 among the channels it shunts from PCs to connected TV devices including the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. That means if you have a provider who offers ESPN3 and a TV that doesn't have a cable box on it for some reason, but does have one of the supported devices, you can stream the game live or watch archived videos from the site whenever you please. Of course, ESPN3 and PlayOn's other notable service, Hulu have both been the subject of rumors indicating they'll be available directly on consoles. Any announcements are potentially due in a few days at E3 2010, but the 14-day trial period should give plenty of time to see if any new deals appear on the horizon -- or if your team doesn't make it past the initial group phase.
Exclusive: a look around ESPN's 3D Master Control room
Not sure if you knew, but today marks the launch of ESPN's first dedicated 3D channel, predictably titled ESPN 3D. For now, the channel will only be active whenever 3D sporting events are being aired, starting with a full 25 FIFA World Cup matches from the Republic of South Africa. It's a pretty monumental launch for the world leader in broadcast sports, and it's obviously taking a pretty big leap with only a smattering of 3D sets available and an obviously limited amount of content at its disposal. That said, there's hardly a better way to enjoy 3D content than to see sports in the third dimension, which makes the appeal of this new station that much stronger. We're here live at the company's kickoff event in Bristol, Connecticut, and we'll be bringing you lots of coverage from behind the scenes. One important piece that has yet to be revealed to the public is exactly how this material is getting from the field to the consumer, with Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T (U-verse) signed on from day one. During our shooting for The Engadget Show (don't worry -- we'll be cutting it up and getting it live as soon as possible!) we were able to stop by ESPN's 3D Master Control room, a box no larger than the average American kitchen but infinitely important in the grand scheme of things. Amazingly enough, the room pictured in the gallery below didn't exist six weeks ago, and in an insanely short period of time ESPN has managed to create a control room that sucks feeds in from all over the world, adds graphics (along with a specialized ESPN 3D "bug"), ensures that everything is aligned properly and then pipes it out to the aforesaid carriers. %Gallery-94971%
ESPN 3D officially launches with FIFA World Cup coverage: live from Bristol
It's official, one of the most popular networks in the US (if not the world) kicked off its 3D branch in style today, and we made the trek to ESPN's campus in Bristol, Connecticut to experience it first hand. Put simply, the campus is any gadget or sports nerd's paradise; technology is oozing from every corner of every building, including the one we gathered with other press today in order to witness the start of a monumental three-dee journey. At the front of the large conference room was a 72-inch Samsung DLP, which was delivering the 2010 FIFA World Cup kickoff in 3D from Johannesburg, South Africa. It should be noted that none of the 25 World Cup matches that'll be delivered in 3D aren't being shot by ESPN; instead, FIFA has contracted HBS to shoot and distribute a "world feed." We didn't notice too many glitches during the opening match, but ESPN assures us that native transfers will look even better once they kick things off here in the homeland with the MLB Home Run Derby from Anaheim on July 12th. As for the tech side of things, ESPN was taking in the 1080i50 side by side 3D signal and converting it to the US-friendly 1080i60 side by side, and since DLP sets expect the checkerboard 3D format, a RealD POD was used to make the link between the cable set-top-box and the TV. The glasses were supplied by XpanD, but not the same universal shutter glasses that we expect to be available at retail soon. Afer we took in the setup, we sat down to enjoy the match, which was opened with a handful of pristinely shot 3D commercials -- of course. A Sony spot kicked off with a soccer team practicing, and naturally ended with a goal exploding in slow motion; without a doubt, this was one of the more spectacular uses of 3D that we've seen, though we're guessing that the budget for the ad was somewhere near the stratosphere. The other commercials weren't any less impressive, with another trio concerning a Gillette razor, Toy Story 3, and a downright comical 'This is SportsCenter' ad where Niel Everett gets a little too close to a pricey 3D camera with his trusty Louisville Slugger. We'll be bringing you more coverage from here in Bristol as the day continues, with the grand finale coming in a special Engadget Show segment that should go up next week. For now, head on past the break for a few impressions from the 1-1 draw. %Gallery-94968%
Looking for ESPN 3D on Comcast? Get an MPEG-4 cable box first
We're just minutes away from the first match of the 2010 World Cup, and the first match broadcast on ESPN 3D. If you're on Comcast and not yet seeing the channel on your guide, it will probably be helpful to know where to look. A few posters on AVSForum have pointed out where to find the guide number for your area, and also that this broadcast is different from the previous Masters 3D event in several ways. First, not everyone will get the channel automatically, while it's provided at no additional charge, it will require a call to add the package to your service, and in some cases, a new cable box -- TiVos won't work this time. Give the FAQ a once over to make sure you're ready to go, then slip on those 3D glasses and enjoy the kickoff match between South Africa and Mexico. Want to know how things are going? Check @bjdraw on Twitter for live updates on the 3D broadcast straight from ESPN's headquarters in Bristol. Update: We've confirmed with Comcast that the suddenly restrictive cable box requirements are because ESPN 3D (and future 3D content) is being transmitted in the MPEG-4 format, instead of older MPEG-2 compression. That should ease up any bandwidth concerns, but unfortunately means most people will need to swap their cable box to get the new channel. Is living in the future fun yet?
Twitter gets behind World Cup as rest of America fiddles
While the US has its annual World Series competition representing oh, two countries, the rest of the planet looks forward to the World Cup. An event so magnificent it can only be held once every four years for fear of causing economic collapse as businesses shut down to watch their nation's sons play soccer football. Twitter gets it, and has launched a special site that aggregates tweets on a global and per match basis allowing you to voyeuristically share in the human drama via a real-time twitter feed. All without risk of getting punched in the eye. Twitter's also making it easy to connect with players and teams, at least those of whom have not been restricted from using the service, right Holland? Check it out as the first match between host South Africa and Mexico begins shortly.
Samsung announces Adidas-branded N150 Plus netbook
The big technology news out of the World Cup this year may be 3D broadcasts, but any sporting event of this size wouldn't be complete without some product tie-ins, and it looks like Samsung has now come through on that front with a little help from Adidas. They've announced this new Samsung N150 Plus Adidas Special Edition netbook, which is apparently identical to Samsung's regular N150 netbook, with the exception of an Adidas design on the lid, and the addition of a Bluetooth 3.0 module -- not to mention a matching mouse and "gift pouch." No word on pricing or availability just yet, but we have a sneaking suspicion it will be limited to places that play "football" instead of "soccer."