7 Ways to Keep Tabs on the World Cup From Work
Get your World Cup fix with websites, widgets, mobile applications and more.
June 11, 2010— -- So you're not jetting off to Johannesburg.
That doesn't mean you can't keep up with the scores and stories coming out of World Cup 2010.
The Web is exploding with videos, mobile applications, widgets and more to help footy fans keep tabs on the mega soccer tournament -- even if they're deskbound at work.
Given how big the audience is expected to be, some think the World Cup could be a major event, not just for the sports world, but for Web video and social media too.
"I think it could be record-setting," said Janko Roettgers, co-editor of NewTeeVee, a new media and online video blog. "It has such a presence all over the world and people all over the world are going to be tuning in at the same time and conversing about it."
From watching live video streams to apps for every kind of mobile device or following the action in real-time on Twitter, the options are vast.
Below, check out seven ways you can satisfy your appetite for all things World Cup.
Watch Live Streams of the Matches Online
ESPN
No TV? No problem.
At ESPN3.com, it'll be all soccer, all the time.
The website will stream 54 out of 64 games in real time, with live commentary in English, Arabic, German, Japanese and Korean. Roettgers said the site will also offer Facebook and Twitter integrations, the ability to jump through programming to key plays in the game and a split-screen mode.
But he said that not all fans will be able to tune in. To access the programs, users have to be a customer of a partner ISP (Internet service provider), including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and others. (For a full list, click here.) You'll also need to install Adobe's Flash Player 10 to watch.
For soccer fans who want soccer coverage on the go, ESPN also offers an iPhone application that, for $7.99, lets them watch matches live from their phones.
ESPN Mobile also will deliver 56 games live on FLO TV, MobiTV, Sprint TV and Verizon V-Cast. AT&T Mobile TV subscribers will be able to access all 64 games live. Owners of the Sprint Evo 4G smartphone will able to watch 56 World Cup matches live through ESPN's Mobile TV channel via Sprint.
Univision
If your ISP isn't associated with ESPN, you still can tune in to UnivisionFutbol.com, which will be accessible to everyone.
Commentary will be in Spanish, but even for some non-native Spanish speakers, that's a bonus.
"Personally, I'm a soccer fan and I prefer the Spanish anyway because it's more animated," Roettgers said.
The games will come complete with real-time stats and minute-to-minute commentary, he said. But, you'll also need Adobe's Flash Player 10 to watch the action.
Get in the Soccer Stadiums With Real-Time Updates, Tweets
OneRiot
If you think a busybody boss might not approve of live video, OneRiot has an under-the-radar option for you.
The real-time search engine aggregates posts from Twitter, Facebook, Digg and MySpace and the ranks them according to how buzzy they are.
"What we're doing is tapping into those sources and finding out what people are talking about, what are the stories that are really resonating right now," said Tobias Peggs, president of OneRiot.
If you type "World Cup" into the search box, he said, the results will show you the most-current and most-shared stories.
"We calculate the pulse of that particular piece of content," he said.
If you keep the "World Cup" results page open in your browser, Peggs said, it will constantly update itself with the newest content.
Just for the World Cup, he said, OneRiot created a Twitter account, @WorldCupPulse, that aggregates the freshest content from around the Web. And he said the company created dedicated World Cup widgets for Google and Yahoo that sit on users' personalized home pages.
Twitter also is primed to keep you connected to World Cup action.
The micro-blogging service launched a dedicated World Cup site that aggregates top tweets about all matches and easily filters them by match and team.
Covered with flags that link to tweets about the associated team, the colorful site is easy to navigate and comprehensive. It also includes a "What's happening?" button, which drives to live tweets about games in progress.
If you'd rather use your own Twitter tools to keep track of game-related tweets, popular World Cup hashtags are #worldcup and #WC2010.
Support Your Team, Get Competitive on Facebook
Mobile Applications
If your job keeps you on your feet and away from the computer, you still can keep up with the matches from your phone.
In addition to its paid application, ESPN offers a free iPhone app that doesn't feature live video but offers almost everything else. A full schedule keeps you focused on the action and it lets you choose your favorite team so that you can monitor its progress. It also includes bios and stats on every player on each of the 32 teams.
The most downloaded paid World Cup app is Infindo Technology's 2010 World Cup South Africa. For 99 cents, it offers the standard features, as well as quotes, historical data and countdowns to upcoming matches.
The Associated Press also offers a free iPhone and Android applications that feature a schedule, game stats, news and video.
Goal.com, a site for soccer fans, offers applications for iPhone and Android users that include schedules, game states, breaking news and live scores.
If you're feeling particularly competitive, head over to Facebook's Goal! Leaderboard, which tracks the "passion of football fans."
The application, which is on the Sports on Facebook page, ranks each of teams competing in the World Cup based on a "Passion Index," which is equal to the total number of the team's "Likes" divided by the Internet population of the country it represents.
With an Internet population of 8.3 million and 406,123 "Likes," Chile was at the top of the list late Thursday afternoon.
If you want to help out your team, you can "Like" it or "Share" it directly from the Leaderboard's page.
Fans also can share links (or trash talk) at the FIFA World Cup 2010 Facebook page.
With Google Maps, you can pretend you're strolling by Soccer City in Johannesburg or the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durham.
To bring the action closer to you, Google added new 360-degree Street View imagery for South Africa, including photographs of seven of the country's new soccer stadiums.
You also can fly over Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and other South African cities with Google Earth and explore the host cities and stadiums in 3D.
If you're stateside and want to find a neighborhood joint to watch the match with friends and fans, head to Google Maps and search for a special football icon. Tens of thousands of businesses around the world have marked themselves as dedicated football viewing locations.