On 27th June 2010, Germany played England in a football match for a place in the final eight of the World Cup. During this match, Frank Lampard scored a perfectly good goal for England and the goal was disallowed by the match officials who said the football had not crossed the line. Later that evening, Argentina played Mexico in a football match for a place in the final eight in the World Cup. Carlos Tevez scored a goal for Argentina from a very clear offside position, yet the match officials allowed the goal.

Two unacceptable mistakes by match officials that may very well have cost England and Mexico a place in the final eight of the world cup. Every single person watching the Germany v England match could see clearly that the Frank Lampard goal was valid and every single person watching the Argentina v Mexico match could see clearly that the Carlos Tevez goal was not valid. But why could we all see what the match officials failed to see? Video Technology!

The cry for the implementation of video technology in world football has thus far been ignored by Sepp Blatter and FIFA. Sepp Blatter has issued an apology to the English Football Association and said that Goalline Technology will be discussed at a meeting in July 2010. Goalline technology would indeed see an end to mistakes such as the Frank Lampard goal, but what about poor Mexico? How will goalline technology prevent incorrect offside calls by match officials? How will goalline technology prevent incorrect penalty decisions by match officials? The only purpose goalline technology serves is to determine whether or not the football crossed the line. This just is not good enough!

The fact is we need video technology in world football and we need it sooner rather that later! Here is an example of one possible system;

There is a fifth match official (video referee) who has direct communication with all other match officials and has direct access to video technology to view a replay of any offside, penalty or goalline incident.
The match referee can call upon the video referee at any time during a match to request a second opinion on any offside, penalty or goalline incident.
Each team participating in a match can challenge an offside, penalty or goalline decision by the match officials on 2-3 occasions only and the video referee can be consulted. Any challenges after the allowed number of challenenges will be ignored by the match officials.

This is just one possible system that could be implemented. A system such as this would greatly reduce the number of mistakes made my match officials and therefore reduce the pressure on match officials. Match officials are only human and they will continue to make mistakes. I am sure that the majority of match officials would agree that a video technology system would make their job a whole lot easier!

So, Sepp Blatter and FIFA will meet in July 2010 to discuss goalline technology. Most likely we will see the same old comments after the meeting – it’s not the right time and we will discuss it again in the next meeting. Eventually Sepp Blatter and FIFA will bow to pressure and announce that goalline technology will be implemented in major tournaments, probably starting with the World Cup in 2018. This would simply not be good enough. Forget goalline technology, we need full video technology in world football by the 2012 European Championships, or at the very least by the 2014 World Cup!

I have set up an online petition aimed at Sepp Blatter and FIFA regarding the absolute necessity for video technology in world football. I have included a link to the petition below and I ask anyone who reads this article to sign the petition and show your support. Thank you!

Does your business have locations far and wide, with employees who must meet with each other in order for your business to run smoothly? If so, you know how expensive gathering all your employees together in one place can be. Video conferencing could help your business save time and money, as well as increase productivity and employee satisfaction.

If your business is one of the many that must pay employees’ travel time, transportation, hotel, and food expenses in order for them to attend meetings in person, you know how these expenses can add up. And when your employees are on the road or in the air, your business loses hours of productivity.

Video conferencing provides a better option for many of today’s business owners. Purchasing and maintaining video conferencing equipment is an investment on which you can expect to see immediate returns.

Video conferencing is a technology that integrates audio and video, allowing employees to see and talk to each other as effectively as if they were in the same room. The advantage is that they are actually miles, even continents, apart.

And with so many recent advances in video conferencing technology, your business can become video-conference ready at a reasonable price. Ten years ago video conferencing costs could run as high as ,000 per site! Now, packages are available for less than half of that, and can often be paid for or rented monthly for payments of under 0!

Once your business starts taking advantage of video conferencing, travel time and all the cost associated with it are eliminated. Important decisions can be reached quickly, and meetings can be called spontaneously whenever opportunities arise. No longer do you have to wait for everyone to meet face to face. Video conferencing greatly accelerates the decision making process.

How many times have you arranged for all your employees to be present at a meeting, paying for many of them to travel great distances away from their regular job sites, only to realize all too late some key data or resource was forgotten back at home? Video conferencing eliminates the hassles and headaches that are associated with traditional meeting methods.

One of the biggest advantages of video conferencing is to the employees themselves. No longer is it necessary for employees to spend days, even weeks away from their families and their on-site responsibilities just to attend meetings? If your employees could meet face to face instantaneously, all the benefits of face to face communication could still exist, without any of the drawbacks of travel time and expense.

With advanced technology and reduced costs, your business does not have to be a Fortune 500 company to take advantage of video conferencing. Stop spending dollars needlessly – equip your business for video conferencing today.

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One of the strongest trends for small business is the need to build connections with your clients -giving them an insight into who you are and what you do. You need to do that through words, stories or parables and testimonials. Written words can only go so far.

The trend I am seeing coming from the US in marketing is the addition of video to things like websites, promotional DVDs and blogs. Think of the explosion of You Tube. More people watch You Tube across the world each day than people watch TV.

The cutting edge of the trend is live self-broadcast TV streamed from your website. Think of it like your own ongoing TV program. One of the gurus in this is a guy who talks about wine – Gary Vaynerchuck. A guy who is passionate about wine talks about it in laypersons terms complete with plastic character toys. It is out there, loud, real and he out-rates many of the top US TV shows.

People want to see you, engage with you, look you in the eye and check you out as a person. They want to see if you really are sincere about your product or service. They don’t want a highly polished TV presenter. They want to see and connect with the real person, warts and all. If you are too polished they click away as they can’t connect with you.

With a website you only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. With the addition of video their average length of stay on your site increases. Length of time someone stays increases the likelihood of them signing up for your newsletter, reading your words or buying your product. So, going by trends, the addition of video to your site or your blog is something worth considering.

If you are going to add in video (and we still call it video even though it is something else) to your website or your marketing mix, what should you do and how should you do it?

The technology

Let’s start with some basics. The technology you use does not have to be complex or expensive.

It is possible to add video to your homepage for US. Use your web camera to record the film of what you want to say. Then use Microsoft Movie Maker (free with windows XP) to edit the film. One cool tool is Video Web Wizard to convert the film to a flash file and to put the little TV screen around the film. Finally add your flash file into your website.

The words

What you say on your video is important. You need to treat it just like any other piece of copywriting. Consider your audience and what they are interested in hearing about. You need to have a logical flow through your words and you need to have a strong call to action in conclusion.

You also need to keep it simple, and not too long. Use a copywriter to help you refine your words if you are not confident in what you are going to say to present your business in its best light.

Adding video to your home page should not replace your general words and text. Remember the search engines can’t index a video so you still need your keyword rich text beneath your video to help search engines find you.

General stuff

While the people want to connect with you, you want to make sure the location you are filming in is attractive, not too distracting in the background and has sufficient light (you don’t want to look like you are in a nightclub).

You also want your basic appearance to be neat and tidy. Remember to smile, to look down the lens of the camera (and not to the side or away as that can make you look shifty). Remember to blink – some people get the fixed in the headlights stare look and forget to blink.

Don’t expect to get it right the first take.

Rehearse your words until you are confident with them, and then expect a few goes to get your video to the point you are happy with it.

Finally it is OK to change things around. The technology is now so simple you can change it as often as you are comfortable with doing it – daily if you like.

So dip your toes into the waters of video marketing. Like everything you need to test and measure your results to make sure it is working for you.

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Every hardcore gamer wants their video gaming experience to be as exciting as possible, which is one of the reason there are so many accessories available on the market today. One of the best accessories for any video gaming system on the market today is the wireless adapter.

The wireless adapter simply put is a type of bridge. Many wireless adapters are USB powered and act like dual band powered wireless bridges that are designed to work with video gaming system consoles. The majority of the wireless adapters being manufactured on the market today still require some sort of external power supply, but there is one particular video gaming system that does not. In fact, the Xbox-360 wireless adapter happens to be USB interface and it allows Microsoft not to have to use any type of external power supply, which means it is attached to the video gaming system console without any type of cables at all.

Each wireless adapter on the market will differ in size depending on the manufacture and video gaming system it is used for. Installation for any wireless adapter is simple as well due to the fact that the majority simply clip right into the video gaming console system itself. The technology of these wireless adapters are as advanced as their designs are efficient and purchasing a wireless adapter for you video gaming system is a simple as going to your local gaming store, electronics store, or order it on-line at a number of web sites.

The wireless adapter seems to create a much more effective environment for network gaming for the video gamer. Of course, with any type of accessory, it is sold separately, which means that the market will have more than one manufacture for each video game system on the market. For gamers, this means competition and competition means better prices. Ultimately, video gamers are concerned with game play. So manufactures are constantly designing and producing accessories so that gamers can get the best performance and experience with every single game they play.

The are a large variety of wireless accessories on the market today, but the wireless adapter is fast becoming the most popular with on-line gamer. Wireless adapter enables gamers the ability to expand their video gaming experience and helps to provide them with an opportunity to test their video game playing skills that is unbelievable. The wireless adapter is a must for any serious hardcore on-line video gamer that has the desire for expanded video game play experience.

Wireless adapters will make any video gaming system more efficient to aid in enhancing the gamers experience. They are considered to be a first party gaming accessory and the majority of them are actually designed very well, depending on who the manufacture is. Some of these wireless adapters that are being produced now are as thin as a wireless notebook used by a school child, which is simply amazing how far technology has become. Gamers be on alert because some wireless adapters might be a bit expensive, but according to gamers and recent reviews their efficiency will make it worth the price.