2010 FIFA World Cup: Your definitive technology guide

After years of anticipation, the 2010 FIFA World Cup is finally set to kick off on 11 June in South Africa. This time around, the tournament is being followed by not only football fans around the world, but also by the global tech community.

Fox Sports debuted 3D soccer Australian broadcasts during the friendly match between the New Zealand All Whites and the Socceroos; it was followed quickly by Nine Network's 3D broadcast of the State of Origin. Ericsson's technology helped make the 3D broadcast work, and now the company is working with Cisco and ESPN to bring the World Cup to viewers in Full HD 3D.

SBS, the sole broadcaster of the World Cup in Australia will be bringing all the live game action to your living room across its range of channels, including a specific channel for 3D matches.

Now it's just a matter of finding what TV to watch it on. We've rounded up the best LCD and plasma screens for watching the world game (including the latest in 3D TVs) and the best projectors for those who want an even bigger picture. We haven't forgotten those of you trapped in the office at game time — if you can't watch the game live then the next best thing is to fire up your DVD recorder or PVR to ensure you don't miss any of the action!

Social networking will put overly opinionated football fans in contact with each other to provide running commentary on the World Cup, as well as the occasional entertaining flame war.

You'll also be able to follow the cup using your smartphone , thanks to a range of World Cup iPhone apps and the online streaming of matches.

Most of us wish we could be in the stadiums kicking our way to World Cup glory ourselves despite having two left feet, and there are still avenues to live out the matches vicariously through our PCs and consoles, including the latest FIFA World Cup iPhone game

If none of this is exciting to you (if you're that one in a million) then perhaps the future of the World Cup will entice you into football fever: 3D is all the rage right now, but the future may be holographic. That is, if Japan gets the 2022 World Cup. Let's all cheer on Japan, I say.

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