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Windows 7 looks to be off to a good start, at least in the eyes of Seattle Sounders fans. Their latest technology mash-up might be a trend to look out for but at the least is a useful way to stay informed up to the second on everything Sounders.

We’re all familiar with the sidebar, you know that semitransparent thing that might give you the weather, but no one really uses. Well Windows stepped it up in their newest release by increasing its functionality.

In this instance the Sounders gadget provides up to date team information, schedules, and local news. Even more exciting is the social element allowing users to get real time updates from Twitter. The News tab provides the latest updates on the club, scheduling, and roster updates. The Local tab provides game day traffic info and players notes. The Social tab gives updates from the Sounders Twitter ID @soundersfc. It also lets you see what your friends and other Sounders fans are saying in real time.

All this is accomplished from the desktop in a smooth looking widget. As this continues to be developed think of the possibilities…a widget for your own club with all the info parents, coaches, and fans would need. (Source)

~Sam@bluesombrero.com    

Soccer Hero

Finally, there’s an answer to kids sitting around playing video games all day instead of exercising… well at least a start. We’re not sure if this will ever be as widely popular as Rock Band or Guitar Hero since it takes so much to set it up. In the same fashion as the games above, football freestylers have to coordinate their kicks with the passing notes, designated by specific colors. Since the screen moves so fast, the game becomes a team effort.

Take a look at the demo, it looks like a blast.  

Here’s the behind the scenes.

It’s not as active as a real soccer game, but could be a nice break to the monotony of the daily routine. Who’s going to be the first to set it up at their club?

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

Climate Concerns for the 2010 World Cup

Today is Blog Action Day.  Our article is concerned with climate change in order to be part of the movement. 

The 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany raised a lot of concern about the carbon footprint the event makes. Enough concern to become an integral part of the planning process for the cup this year. In response, an Environmental Forum has been formed to oversee these concerns. The forum consists of representatives of FIFA LOC, national and provincial government departments, the nine host cities, and UN agencies. No matter your opinion on the environment, alleviating the tax it puts on the host country in terms of energy and natural resources cannot be a bad idea. The cup is being staged at 10 venues across South Africa, which allows them the opportunity to set precedence in environmental sustainability for major events like this.

FIFA’s mission during the 2010 cup is “Develop the Game, Touch the World, and Build a Better Future”. Below are the initiatives they hope to implement in order to achieve that goal (source).

1. Energy

South Africa's electricity utility, Eskom is considering using renewable energy to supply some of the needs of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The city of Cape Town would get green energy from the Darling Wind Farm; Ethekwini Metro, Durban would use biogas from its landfill sites; and, Pretoria would use biogas from the Ekurhuleni Metro. The Central Energy Fund and Eskom have prioritized the rollout of energy-efficient lighting for residential and street lighting in all nine host cities, and other areas in the Country. Other initiatives include solar-powered traffic lights and cameras on freeways.

2. Waste Management

The Local Organizing Committee is working on a system of separating waste that would be made uniform throughout the host cities. All host cities are encouraged to allocate adequate budget to separating waste. In addition, the LOC for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will encourage the FIFA official affiliates to implement waste avoidance and reduction mechanisms by minimize packaging and reducing waste generation, recycling waste and thus reducing waste to landfill.

3. Transport and Mobility

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) plans to help South Africa with the "greening" of its public transport system ahead of the 2010 Football World Cup. The GEF is exploring ways of ensuring sustainable transport initiatives that deliver greenhouse gas reductions above and beyond those currently planed in a bid to demonstrate the benefits of alternative fuels and green technologies like bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and fuel cells. It would also be looking at cycling and pedestrian routes that could feed into bus networks, offering attractive alternatives to the private car.

4. Carbon Neutrality

According to the Feasibility Study and carbon footprint calculation towards a Carbon Neutral 2010 World Cup, The FIFA 2010 World Cup will have the largest carbon footprint of any major event with a goal to be “climate neutral”. The estimate carbon footprint of the FIFA 2010 World Cup is more than 850,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), with more 1,400,000 tCO2e contribute by international travel, to produce an estimate of 2,171, 000 tonnes of carbon emissions.International travel is more than 65% of the carbon footprint, following by intercity travel and energy use in accommodation at 17% and 13%.The National Greening 2010 Framework and Minimum Environmental Standards for Green Goal 2010 include many measures that have the potential to reduce the carbon footprint. The measures, however, only impact the emission from stadium and precinct energy use, and local transportation, which in total only make up 6% of the domestic carbon footprintOffsetting the domestic carbon footprint of the 2010 World Cup could cost between $6.8 and 12.0 million, while offsetting international travel would, on its own, be double this amount.To maximize the contribution to public awareness, a few of the energy efficiency measures in order to reduce the carbon footprint, will be given visibility during the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

Do you think the increased focus will make a difference? Can you use any of these initiatives at your own clubs? Certainly a simpler effort for each category would make some type of change. Carpooling, recycling, and conserving energy all deserve our attention. What can you think of for each category that would work on a club level?

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

Dalian Football Stadium

China hopes to up the ante in stadium design yet again with their newest design for Dalian Shide FC, the most successful club in the Chinese super league. Set to hold 40,000, spectators will be in awe of the cuju football inspired design with the colorful layering and overlapping in the design. Cuju football is dated somewhere during the Han Dynasty, and believed to have been created for entertainment or military training purposes.

In lines with sensitivity for our environment, the setting of the stadium will maximize existing transport modes and views of surrounding seas and mountains, while giving the population of Dalian a unique venue. Careful consideration is being given to both function and infrastructural means. Meaning they hope to make the stadium aesthetically pleasing while also being a safe and convenient environment.

Unstudio, the winners of the design competition, present an inclusive approach to stadium design by allowing spectators to become engulfed in the overall effect of the design, while still being able to see the field clearly. The plans are impressive, and we can’t wait to see the design in action.

Source and further specs here.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com  

Video After Effects

Have you seen these types of videos?  The stars of the video perform unbelievable feats that look real enough to believe but something is a little off. Another unifying element most of them have is an unsteady camera man, shaky images, unfocused sections, and happen with few witnesses.

What is the secret? How many takes must they use? Well not to burst the bubble, but these videos are heavily doctored with Adobe After Effects. Mix in a green screen, and this method has basically become the new Photoshop for video editing. It makes it tough for us to know what is real anymore.

Not that any of you are doing this type of sophisticated editing at your clubs, but are we taking advantage of these easy-to-use tools?  Even simpler methods and programs work.  They just add an element of prestige that can help recruiting or making your club look more professional.  There is so much available these days to help give our clubs an edge, we thought it might be nice to see a glimpse.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com  

Best Twitter Practices for a Non-Profit

By now your club is being followed by every member on Twitter right? Well why not? Its like Lays potato chips, you can’t just tweet once, everyone is online.

Maybe you’re approaching the club Twitter account the wrong way. Score updates, scheduling, field changes, club news are all great news bits to tweet about. They’re all relevant to your followers and are worth constantly checking for updates.

Still no followers, eh? There are some unwritten faux pas that after this week you will have all cleared up. An excerpt of a great article on this subject is posted below, but you can find the full article here from DIOSA Communications.

Let us know if any of these help out.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com 

Be nice. Be thankful. Reply and Retweet! Twitter is a great exercise in practicing Karma. The nicer you are to people in the Twitterverse, they nicer they are to you in return. The more you ReTweet (RT) others, the more they will RT you in return. And whether it’s Twitter, MySpace, Facebook or YouTube, if someone does something nice for you in the online public commons, it is always a good practice to send them a message of “Thanks… much appreciated!”. Kindness and appreciation will make you stand out from the others and makes an excellent impression.

Follow everyone who follows you if your goal is to have lots of followers. This is a hard one for a lot of nonprofits. They want to keep their “Home” view clutter free and controlled and only follow a select few. But I say this often… “This time it is not about you, it is about them.” Web 1.0 communications is all about us and our messaging i.e, your Web site and e-mail newsletter.

Web 2.0 is all about your supporters and their messaging. It’s better to create a personal Twitter profile in order to only follow those select few you are truly interested in reading, but if you are going out on Twitter behind your organization’s logo a.k.a. avatar, it is a mistake to not follow all your followers in return. Why? 1) Twitter is about conversation. You can’t have a conversation on Twitter if you are not following your followers. It is a one-sided relationship.  2) They can’t message you on Twitter if you are not following them. 

Let’s face it… people on Twitter want to be followed. That’s what the site is about! How can you build community on Twitter if you won’t even take the first step by returning their follow? Have a look around Twitter… you will see that those nonprofits with the most followers follow everyone who follows them. If you still don't believe me, here's the mathematical data that supports the 1:1 follow ratio.

Don’t tweet about your coffee (unless it is fair trade), the weather, or how tired you are. Provide value to your followers, not chit-chat! It’s one thing to chit-chat about the weather, your headache, or how you need coffee to wake up in the morning on your personal profile on Twitter, but it’s quite another if you are active on the Twitterverse via your organizational profile. The messages you send reflect upon your organization. Example of what not to Tweet: “Such-and-such Nonprofit got stuck in traffic this morning. Ugh! I need coffee and a vacation… and I think I am getting a headache!” No one likes a whiner and this just makes it sound like Such-and-Such Nonprofit is not a fun place to work. People follow you because they want good content from your organization on subjects relevant to your mission. Make sure your Tweets provide value and are Re-Tweetable.

Don’t only Tweet your own content. Twitter is a news source. Participate in news. Tweet articles or blog posts by your favorite newspapers, bloggers, or other nonprofits (yes... other nonprofits! Find allies, build relationships). If it is a good read or a good resource, it reflects well upon your organization that you Tweeted it. There is also a good chance you might get ReTweeted if the article is deemed timely and worthy by the Twitterverse.

Limit your Tweets to 5 per day, and no more than 6!

Soccer Ball USB Hub

Soccer geeks rejoice, here is another soccer gadget find. Do you ever run low on USB hubs? Or maybe you are tired of climbing under your desk to find them if you have a desktop. If so a USB hub might be the answer. They offer extra connections like a surge protector, but for USB connectors. However this one is far more exciting since it is shaped like a soccer ball. You can find the specs, and order the hub here. Sorry we couldn’t find an English link to the World Cup Soccer Player USB’s but we will keep a look out for their appearance in the states. 

~Sam@bluesombrero.com  

World Cup Soccer Player USB's

Since we are a soccer technology blog it was hard not to be excited about this find. Cheaper production overseas, and a general increase in competition, has driven the cost of USB drives way down. This in turn lets the makers get creative.

Case in point World Cup soccer player USB drives. So far they are offering five teams: Italy, Germany, Croatia, Portugal, and The Netherlands. The drives are $30, which isn’t great for the 1 gig of memory they offer, but you’ll be pressed to find a cooler soccer themed drive. Pictures of the drives below.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com 

 

Us Now

Us Now is a documentary that takes a look at new technologies and how they harness collaboration for new models of social organization. It gives a glance at the potential power of people working together from all across the globe. Since internet access has never been so readily available to all sectors of the population, an unprecedented global collaboration is in the making. If you don’t get a chance to watch all seven parts of the documentary, make sure to check out parts three and four which follow Ebbsfleet United, the soccer club run by fans over the net. They’ve been going strong since we first mentioned them on The Administrator way back when, but the documentary articulates our point much better since they have video. Nice way to relax this Friday.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

Social Media Policy

Do you fear losing control of your club’s message through the use of social media? With all the different access points and potentially limitless amounts of users, the spread of control can induce heartburn. You know how you want your club to be reflected online and think your social media crew does too, but it is hard to really know without nailing down some details. That’s where a social media policy can really be effective.

A social media policy would simply outline a unified voice that reflects your club's message through the use of social media.  Examples of policy guidelines could include; what to do when something negative arises, what voice to use (formal, informal, etc), what times to post, or what not to talk about. It’s up to you and your members, but detailing the process is the first step to success.

NotesForNonprofits had a nice list of other points to consider:

Who's speaking on behalf of you?
Are they able to respond to crises in a professional and speedy manner?
What is your position on certain issues?
How do you deal with comment moderation?
How much control do you have over someone's personal pages?

Folks, don’t fear social media. It’s our friend and can really benefit our clubs. If you want any help setting up the policy don’t be afraid to contact us.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com