Soccer is Implementing Goal-Line Technology

In the 1966 World Cup Finals, England's Geoff Hurst took a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar, came down, and landed near the goal line. Though television cameras showed that this was in fact not a goal, it was ruled a goal by the officials. You could argue that it would be hard to tell what really happened, because technology wasn't advanced enough back then to make goal-line cameras.

In the 2010 World Cup Finals, England's John Terry cleared a ball from his own goal (above), and the officials ruled that there was no goal. Yet, television cameras showed that the ball had clearly crossed the goal line. But you can't argue with this one. By this time, the MLB, NBA, and NFL had all adopted technologies that allowed them to settle disputes over the ruling of the play. But soccer still adamantly refused to use technologies to settle their scoring disputes.

But finally, soccer has given in to the technology. On Thursday, the International Football Assosciation Board agreed to use goal-line technologies from the companies HawkEye and GoalRef. These technologies will start being used this December for the FIFA Club World Cup, and will be used for the 2014 World Cup.

How do these technologies work? HawkEye works by setting up 14 cameras around the stadium, while GoalRef uses a small chip inside the soccer ball and the natrual magnetic field of the goalposts. GoalRef is the cheaper of the two, though it still costs a whopping $175,000 per stadium to install. FIFA plans to use both of these technologies, which will alert the referee a second after the ball crosses the goal line.

The First Electric Skateboard with a Real Riding Feel; the ZBoard

Nowadays, it seems that many forms of transportation are going electric; cars, buses, and some more portable ones like bikes and scooters. But one common form of transportation is missing from that list; that's right, skateboards. Well, truth is, electric skateboards have been on the market since the 90's, but you haven't seen them around too often. And there's a reason for that; you just can't capture the true feel of a skateboard with handheld throttles. But ZBoard just may have found the way to do it; using a weight sensor system.

The ZBoard, which is available for pre-order now, will actually sense your weight distribution on the board. The two foot pads (one on the left and one on the right) have weight sensors that find out how your weight is distributed. So, the more you lean towards the front, the more you accelerate, and the more you lean back, the more you slow down (the ZBoard uses a regenerative breaking system)

The pricing is a little hefty, but it just might be worth it, especially considering that it won't wear out your shoes as fast. The standard ZBoard costs $600 with a 15 mph top speed, and 5 mile range. The pro ZBoard costs $850 with a 17 mph top speed and a 10 mile range. The pro version uses a Li-ion battery pack for power, while the standard model uses a lead-acid pack. But, you get a $100 discount if you pre-order the ZBoard before March 15. Jump past the break for some pictures, and certainly do check out the promo video at the top of this post.