FIFA World Cup 2010

Mint had a list of the greatest World Cup goals in their "Business of Life" section. This list is available at http://www.livemint.com/2010/05/26195435/The-cup-of-joy.html.

My personal favourites are the Carlos Alberto and Maradona goals.

I think the 1986 World Cup (which Maradona's goal was a part of) is the one I watched with the most interest. The quarter final between Brazil and France was one of the best matches I have ever seen. My other memories of that World Cup were of the Belgium - Soviet Union match (which I thought Soviet Union should have won) and the finals (where Argentina managed to hold on despite a late rally from Germany).

I didn't really keep track of the 1982 world cup (we didn't have a TV at home and anyway it was all black & white Doordarshan everywhere in India at that time). I later watched the movie on the 1982 world cup (Goal!) and really liked it - especially the part about how Brazil couldn't play defence even though all they needed was a draw against Italy.

What I remember most of the 1990 world cup was the heroics of Argentina's substitute goalkeeper Goycochea (their first choice got injured in one of the initial matches) and how he got them through a number of penalty shoot-outs. It was almost as if Argentina was playing for a draw and hoping that they would win via the shoot-out.

I don't remember much about the 1994 world cup, except that the finals were very boring. The 1998 world cup was better - the finals between Brazil and France was a good game. I was in US at that time and didn't get to watch most of the games as they were held during US office hours; also all the matches weren't telecast on the TV channels available at the service apartment I was in.

My most vivid memories of the 2002 world cup were of Ronaldinho, especially his goal against England; the finals between Germany and Brazil did not live up to expectations. I was supporting Portugal at the 2006 games but wanted France to win once they got to the finals against Italy; it was sad to see Zidane's career ending the way it did - sent off with a red card.

Google TV

One of the more interesting events last week (at least it was "last week" when I first started writing this post..) was the Google I/O conference and the announcement of Google TV. While there have been some efforts towards integrating the Internet into the TV viewing experience (for e.g. Apple TV, integration of the Yahoo widget engine into TVs), Google's initiative seems to have the potential to have a far more significant impact on the TV market. There is a good post on Google TV at http://blog.louisgray.com/2010/05/while-apple-slept-on-their-hobby-google.html

I wonder how long it would be before this integrated experience will be available in India. In the mobile industry, I do not think that consumers in India are at a big disadvantage compared to their counterparts in the US. Operators in India may not have rolled out advanced services comparable to operators elsewhere (for e.g. the mobile TV / video solutions pushed by various operators in the US); however users possessing the latest handsets can enjoy the device-only features (e.g. a cool new user interface) and the features created by integrating with services on the Internet (e.g. integration with Facebook, a Twitter app etc). Also given the absence of operator-subsidized devices, users do not need to overcome the temptation of getting a operator recommended device available at a lower price (with a contract).

The situation in the television industry is different as set-top boxes are given by the service provider (cable or DTH). Therefore I cannot purchase Google TV enabled box and start using this service until it is offered to me by my service provider. I could probably create a setup that allowed me access to Google TV (e.g. have two set-top boxes , one of which would have Google TV) but this would be a poor imitation of the real thing.

Another question to consider is whether DTH operators (such as Tata Sky, Airtel or Reliance Big TV) or cable operators (like Hathaway) are more likely to offer Google TV enabled boxes? While the DTH camp seems more technically capable and organized, they also seem to have more to lose than the cable operators. This is because video content on the internet may reduce subscriptions to premium channels: while this is a big thing for DTH providers, cable TV (at least in Bangalore) is available at a fixed price that includes all channels (however this may change once Conditional Access System (CAS) is implemented).