All you footie nuts out there already know about www.FIFA.worldcup.com, so for the rest of those who give the game a passing glance, here are some reasons why you should pay a visit.

This time around FIFA has laid out some video of the best of the past as a warm up for this summer?s World Cup in Germany.

You can watch the highlights of 10 previous World Cups starting from 1966.

Other sections feature videos highlighting individual players, including Pele and Maradona, or famous World Cup matches.

Watch Maradona?s Goal of the Century and the next 50 in the net. Get another 50 shots on goal with highlights of individual players, some of the great who never made the final matches.

Unfortunately the video is mostly of poor quality. We also will not get live online video coverage of the matches in Germany from the site. Just some scribes giving us minute-by-minute updates, something like the Tour de France operates.

Sadly FIFA, along with the NFL and other sporting bodies remain far behind Major League Baseball. MLB has figured out the trick of providing live online video coverage at a reasonable cost to fans.

This is a tough balancing act, but one that is necessary to take advantage of the new viewing audience the Internet services up.

MLB has managed to appease the networks who spend huge amounts buying the television rights, while gaining a small but important new revenue stream. This is especially valuable to overseas fellows like myself.

Being able to watch the World Series early in the morning from France at the same time as my mother was a good feeling.

In the case of the World Cup, which is broadcast practically everywhere, the Internet will be less important to fans. But it would be nice to have

the option of watching the world?s greatest sporting event as it happens on the Internet.

Google continues to innovate with the offering of a downloadable package of software.

This is a real goodie bag and I?ve immediately installed it on my computer, especially since I needed new antivirus software.

The Google Pack includes Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition along with a free six-month subscription to protection updates.

It also includes a choice of two browsers, Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Then you can get all of Google?s software in one shot. These include Google Earth, the 3D browser that allows you to zoom in on satellite from space to street level for most places in the world.

Google Desktop allows you to search your computer and list all your files, including e-mail. The Picasa Photo organizer allows you to find, edit, and share your photos. I use this one a lot.

You can couple Picasa with the Google Pack Screensaver, a photo screensaver that allows you to view pictures full screen or as a collage.

The Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer allows you to search the Internet directly from an interface embedded in your toolbar. It also block pop-ups.

Ad-Aware SE Personal is included along with Adobe Reader 7. Optional Google Pack software includes Google Talk, which allows you to access instant messaging and VoIP services.

GalleryPlayer HD Images is software for viewing high-quality, high-resolution paintings and photos on your computer.

RealPlayer is included along with Trillian, which allows you to communicate with AIM, SN, and Yahoo! users. Google Pack is only available for Windows XP at http://pack.google.com.

A reader of this column pointed out to me that I missed a decimal point in describing the soon to-be-released Sony Reader. The device measures 6.9 inches by 4.9 inches by 0.5 inches.