World Cup Fun

Gadgeteers are not renowned for their sporting prowess, nevertheless the world of sport does occasionally infringe on our dark-roomed, multimonitored existence. Like the rest of the civilised world, we too have noticed there is a soccer competition on in Germany and it has raised a slight interest.

Although most of us were fed up with the world cup even before the first ball was kicked in anger, I have come across a gadget that will outlive even England's 1966 final win! The Football remote control, this device is a replacement for your television, DVD, VCR remote control and can be programmed to work with a multitude of multimedia appliances. It is, as the name suggests, shaped like a football with touch-sensitive buttons. The controls cover a multitude of functions from channel number to colour and contrast. The early models could only manage programme up and down and volume up and down.

The most difficult part of this football-shaped fun is programming it to work with your appliance. The manual comes with a list of different codes to cover some of the better known brands, however if your 42-inch plasma screen is a bargain buy from dodgydeals.com you might have to spend some time on trial and error to get the control to work.

However, when programmed, the replacement remote does a good job of the simple functions most of us require. An audible "beep" reassures the user that the remote is working before the channel changes, or volume is raised.

The round shape of the remote has many advantages. It is large enough for even the biggest fingers to use easily, it doesn't get lost behind the cushions and of course can be thrown rolled or kicked around the sitting room.

This is a remote control that is built for fun and function, at half time as Dunphy etc. analyse the most exciting miss of the game so far, you and your mates can recreate the play in the comfort of your own home. The only disadvantage is that unless the batteries have been removed, every kick will change the channel or raise the volume. If the play is too complicated it may be difficult to get back to the original channel in time for the second half.

For the real sports enthusiast the remote control comes in a variety of country's colours and can be bought online. If you are in no major hurry to replace your set's remote, my advice is to wait for a few weeks. I'm sure the England-branded remotes will be selling at discounted prices… This remote also has an on/off function which allows the user to shout "They think it's all over… It is now" as you press the off function.