Video: AI combines voice and face to determine human emotion
It was a wonderful World Cup.
Save for Vladimir Putin walking in the rain, covered by an umbrella, while the presidents of finalists France and Croatia got soaked[1].
However, for those who adore football -- aka saacker -- technology invaded like never before.
CNET: How to replay the World Cup Final[2]
It was, largely, a welcome invasion.
Goal-line technology -- available in tennis since the turn of the century -- finally meant that all the goals scored would actually count.
Moreover, the Video Assistant Referee was there to make sure that referees on the pitch blew their whistles in the right direction.
Mostly, it worked. Except, that is, when it came to Sunday's final.
The greatest World Cup Final referees are the ones you never notice. They let the game flow and, when they have to make a call, they make the right one.
Surely, this time Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana would be papally infallible.
Not only was he greatly experienced, but he had the blissful backup of technological help -- an Italian referee staring at multiple screens in a small Russian room, ready to warn him of things he might have missed.
How woefully it all worked.
In the first half, Croatia was by far the better team.
Yet, in the 18th minute France launched a rare foray forward and French striker Antoine Griezmann cheated.
There's no more appropriate word for it.
He sought out an opponent's foot and attempted to deliberately trip over it.
This was a moment when technology could have helped.
One whisper from the video referee to the one on the field would have told him that