I want England to win the World Cup, but as my lovely partner Shirley comes from Brasil, specifically Kaka’s home town of Taguatinga, then I’m also keeping an eye out for his and his team’s chances.

I think Kaka’s going to have a great tournament, which appears to be at odds with footballing legend Brazil Pele, who has cast doubts on Kaka’s form going into the tournament:

BRAZIL legend Pele admits he is worried about Kaka’s form ahead of the finals.

Real Madrid star Kaka has been plagued by injuries but insists he will be fit for Tuesday’s clash with North Korea.

But Pele admitted: “Kaka worries me. He is very important – a key player for our attack and midfield. But God willing he will be in good form.”

OK, I admit I don’t don’t know football like Pele does. Or to quote the dry humour of the comment on the Sun website from ‘geteducated’: “Who the hell is this “Pele” and what does he know about football?”

Well, I wouldn’t want to argue with Pele. But then given the option I’ll go with the ladies of Taguatinga and say “Come on Kaka!”

Few of the applications available are ideal. Many of them have limited functions which only work locally, so it is up to the user in the end to choose an application which is going to be of most use to them. Some of the applications, such as Bluepulse are fairly simple applications which are simple and fast, but lack many of the functions users of Facebook and Twitter are used to. Although it has the appearance of a web page, with friends, messaging and status updates, that is about all the application has to offer. Facebook has an application itself, which although functional, is inferior to the real thing. It has e-mail recognition and integrated chat; however the applicati0n does not run in the background which means you have to be logged in. This means that e-mail and chat are not active all the time. The application does not have location awareness, which some of the other applications have. Another application which demonstrates the wide variation in functionality is iFob. This application is fine if you are within a reasonably close proximity, so great if you are in a concert or bar, and may be useful for business networking events. However, you cannot add friends and can only be used locally.

Loopt is an application which has Twitter and Facebook integration, although actually linking up with Facebook friends is not all that easy. People profiles are fairly simple with just a name and picture. Twitterlator may be one of the better applications for Twitter users. With full search and full friend functionality as well as camera, and location integration, it also has an emergency button which can use to alert friends. However this application can be slow at times and still does not run in the background.

There is no doubt that there is huge potential for social networking applications, and companies are probably still at the stage where we are gathering information. There are a number of business networks starting to spring up which will link people with similar status or positions within companies so that ideas can be exchanged. Almost fifty per cent of iPhone users access social networking sites on iPhone, which is almost twelve times the market average, so the phone and it`s demographic are ideally placed for a bright future in social networking. For up to date iPhone news, go to apple iphone

In a strange twist of fate is the news on Sunday that seven dead and dozens injured after ‘Kaka’s church’ collapses during service. Seven people were killed and at least 50 more were injured on Sunday when the roof of the massive church where football star Kaká and Caroline were married collapsed.

The Telegraph reports goes on to say that the church, like many of Brazil’s Protestant sects, is controversial:

The couple who founded it were arrested when entering the United States in 2007 and jailed for five months on money laundering, tax evasion and other financially related charges. They face similar charges in Brazilian courts.

“I have always been treated well by [the club] executives and my rapport is excellent. Perhaps one day they may change their approach with respect to me but I don’t see that happening. I will only leave if Milan decide to sell me or perhaps on the day when we no longer have the same objectives, and that day has not come.” (Report from the Guardian)

“Even though the world footballer of the year has not requested a transfer from Milan and is contracted to the club until 2012, he has been unsettled by their handling of him in recent months. The 26-year-old was prevented from representing Brazil at the Olympics in Beijing despite his club allowing summer signing Ronaldinho to play and last week the club’s doctor questioned Kaká’s decision to undergo close-season knee surgery.”

Thanks to the piece in today’s Observer. Hmm, now if Brazil’s football team win the Olympics, that might just tip the balance?

grapefrugten: had a strange dream. I met Kaká, and obv. started crying. Then I woke up, and the first thing I saw was my wife. Better than nothing I guess…

Want more? Check out my full set of my Kaka and Caroline blog stories.

PS: If there any journalists out there who want to do a nice background piece on where Kaka grew up please get in touch — after all it’s all about who you know in Brazil, it’s not so much one big country as a giant social network.

Hmm, if miracle of miracles Kaka goes to Chelsea I’ll go to his home town of Taguatina and walk into his cousin’s gym (yes, I’ve been there, alright?) in my Chelsea tracksuit (yes, I own one, alright?) and ask if their are discount rates for Chelsea fans, alright?!