NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Tech Takes Sting Out Of Swing

Two summers ago, I played on a championship slowpitch softball team. A few of my teammates were, and still are, real bat hounds. As obsessive merchants of home-run glory, they would troll bat auction sites for their white whales and spoke of their conquests like wine connoisseurs do over vintage bottles of Pinot Noir.

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If the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) ever certifies the following, I suspect it's only a matter of time before their bats are equipped with these: Dr. Daniel Russell's tunable vibration absorbers that take the sting out of the swing.

Russell, a number-crunching professor in the graduate program of acoustics at Pennsylvania State University, has calculated that vibrations between 600 and 700 hertz (Hz) cause the most pain when batters miss hitting the ball on the bat's sweet spot.

Trust me, I'm a professional shanker of easy outs off the handle or end of the bat, and doing so feels like touching an electric fence.

"Having identified that vibration I helped tune a mass spring vibration absorber" embedded in the bat's knob "that attacks that frequency," Russell told Discovery News. "We tried it out and did pre and post measurements and found that it completely removed that unwanted vibration from the bat."

Russell worked with baseball bat manufacturer Marucci Sports to incorporate the technology into their youth and senior league bats.

"I know a number of coaches with little kids who have used the bats with great success," said Russell. "Their kids aren't complaining about bad hits or that they want to quit because their hands are sore."

Much to the dismay of the softball-bat mercenaries I knew who roved the grounds of the Rainbow Softball Center in Columbia, Mo., Marucci doesn't make softball bats. Even if they did, I doubt my old teammates would purchase any.

You see, Marucci's pitch-man is former St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols, who left many rabid fans of Redbird Nation somewhat disgruntled when he dumped the Cards for big money in Southern California. If I know my former teammates, it'll be a cold day in hell before they step up to the plate holding anything endorsed by Pujols.

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But, guys, if you're listening, now might be a good time to pitch Dr. Russell your ideas for The Ultimate Softball Bat. He'll be presenting his research this Monday, October 22, at the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) conference in Kansas City.

Dudes, that's just a quick jaunt down I-70. You might have to play hooky from work, but don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

via Newswise

Photo: iStockPhoto

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Coffee Table Is a Real Game Changer

If you put an Xbox or PlayStation controller in my hand, I will look at you like you just handed me a dodecahedral hand puzzle wrapped in Chinese finger traps. What am I supposed to do with this thing? There are, like, a trillion buttons. And the joysticks? Pfft. No thanks, I'll pass.

On the other hand, put an original Nintendo controller in my hand and, brother, game on. Best thing about this icon? Two buttons. B and A. One four-way directional pad. Start and Pause. Simplicity, folks, that's where it's at. As Shakespeare wrote, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

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Look, I realize my controller cantankerousness dates me. You young whippersnappers are probably snickering on your sofa, punching each other in the shoulder and saying, "Look at grandpa over there. Maybe we should get him an EZ Eyes keyboard, too."

Mock me if you must. I don't care. I will go to my grave still defending the original NES games, too. And I also understand the folly of exalting 8-bit graphics in an era when we can play dazzling, high-def, 3-D games on our phones.

But to try and explain the joy I get from blowing the dust off the cartridge pins, shoving it into the slot and playing a game of RBI Baseball would be like trying to tap the Dalai Lama's source of enlightenment. Maybe I should join these guys.

The original hive of this enlightenment, if you will, was the basement of my friend Mookie's house. It was there we wasted countless sunny afternoons playing long stretches of Tecmo Bowl and Baseball Stars. It was in these dark, subterranean confines, surrounded by Cool Ranch Doritos and Dr. Pepper, that the genesis of our misanthropic leanings first took root. And for the record, my punk band is totally going to do a cover of the Tecmo Bowl theme song.

About the only thing that could have made Mookie's basement gaming den even better is this: a coffee table that is a fully functional Nintendo controller.

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The table comes compliments of weaver of dreams and furniture maker Charles Lushear. Just to prove that we're all adults here, with refined adult tastes in furniture design, Lushear made the piece out of maple, mahogany and walnut woods, which only adds to its elegance. The dovetail joinery and retractable cord are lovely flourishes, too.

And guess what? When you're not conquering Contra, the controller face sits underneath a removeable glass top. That way, you don't need to worry about spilling Diet Mountain Dew all over the place.

If I were a wealthier man, I would surprise Mookie and buy him this table for his birthday next year. But because it's priced at $3,500, he'll have to be happy with a paperback. For those who don't have an NES system, Lushear says he's looking into making a controller compatible with the Wii.  

And now, I leave you with an homage to the great controller -- a little finger ballet, compliments of the code to Contra: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A.

via Gizmag

Credit: Bohemian Workbench

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Video Trading Cards Hit the Market

Back in the late 1980s, tearing into a new pack of Upper Deck baseball cards rivaled opening presents on Christmas morning. Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1989 rookie card was fetching $150 -- a small fortune my buddies and I who used to ride our bikes across town to the nearest card shop to slap down a couple bucks for a pack.

Today that card is barely worth $15. Industry experts say sports trading card sales are in a serious slump. Sales have fallen 80 percent from over a billion dollars in the early 1990s to about $200 million last year. There's been much speculation on what's caused such a decline, but many credit a flooded market, the popularity of card-based games such as Pokemon, and of course, the rise of the Internet. Today, if someone wants to know Albert Pujols batting average his rookie year, they're more likely to search for stats online rather than the back of a piece of cardboard.

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But why not combine traditions of the past with the innovations of the future.

Hoping to do just that is well-known trading card company, Panini (formerly Donruss) who has partnered with media tech team Recom Group to develop the first ever video trading cards. The Panini HRX (Highlight Reel Xperience) cards will be made of thick cardboard and feature a thin screen covering one side. The cards have a 2GB capacity and come pre-loaded with highlight footage of the athlete featured on each card, in this case basketball players Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant or John Wall.

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Kids these days might say, "So what? I can look up highlights on my smart phone." But consider this young sports-loving technophiles, these cards are re-writable and can be loaded with your own data, such as cartoons, homework or your own highlight reel of you dunking over your buddies on that hoop you lowered with a broom handle.

However, these cards won't be for sale. In an ingenious move to entice pack sales, Panini is distributing redeemable video card vouchers inside regular packs of cards.

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Panini's new voucher-laced packs may have a few more bells and and whistles than the chalky gum-laced packs I remember opening, but nothing beats tearing into new pack and looking for your white whale.

[Via Gajitz]

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Athletes Use 3-D Imaging to Improve Their Game

In the relentless pursuit of athletic superiority, it seems like athletes are willing to do just about anything to get an advantage over their opponents. Technology dating back to before the corked bat has helped to fuel that unceasing competition.

But now, a handful of professional sports teams are beginning to use motion capture technology to track how athletes perform, and how they could perform better.

If you ask the teams why they're doing it, they will tell you they are looking out for the safety of their players. If the team coaches know exactly how their pitchers move during a pitch, coaches can make sure their players aren't damaging their bodies.

But Chris Bregler, an associate professor of computer science and director of the Movement Lab at New York University, told the New York Times that it's more than just teams looking out for their players.

“It’s just a matter of time before it goes into not just sports medicine but making a team better,” Dr. Bregler said.

This motion capture technology is still in its infancy, and so only a few teams have access to it. This technolgy combines the technology that captures the human movements at the heart of three-dimensional animations like "Avatar" with sophisticated sensors.

This technique provides a fully interactive three-dimensional model of the athlete on a computer that can do anything the human can do: jump, pitch, run, and, well, you get the picture. Using this computer model, sports medical researchers can calculate precise limb angles, stresses on joints, and ball speeds.

And motion capture technology is already having an impact on how some baseball players play the game. At least three pitchers with the Milwaukee Brewers have made adjustments to their pitching form based on the technology's findings.

Only time will tell, but I'm betting this technology will only get more popular as athletes keep fighting to get the edge over their opponents.

Image: 3D motion capture of Mariano Rivera; credit: Movement Lab at New York University

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Do Tasers Hurt?

Since the advent of our nation's pastime, there has been a longstanding tradition of the fan who thinks it will be just HILARIOUS to jump onto a baseball diamond and get his or her 15 minutes of fame before getting tackled by security guards.

On Monday, 17-year-old Steve Consalvi decided to do just that during a Philadelphia Phillies game.

Except this time, the overzealous fan who told his dad he was looking for a "once in a lifetime experience" got a little more than he bargained for: he got Tasered. It's the first time a Taser has been used to stop a spectator who's running on the field.

The kid's OK, and now the Phillies and Philadelphia police are investigating whether the officer's use of the Taser was appropriate.

So do Tasers hurt?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes, they do, but not for very long -- or at least that's how they're supposed to work.

Stun guns and Tasers, which use a compressed gas cartridge to shoot two electrodes at the intended target, work by scrambling the communication system in your body.

Imagine your body as an office, with each department in constant discussion. Your brain talks to your nerve cells, which then talk to your muscle cells and vice versa. Everything's clicking; everyone's happy

Until you get Tasered. Then the computers crash and the phone lines go down - but just for a little while.

Using a high-voltage, low amperage electrical charge, the Taser sends a lot of confusing information into the target's nervous system. That noise basically renders the target paralyzed with too many signals, none of which make any sense.

However, because the Taser operates on high volts and low amps, there's supposed to be no lasting damage. High voltage means the electrical charge can reach the target, but the low amps keep the intensity down.

A Taser typically has about 50,000 volts of electricity, while just three milliamps. By comparison, a bolt of lightning may have 300,000 volts and tens of thousands of amps. Those high amps lead to burns and lasting damage.

Amazingly, the static shock you "accidentally" gave your coworker by sliding across the carpet in your office? They can pack around 20,000 volts! And according to this article, an Australian man was able able to generate 40,000 volts of static electricity just from walking around in a nylon jacket and wool shirt!

Lucky for us, like Tasers, static electricity generates very low amps.

However, Tasers and stun guns have been lethal. According to Amnesty International, since 2001, more than 330 people in the U.S. have died after being shocked by Tasers.

To learn more about how tasers and stun guns work, click here.

Photo credit: AP Photo

To watch a clip of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters getting Tasered, click on the image below.