Yes, definitely Chewbacca, although R2-D2 is not too shabby either. Whatever you choose, this is a perfect over-priced holiday present for Star Wars fans or people you really hate. [High Snobiety via The Jailbreak]

Baseball King Balls are specially designed polyethylene baseballs from Japan. By making adjustments to that band in the center of each ball, you can alter their aerodynamics, thereby throwing a sinker, curveball, knuckleball, riser, or screwball at will (no special training required!). The catch? There is no catch! Well...other than the obvious fact that these puppies aren't regulation.

But I'm sure that millions of fans and countless MLB officials won't even notice you holding the Baseball King on the cover of Sports Illustrated. [Japan Trend Shop via OhGizmo!]

Here are a few choice excerpts from Regretsy (NSFW); just a taste, mind you, no substitute for a visit. Be careful, though, because the amazing site is not always safe for work. Looking over the entries makes me wish it were as fictitious as Kasper Hauser's brilliant—but mercifully fake—SkyMaul.

Regarding the lovely lady and her cheese-grater clock, Regretsy says: Oh sure, it's not perfect, but you try cleaning a cheese grater with a cigarette.

Regretsy says: Whenever I hear "Michael Jackson", I immediately think "baseball". Well technically, I think "Little League", but you know what I'm saying. [Link]

Regretsy says: Usually I just use the guest towels when we're out of toilet paper. [Link]

Regretsy says: You know what goats like? They like grass. They don't like having leopard outfits strapped to their sagging haunches like Kim Cattrall. [Link]

Regretsy says: Santo trompas de Falopio! Who wouldn't want to curl up with the stuffed reproductive organs of Mexico's most famous bisexual surrealist? [Link]

It goes without saying "Santo trompas de Falopio!" is my new favorite expression of surprise. Hit the site for way more where this came from. [Regretsy (NSFW)]

It happened during a Pirates-Brewers game in the 8th inning to a hapless photographer who didn't even try to make a grab. Instead, he just watched as the ball pegged the computer, sending the space bar flying. Oof. Hey, maybe the laptop is a collectable now? You never know. [Macenstein]

Only problem is, you have to be a subscriber of the paid MLB.tv service, which would cost $35 for the remainder of the 2009 season. But if you're already streaming ballgames on your computer, the Roku box would make a very inexpensive and portable way to get on-demand and live baseball on your TV. MLB.tv says the picture is high-definition quality, which probably means something like 480i or 480p (like Netflix's streams), but that'll still look pretty decent on the TV. [MLB on Roku]

Developed by the University of Tokyo, two baseball robots, a pitcher and a batter, play head to head in near perfection.

The pitching robot uses an arm from MIT and a three-fingered hand developed in-house (that's so nimble it can open and close 10 times per second) to release a strike zone pitch 90% of the time. Meanwhile the batting robot offers intense competition by wielding a 1000fps camera that can track the pitch in realtime, connecting with the ball almost every time it flies in the strike zone.

But before you get too excited, know that the pitching bot only throws the ball at 24mph. So it's likely that a classic batting cage bot could strike out more MLBers than anything coming out of the labs...for now. Researchers hope to increase pitch speed to 93mph soon and work curve balls and sliders into the mix. We'll see how well the batting robot (and puny humans) can keep up then. [Mainichi via Pink Tentacle via CrunchGear]

The Vector O bat features three little air vents just above the handle to decrease both weight and air resistance, although it seems to us that a bat is rotated while swung and would thus render the aerodynamic benefits null. It's made of some kind of alloy, so even without any topical sarcasm about baseball, it can't be used in the pros—but at $280, you'd have to take your stickball at least a little seriously to buy it. [Reebok via Boing Boing Gadgets]

The ball shot out at 70MPH, striking Anderson in the skull. He wasn't knocked completely unconscious and was surprised to discover his head swelling in instead of out. This was because he had multiple skull fractures that were causing blood to collect in his brain. Bad news.

Surgeons had to relieve the pressure in his skull to keep blood from entering more parts of his brain. Because seven areas of his brain had collapsed, there was a fear that permanent brain damage could result.

Now, 7 years later, Mitchell is one of the top players on his high school baseball team, batting a .455 with a .714 on-base percentage.

An impressive recovery and comeback to be sure, but he's got to know that somewhere out there is a pitching machine that wants to finish the job. Watch your back, Anderson. [News Journal Online]

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Actually, every single TV at Citi Field was made by Sharp—except, ironically, the monitors in the control room—which is why they wanted to show us the whole stadium, to make sure we saw every single TV. It's really nice! It almost makes me want to be a Mets fan, especially if I could hang out in a luxury suite and have Shackburgers delivered to me.

So why watch the game on TV at home, when you could pay a lot of money to watch it live on TV at the stadium? You don't have 850 TVs, after all.

Here's what he says specifically:

If there were a heaven and it came out in midseason, maybe we offer a game or two a day and that way we don't drop the price for At Bat. We would love to do live games on the iPhone. I think people would watch. A whole game? Probably not. But ten minutes?

Beyond that, MLB.TV is about to crush everyone's expectations of what live web video should be: More than 2,000 games in HD, which you can watch four of simultaneously with a mosaic picture-in-picture, multiple audio tracks to pick from and full DVR features like pause and rewind. They're also working on finally allowing in-market web streaming, so you can watch your local team online if you feel like it, not just on your TV.

If I actually liked baseball, I'd pretty hyped right about now. But I wonder if their pay model would be able to be applied anywhere else—would people pay for network programming (Hulu) if it had this kind of functionality? Or just go to torrents?[Alley Insider, MLB.TV]

The video ends with a "Hatfield engineer" looking into the distance and musing about how nuclear power might be in the future for the launcher: "We've talked about rocket-propelled hot dogs, we've said, you know, is nuclear power an option? We'd have to play with it a little bit..." It's pretty much the best mockumentary I've seen since Summer Heights High. Thank you, Hatfield, for extending my Philly pride six minutes further. [Grill the Goodness via Boing Boing Gadgets]

The crew trekked down to Cambodia to use the military's equipment. At first, the Cambodian military didn't want to use a tank, so instead they taped a baseball to a rocket. This, obviously, didn't show how well the baseball would travel at such speeds, as it just blew everything up, as you can see above.

Then, after changing their minds, the Cambodians allowed a baseball to be loaded into one of their tanks using some super-secret method that was blurred out like the undergroomed nether regions of a Japanese porn star. This was much more successful, with the tank launching a baseball at about 203mph. The aiming, however, could have been better.

So simple, so ridiculous, so satisfying. Thanks, Japan! [Japan Probe]

Maybe this baseball bat is what you needed to complete your video entry for the Go Miniman Go contest? Then get one as soon as possible because the end of the month deadline is quickly approaching. If you want to participate, check the contest rules here and send your video now. [Brothers Brick via Brickarms]

In the arms race to squeeze more pundits with more laptops into a single stage, CNN has always held the lead. They're for keeping an up-to-the-second finger on the blogosphere's pulse, receiving sordid tips from 21st-century Deep Throats, yes? Tell that to CNN's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin—what you up to on that screen there, Jeff?

Yeah, just watchin' a little pitch-by-pitch playoff baseball. Despite being from NYC, looks like Toobin had to keep watch of the Cubs action last night as they continued their epic choke, dropping to 0-2 against the Dodgers at home. But I can't say I blame him—being part of CNN's pundit brigade is probably doable while half in the bag on 45 minutes of sleep. Just ask James Carville. [Thanks Mark for the pic! And Nihal and Alex too]

[Sean Kenney via Craziest Gadgets via Coolbuzz]

The differences I noticed between American baseball and Japanese baseball being that everyone chants a different song for each batter in complete synchronicity, the stadium food includes fried shrimp, when you hit a homerun you get a stuffed animal, and Tiger fans cosplay as Tigers. That's about it. The dome itself had no conspicuous technology, which confused me. I expect the oldest tech I'd find in such a prominent structure to come from the year 2020, no older. Time for a retrofit, I thought, until Lisa pointed out that everyone was watching highlights and listening to commentary on seg 1 digital tuners on cellphones. The Dome has a lot of wireless infrastructure so that tons of people can use their phones without bogging down the network. (Basically, more antennas.)

I took the above shots with a Nikon D700, program mode, vivid color profile, with a 24-120mm lens. I could have used longer glass, but shots were fine. Given the lightning, I did have to tweak exposure a bit when the stadium lights overwhelmed the AI's ability to weight exposure towards whatever subjects were focused on. The shot at the top of this post is terrible, but I love the composition and the sign message: Do not take your eyes off the ball!

[TokyoMango]

Just click here or call 718-507-8499 to grab your tickets. If you want to get there earlier, Astroland, the Coney Island amusement park with the famous Cyclone roller coaster is within walking distance.

We'll probably go out for beers after the game at Peggy O'Neills, so look for us in the stands during the game or parking lot afterwards or just meet us there. We'll set up a twitter with details as to where we are during the game closer to the event itself.

Are you too cool for that? Does the idea of someone wanting to be placed inside something Star-Trek-themed for all of eternity give you a serious urge to give someone a wedgie? Well, Eternal Image, the company behind the Star Trek urn, has something for you too, my fratty friend: Major League Baseball urns and caskets. They also make a Cat Fanciers' Association production urn, but I think that might go too far into the realm of the depressingly pathetic for me to investigate and make fun of with a clear conscience. [Product Page via BusinessWire]

Astros Launch Bluetooth Zones [Gearlog]

Product Page [Via Dealhack]

Product Page [Via Nerd Approved]

RevFire uses proprietary balls and a monitoring system that can analyze the spin, speed and other statistics of the ball. It is also available for softball and comes with a package of two balls, the monitor and a case go for a solid $400. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [RevFire]

For non-prurient uses, stuff like this could be handy if you want to catch an unscrupulous mechanic or some store clerk being an ass to you. Having evidence of wrongdoing always works—unless there are laws about videotaping people who don't know about it. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Spy Catcher via Uber Review]

Impressive Baseball Batting Robot [via TechEBlog]

Some of the crazy high-techness include electronic tickets stored on cellphones, immediate instant replays from the bleachers via laptops, Wi-Fi access and digital advertising displays that change based upon buying habits of people walking by. Better watch out, your wife may not know that you enjoy buying fetish porn, but these ad displays will. – Travis Hudson

New A's Ballpark to Be High Tech [Via Deadspin]

The game starts at 6PM and gates open at 4:30PM. Even if you don't like baseball, this is a free TiVo! For young guys, you've got less than 24 hours to impregnate someone to qualify. Get going already! – Jason Chen

Dads to receive free TiVo units on Father's Day [OurSports Central - Thanks Michael!]

Also, these iPods were handy come draft day, when scouts could watch draft picks from here and there, quickly making a decision on which player they wanted.

Our guess is that they even take these onto the field to watch a little Spongebob—they're just as bored playing it as we are watching it. Just kidding. We love baseball. That's the one with the hoops, right? – Jason Chen

Rockies using video iPods to study swings, hitters [ESPN - Thanks Matthew!]

Motorola is looking to install Bluetooth modules everywhere they can inside Wrigley. Imagine Dusty Baker speaking into his trusty wristband. I, for one, can't wait. – Nicholas Deleon

Wrigley Field Dugouts Go Wireless [AP/Wired]

We're hoping they'll soon offer pens from famous baseball bats, because if these bleacher seat pens could talk, they'd probably just complain a lot about all the big butts that have been sitting on them for all these years. – Charlie White

Product page [Uncommon Goods, via OhGizmo]

I remember when I was a kid, my old man and I would sit on the back porch in Central Pennsylvania and listen to AM radio broadcasts of Phillies games. I won't tell you how long ago that was, but the fact we weren't able to watch them on cable TV should give you some idea. In any case, I've been doing a fair amount of bitching lately, so I thought I'd write this week about something I actually enjoy. It's MLB.tv, a subscription service that allows baseball fans to watch video streams of Major League games around the country. I've been enjoying the service since the site launched in 2003.

Essentially, MLB.tv allows you to pay $79.95 to watch virtually any game you want, so long as there's no conflict with a local or network broadcast. I bring this up because this week, I broke out that previously useless doorstop—the digital entertainment device that runs Windows Media Center—and used it to receive the stream on my TV. Not my brand new HDTV (which I still don't have, btw), but rather, on my 27-inch Toshiba CRT.

As I sat there watching Friday night's game, it occurred to me this was the real potential of the merger between PCs and entertainment devices. With the emergence of sites like YouTube, and networks like ABC and Comedy Central making shows or show segments available online, the ability to actually watch what you want to watch—whether it's on cable or the Internet—is the real killer app. To put it succinctly, I'd no longer be at the mercy of my cable TV service.

When I can receive all the content I want (including customized news) via the Internet and watch it on my TV, my cable subscription becomes redundant. And that massive investment in IPTV the phone companies are making these days? Don't think they're not chewing their nails wondering if someone like YouTube could become the first "customized TV network" to broadcast solely via the Internet. Given the networks' push to get online—shows like "Lost" and clips from "My Name Is Earl" are now available at ABC.com and NBC.com—I'd say they're thinking about it, too. Meanwhile, the Tiffany Network started Innertube, which it calls an online entertainment portal that offers both network and exclusive, Web-only video releases.

Then there's iTunes. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Apple work with the folks at TiVo to create a subscription service that allows me to record any show I want, either via broadcast or the Internet, to watch any time I please. I rather like the idea of having my own personalized network to consolidate all of the content my cable company can't offer. I can even see the video iPod as the key to unlock video that only plays when the device is seated in a Mac Mini's built-in dock.

Until then, however, I will continue to enjoy services like MLB.tv with my oldest son, watching games on the TV in my basement or catching them on my laptop, sitting on our back porch in New Jersey.

Brian L. Clark is a reporter and consultant on all things digital, runs the The Tech Enthusiast's Network, and writes for Money, Men's Health, and Laptop. Read more Tuning Fork here.

Carlton Fisk Would Be Envious... [Technology Futurist]