Its uses are limited—it exists solely to help train its user to throw a perfect serve height (A high, confident toss made 1 to 2 ft. inside the baseline allows the server to uncoil both upward and forward into the court, making contact at 1.5 times body height)—and it might not be terribly practical, but you have to admire the ingenuity. Preemptive sic:

I poped (ed note: this is my favorite new verb) open my wiimote soldered in a few wires to the minus key and then taped the wiimote to left arm (I am right handed).

Then I taped the other end of the wires to my thumb and wrapped a tennis ball in aluminum. So now when I had the ball in my hand it completed the circuit and pressed the button which registers the data in the software. I then toss the ball and when it leaves my hand it unpresses the button stopping the registry of the data from the accelerometer.

From here, our intrepid inventor is able to feed his data into a laptop to calculate his throw height and adjust accordingly. Clever. [Eyes on Tech—Thanks, Mans!]

Sweat-free hands equal a sure grip, a sure grip equals better tennis, and better tennis equals a $275 racquet. Sure, there are products out there that cost less—but look at the dude pictured above. Only those who are extreme enough to wear a suit and boxing gloves while playing tennis are worthy of a Control Freek racquet. [Control Freek via Inventor Spot via The Design Blog]

[Lacoste via Techpin via Gearfuse]

I don't read Japanese, but this cabbage-penetration vid literally got me aroused, especially when they switch to slow-mo:

This final one has most of the quick shots from the first vid, only with more build-up and speed indicators:

[YouTube via Make—bonus crazy slow-mo ping-pong devastation pics there!]

We're not sure when we started gaming first—we think it was between the ages of 2 and 3—so this is pretty darn awesome. As Travis says whenever we beat him at video games, "No fair, you have the Asian gene."

If you've got any pictures or videos (especially videos) of your baby playing Wii, send them on in. – Jason Chen

22 Month Old Baby Rocks at Wii Sports [Gamedrift]

The real fun when they strap a fricking broadsword to the thing and create the ultimate Final Fantasy opponent. It's a wonder nobody lost their genitals with this thing. – Jason Chen

WiiBot [USMechatronics via Hackaday via Slashgear]

The balls are launched between 20kph (12.4mph) and 70kph (43mph), which isn't that fast, but is good enough for practice. Seriously, as a guy who's been hit in the nuts more than once by a tennis ball machine (ball me once, shame on you, b..ba....I'm not gonna get balled again), I can say this is a good invention. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Astro-r via Seihin World via BNCRanking (japanese)]

Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, mp3, FM radio, and EDGE support makes this a decent if mediocre phone. If we were a bigger tennis fan, we'd probably be more excited.

When you do pick one up, just don't use it at an actual match lest you want Johnny Mac to launch a racquet at your face.

Sagem launches new my700X Roland-Garros mobile phone [Shiny Shiny]

Those of you out there who doubt that the Nintendo Wii's Remote is going to be the best thing ever: If you're still drinking the total haterade after watching this video of Reggie Fils-Aime, Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto and one lucky contest winner playing Wii tennis at Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference this afternoon, there is no love in your shrivelled heart and not even unicorns and rainbows can save you now.

[via Kotaku]