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Brita's smart water pitcher orders its filters from Amazon
Amazon's automatic Dash refills are reaching all kinds of devices... and now, that includes the gadgets in your fridge. Brita has launched the Infinity water pitcher, a WiFi-equipped container that automatically orders replacement filters whenever your current purifier is near its limit. It's not cheap at $45, and that's not including the $6 you'll pay every time you need a new filter. However, it might be just the ticket if you can't imagine drinking from the tap (or heading to the store) for even a brief moment.
Wearable Coach prototype promises to help you find the perfect pitch
A gadget that helps with your running or cycling is one thing, but can a device also make you a better pitcher? Designer Sebastiaan Pijnappel thought so, and the so-called "Wearable Coach" prototype is his solution. The idea is a simple but ingenious one; the device plays musical notes that correspond to certain movements, strike just the right ones and you know you've gotten in the zone. What's more, while the device has only been tested with pitchers so far (with some successful results), it's not hard to see how it could also be applied to a whole range of other sports and activities. Head on past the break for a video. Update: Unlike Major League, this particular video is no longer available.
15 Minutes of Fame: KC Royals pitcher Kyle Davies
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. For all the flak gaming gets over its notoriously time-sucking qualities, World of Warcraft seems to make a surprisingly good lifestyle fit for professional athletes. Olympic swimmer Megan Jendrick takes refuge in a nice, anonymous PUG raid after a hard day in the pool. MMA fighter Jens Pulver pounds a whole roster of characters after a day in the octagon. And squeezing in Icecrown Citadel in lonely hotel rooms on the road is the perfect downtime release for Kansas City Royals pitcher Kyle Davies. Opening the 2009 season as the No. 3 starter, Davies is well known for his work ethic. Despite a contract guaranteeing him some $1.3 million this year, he chooses to spend the off-season toiling away on his dad's construction crew. And despite a hectic road schedule that limits raiding opportunities to PUGs, Davies has managed to clear ICC with both his mains and is chipping his way through hard modes. We caught him in between game dates for a quick run-down of how he and his teammates let off steam in the World of Warcraft.
Padres pitcher uses iPhone to self-diagnose appendicitis
You're a young pitcher for the San Diego Padres, it's early in the morning, and you're not feeling good. In fact, you feel awful. So what do you do? Pick up your iPhone, point Safari at WebMD.com, punch in your symptoms, and self-diagnose yourself as having appendicitis. Next step? You call the team trainer at 3:15 AM, who does a quick examination and tells you to get to the hospital ASAP. A few hours later, your appendix is gone via a laparoscopic appendectomy, and you're on the DL for a month or so. It sounds like a script for a bad baseball movie, but it actually happened to Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer yesterday morning. He was able to take a taxi to a hospital in San Diego, where the staff confirmed his diagnosis and immediately scheduled him for surgery. This isn't the first time an iPhone has helped someone save their own life -- in January, a survivor of the Haiti earthquake used several medical apps to keep himself alive while awaiting rescue. It will be fun to see if Apple will be able to work this into an iPhone ad. "Self-diagnosing appendicitis? There's an app for that!"
Guitar Hero benches big leaguer
When Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya was benched during October's American League Championship series with inflammation in his right arm, Tigers Athletic Director Kevin Rand theorized it was because the pitcher was "playing in different times now, different weather." Turns out the actual problem was not different weather but a different game -- specifically, Guitar Hero.The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Tigers manager Dave Dombrowski told WXYT-AM yesterday that Zumaya's injury recurrence came from excessive virtual guitar shredding, not from excessive baseball throwing. Once the Tigers training staff realized the injuries were "more consistent with the action of a guitar player than a baseball pitcher," Zumaya stopped playing the game and recovered in time to pitch in three World Series games.We can't help but question Zumaya's priorities here. While pitching in the World Series is important, think of the damage done to Zumaya's Guitar Hero career during this hiatus. We can only hope practice and hard work during the off-season will bring him back to top shredding form.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
