Man patents ball for throwing

CNET's new gadgets blog Crave covers the hottest and coolest gizmos around. Among the latest items of note: A high-tech way to play catch.

For details on that item, click here for the full Crave effect, or read below. Other recent postings include VW's new impulse steering wheel and Momoko Ikuta's fertility phone.

It seems that we've come full circle. First the ball was invented, and we used it to play catch. Then the video game was invented, and we used it to pretend to play catch. Then the motion-sensing video game was invented, and we used it to mimic playing catch. Now a Mr. Louis Rosenberg is trying to patent a ball with which you can play catch.

It's not quite as ridiculous or opportunistic as it sounds. Rosenberg's idea is to fill an actual ball with electronics that can record direction, speed, and other variables. You actually play with the ball, and the ball's processor can score your throws. These scores can be displayed on a nearby console, such as a PSP, or shown through a head-mounted display. The game of catch has never seemed so high-tech.