CES: Where you can shoot free throws with your iPhone

LAS VEGAS. I never thought anything would give me more pleasure than taking an orange-handled hammer and smashing an Acer laptop.

I was still glowing from managing this yesterday that I almost didn't hear a rather short lady asking if I wanted to shoot a free throw with my iPhone.

Because I was wearing my shiny black Costume National boots, she must have naturally assumed that I owned an iPhone, which I don't. However, I confess that I have seen Golden State Warriors fans wanting to toss several types of smartphones in the direction of Andris Biedrins, every time he fails to even hit the rim on a free throw.

"I don't have an iPhone," I told the lady.

"Oh, don't worry, you can use mine," she said.

This, I feared, was product demonstration at its finest. Or a cunning ruse. Or lunacy.

She handed me her iPhone and explained that it was covered in Wrapsol, a film that keeps your phone free from injurious elements such as oh, a jealous lover. Or something slightly less tough, like concrete.

CNET's Josh Lowensohn reported last year that Wrapsol claimed that a wrapped Nokia N97 was dragged behind a truck at 35 miles an hour on rough concrete and escaped with no apparent damage, physical or mental.

So free-throwing a Wrapsol-wrapped iPhone should leave no scars.

Perhaps you have never attempted to toss your iPhone over a distance. Like a basketball, it's heavier than you first think.

My first shot hit the net, but only on the outside. My second bounded off the front of the rim. My third rattled around the rim and then, as the crows gasped for breath in the fetid conference center air, well, you can guess.

Afterward, I could see no visible indents or scratches. And the film didn't appear intrusive to the phone's look.

Wrapsol costs about $25 at Wal-Mart, but it doesn't come with a guarantee. You can, I am told, however, just rewrap it. Rewrapping is not currently available for the free-throwing technique of Andris Biedrins.