From Coolest Gadgets: Billiards Training Tool

Quick. Name your favorite bar game. Darts? Trivia? Foosball? I’m guessing pool or snooker will win out in most cases. Bars have to make serious revenue on drinks and games to let the tables occupy so much space. And billiards players take their games seriously. Don’t mess with that person who has their coins waiting on the table. They may look harmless. But they are focused. And they end up running the table despite their innocent look. I think I found out how they practice.

If you are like me you have problems playing the bumpers. I never quite get the right point to ricochet the ball into a pocket. Three students from University of the Algarve in Portugal either have too much time on their hands or really do have a purpose in playing endless games of pool. They designed a device that tells you where to aim. The “PoolLiveAid” focuses on where the cue ball is then lays out where to aim, using a laser on the bed of the table. Basically they give you what you can get on a billiards video game. Obviously you wouldn’t take the contraption into your local. But for practicing purposes it could really get your game up to snuff. The students are still testing the device, so don’t anticipate it on the market anytime soon.

Thanks: Yahoo Sport
[ Billiards Training Tool copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

from Coolest Gadgets

From New on MIT Technology Review: Micro 3-D Printer Creates Tiny Structures in Seconds

Faster printing could see the technology move from research labs to industry.

Nanoscribe, a spin-off from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, has developed a tabletop 3-D microprinter that can create complicated microstructures 100 times faster than is possible today. “If something took one hour to make, it now takes less than one minute,” says Michael Thiel, chief scientific officer at Nanoscribe.

from New on MIT Technology Review