Yoda Replaced as Jedi Instructor by Ping Pong Ball

By Rob Bricken in Tech, Toys
Friday, Jan. 9 2009 @ 11:30AM
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Meet the Force Trainer. It's makers would have you believe that you can use it to sharpen your "Force skills," by learning to manipulate--solely through the power of your midichlorians will--a ping pong ball up and down the tube. From USA Today:
The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the Star Wars films.
...
In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower.

A state of deep concentration is needed to achieve a Force-full effect. "When you concentrate, it activates the training remote," says Frank Adler of toymaker Uncle Milton Industries, which is creating the Trainer. "There is a flow of air that will move the (ball). You can actually feel like you are in a zone."
Jesus, it's terrifying how much I would have wanted one of these when I was a kid. I almost want to beat myself up retroactively. Of course, as a grown-up, I know the feeling of being one with an all-powerful, all-encompassing energy that flows through us, surrounds us and binds the energy together is much cheaper to attain:
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Mmm. All-encompassing! (Via Geekologie)