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with fewer seams and more flat area is more
consistent in flight and easier to control.
Soccer balls can also now talk back. The
miCoach “Smart Ball” from adidas has sen-
sors built into the ball. The sensors track the
movement of the ball, as well as pressure put
on it by players’ kicks, and transmit the in-
formation to an app that can be read on a
smartphone. Players can then see how
fast their kicks went and in what di-
rections, and how they can improve
their footwork to make the ball do
exactly what they want.
It’s not just soccer. The 94Fif-
ty basketball can act like a coach
and a trainer. The ball’s sensors
count dribbles, bounces, spin, and
motion and provide feedback after
a workout. Users can read the arc
angle on their shots, the force of their
dribbles, and even their strength of drib-
bling with each hand.
Golf balls seem among the simplest balls
in sports. Small, hard, covered with small
dimples
, they seem to all look the same. But
millions of dollars of research and technolo-
gy go into each company’s design, inside and
out of the ball. The number and arrangement
of those dimples, for instance, is continually
evolving as new tests show different flight
paths. How the air moves over those tiny
GEAR