94Fifty Taking Reality and Making it more Like a Game

The prevalent trend in gaming right now is making video games feel as much like reality as possible.  94Fity, a sports technology startup with development and operations facilities in Dublin, is taking this trend in the opposite direction.  94Fifty, embeds motion sensors and pattern-recognition software inside basketballs so they can calculate bounces, ball spin rate, velocity, arc of the shot and other data, giving players feedback on how to improve performance. 

The 94Fifty basketball (so named in reference to the dimensions of a basketball court) wirelessly transmits data to a computer which produces a report of each shot and an analysis of overall performance.   This can be used by players, coaches or just casual gamers to improve their play and move to the next level.

Plans call for extension of the technology into other sports including soccer, baseball and golf. 
94Fifty selected Central Ohio to set up operations in order to take advantage of the state’s Innovation Ohio Loan Fund (IOLF).  The IOLF is intended to supply capital to Ohio companies having difficulty securing funds from conventional sources due to technical and commercial risk factors associated with the development of a new product or service.

For more information, see the Million-Dollar Idea write-up on the company on the Business Insider War Room blog: 
http://www.businessinsider.com/million-dollar-idea-a-motion-sensor-equipped-basketball-that-instantly-reports-data-about-the-players-performance-2011-1