Hasta La Gadget!

There is nothing quite like being able to be at the pinnacle of your area of interest. Whether it is sports or music, having enough practice is always something that all of us should aspire to. However, one might lack the necessary motivation to get the right kind of practice in, and for baseball enthusiasts, you are nigh running out of excuses with the $59.95 Batter Controlled Pitching Machine.

The Batter Controlled Pitching Machine happens to be one pitching machine which you, as the batter, will be able to operate directly from the bat’s wireless transmitter in order to have a go (or more) when it comes to hitting a plastic ball. All it takes is a single press of the button on the 26″ plastic bat’s handgrip, and a signal will be sent directly to the machine (which must be within range, of course) so that said machine will throw a ball. In other words, young batters will be able to gain control over the timing of pitches. As for the young sluggers who prefer to swing their favorite bat, there is also an automatic mode that will throw a pitch every eight seconds, so suit up and be prepared! A red light on the machine lights up in order to inform the hitters that there is an incoming pitch. This machine is good for pitches of up to 25 feet, and it can be adjusted to throw at one of three gentle arcs. Just make sure you have a pitching helmet on for safety.
[ Batter Controlled Pitching Machine lets you go at your own pace copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

On 12 July, the two candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential race — Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani — agreed to resolve their contest through a complete audit of votes cast in the June run-off elections. The purpose of the audit — secured with the assistance of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry — is simple and essential: to weed out fraudulent ballots and determine the will of the millions of Afghans who braved Taliban threats to make their voices heard.

The two candidates committed to accept the results of this audit regardless of the outcome. They resolved to form a government of national unity. Both candidates, together with the United Nations, asked President Hamid Karzai to postpone the inauguration of his successor until the audit was complete.

This was a powerful — and necessary — act of statesmanship by all three leaders to help ensure the first peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan’s history.

The audit process continues apace in a way that is unprecedented in scale, depth of scrutiny and levels of oversight.

More than 22,000 ballot boxes from across Afghanistan’s 34 provinces were transported to Kabul by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the United Nations, coordinated with Afghan security forces and accompanied at all times by the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) and representatives of each campaign.

Hundreds of Afghan observers, candidate agents, international observers and UN electoral experts from around the world have been mobilized to scrutinize the ballot boxes.

Professional electoral personnel from the European Union, U.S. non-governmental organizations and the Asian Network for Free Elections have joined Afghan observers as the IEC opened, examined and, if needed, recounted ballot boxes in their presence. Transparency is labour and time-intensive: the audit has taken place in five warehouses, in two shifts, seven days a week.

The candidates and their teams have been involved in every stage of the process. At their request, the United Nations provided expert advice on procedures and criteria for the invalidation of votes.

Joint oversight ensured that candidate inputs and concerns were addressed. As new information came to light, the process was continually refined through special scrutiny, by which each candidate could select up to 3000 ballots for further review and recounting.

The audit is now nearing the finish line with the review of more than 50 percent of the ballots. But its completion will depend on more than technical measures. Ultimately, the process rests on the willingness of the candidates to respect the results.

The future of Afghanistan’s political transition — as well as international support for the Afghan army and police — hangs in the balance. Economic stability in the war-ravaged and aid-dependent country is at risk. So, too, is the Afghan people’s trust in democratic institutions and their political leaders.

Afghanistan’s leaders have a responsibility to honor the faith that voters have placed in democracy and to avoid the divisive ethnic strife that has marked so much of its history.

Now is the time to count the ballots, make good on commitments, respect the results, and turn the page to a new era of opportunity and hope that the Afghan people so need and deserve.

Jan Eliasson serves as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Entrepreneurship is a natural human function. It’s just an exchange of value between two people and human beings have been doing that as long as we’ve existed. As the world has become more complex, the logistics of exchanging value have become more complicated. Many say it’s too hard.

But ordinary people do things every day that are way harder. If you’ve made it through any of these things, you’ve got what it takes to start a business.

1. Stayed married
The complexities and challenges of maintaining a sustained, intimate relationship between two people are endless. Negotiating those complexities takes a tremendous amount of time, patience and understanding.

If you have the commitment, patience and understanding to stay married, you should have no problem committing to the work and being patient enough to start a business.

2. Raised kids
I’m not even talking about raising good kids. Just keeping them fed, clothed and out of serious trouble is a long, hard 18+ year task and a commitment you take seriously.

If you have the patience, focus and commitment required to do the hard work of raising kids for 18+ years, you can use that same patience, focus and commitment to successfully start a business.

3. Gotten a divorce
Divorce is a very stressful time. It requires coping with loss, disappointment, hurt, pain and uncertainty about the future. This happens to a large number of people and we always make it through.

If you’ve been through a divorce, you can probably handle the rejection, disappointment, loss and uncertainty that inevitably accompanies a startup.

4. Lost a loved one
One of the hardest things we have to deal with is when someone we love dies. It’s a terrible feeling and when it happens, we wonder if we will be able to carry on. But we do. Every single day, people die and their loved ones move past the grief and get on with their lives.

If you’ve experienced the pain of losing a loved one, you’ll view the frustrations and disappointments of starting a business as minor, because you know where they really belong on your priority list.

5. Moved to another city
Your life is completely uprooted. You have a new job, a new home, new friends, a new church and more. Everything that was familiar has changed and you have to rebuild your support network.

If you’ve moved to another city, you’ve proven that you’re capable of dealing with the massive amount of fast-paced change that comes with starting a business.

6. Quit Smoking
Discipline and commitment are the keys to kicking this gross and cancer-causing habit. It’s easy to give in to the temptation, but you must stay committed and have the discipline to resist the temptation.

If you’ve broken this dangerous habit, you have the discipline and commitment required to start a business.

7. Had a major illness
Major illness, particularly when life-threatening, is an event that will shake you to the core. It will make you question everything you believed and deeply understand what’s important and what’s not.

If you’ve dealt with a life-threatening illness, you understand what’s important in life and what’s not, which is critical for starting a business.

8. Experienced an empty nest
After spending 18+ years raising kids, focusing every second of your life on them and putting their needs ahead of yours, suddenly having an empty house is a major shock. Everything about your life is completely different.

If you’ve had your kids move out, you’ve experienced the type of huge lifestyle change that you’ll experience when you start a business.

9. Had a baby
I’m a 39-year-old man. I know nothing about pregnancy, but the simplest logic tells you it’s really hard and painful.

Starting a business doesn’t hurt that much and it only makes you sick in the morning if you drank too much the night before, which is typically done either in celebration of something good or drowning the sorrows of something bad.

Starting a business is not easy, but if you’re wondering if you can do it, refer back to any of these things you’ve experienced and know that you’ve done something harder. People quit their jobs and start a business every single day. It’s your turn.

On the MTV VMAs red carpet, anything goes.

Just when we think we’ve seen it all, celebrities manage to push the envelope further. We’re still scratching our heads over the leopard print high neckline dress and diamond encrusted grills Katy Perry wore last year. And we hope Robin Thicke hung up that black and white suit for good.

Thankfully, Queen Beyoncé will bring just the right amount of sophistication and sass on Sunday night as she receives the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

But it looks like celebrities are playing it sexy (and safe) on this year’s red carpet in all-black attire.

Check out our continuously updated slideshow below for a look at what all the stars wore to the 2014 VMAs.

If you’re an iPhone user, you may want to be cautious about opening messages that contain phone numbers in the near future; they may cost you a lot of money. Developer Andrei Neculaesei notes that maliciously coded links in some apps will abuse the…