Death by crossbow is usually reserved for the stuff of Hollywood movies, that is until the Tac 15 came strutting along. Plugged as one of the most accurate and powerful crossbows on the market today, the Tac 15 mounts onto the base of an AR-15 rifle allowing sportsman and thrill seekers to carry two weapons all in a lighter load. Max output of the medieval inspired weapon is 412 fps drawn from 160lbs of kinetic energy – that’s short for ‘your dead’. Heck, the thing is so damn powerful that they’ve designed their own arrows to withstand all the power this puppy pumps out. Yours for $1,300. Video below
Many of today’s DSLRs can record 1080p HD video. One problem though: the form factor of the camera makes it challenging to produce high quality video equitable to the fully featured camcorders. Enter Red Rock’s DSLR bundles. They turn any digital SLR into a full blown high end, cinema worthy camcorder. Features include follow focus, swing away matte box for light management and easy access to lens swapping, shoulder mount and hand grips for a steady shot as well as a support cage. They’ve got premade bundles that start at around $2,000, but according to their site you can build your own kit according to your needs.
Call it fake all you want, but the Xbox 360 fishing pole is the real deal, at least according to Unscripted360. It’s set to launch with The Hunt and The Strike video game, which features ‘realistic lake bottom topography, advanced graphics, life-like fish behaviors, fully customizable characters and an abundance of boats, lures, rods and reels’. Expect it to launch this fall and include the aforementioned game for $70.
Aliph unveiled their latest Jawbone headset today, the Prime. The biggest changes to the high end Bluetooth headset is a slightly more refined facade with additional colors to choose from, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, and a slightly tweaked algorithm of its Noise Assassin technology which should result in better sound quality. Street date for the Prime is May 2nd but you can preorder today for $130. Colors: Blah Blah Black, Coffee Talk and Going Platinum. And there will also be an ‘Earcandy edition’ which is available in Frankly SCARLET, ‘YELLO!, Drop Me A LIME and LILAC You Mean It.
I don’t know how much I believe in the claims of iHouse’s SmartFaucet, but if they’re true then we might just be looking at the most technologically advanced faucet on the market. In the past we’ve seen faucets with LCD touchscreens, user defined presets and LED lights that indicate water temperature. The SmartFaucet brings those three technologies together and adds a fourth component to achieve that all important wow factor: facial recognition technology. So instead of manually selecting your user preset the SmartFaucet recognizes you and automatically implements your desired temperature and water flow. And while you scrub your pearly whites you can access your email, calendar and other Web based apps right from the built-in touchscreen LCD.
Looks like that rumor about the new Xbox 360 Elite Bundle with Fable 2 and Halo 3 was true after all. The bundle, which officially showed up on Amazon for $399.99 today, contains the two aforementioned games, a black console, 120GB hard drive, HDMI cable and a black controller. That’s a pretty sick price for a system that cost that much by itself not more than 12 months ago.
Late last week I received the Peek Pronto, Peeks newest and latest. This model boasts improvements over the first iteration of the device which includes an all around faster machine (50% faster), support for up to 5 email account (3 more), support for Push Email and Microsoft Exchange, unlimited text messaging and the ability to search your inbox as well as view images, PDFs and Doc files.
Right out of the box I noticed how simple and elegant the Peek Pronto was. Finished in all black with a silver metal back it could be easily mistaken for a Blackberry. Front and center is a rubberized chicklet QWERTY keyboard, while the right edge of the device sports a clickable scroll wheel and back button just below it. The power button is located at the top of the device and is recessed to prevent unwarranted powering ups or downs. Lastly, the lower left side contains a charging port concealed by a rubber flap that is attached to the device.
We’ve known for some time that the Sidekick 2009 LX was on its way and today T-Mobile finally unveiled it. Upgrades to the device include a high res 854×480 screen, 3.2 megapixel camera, 3G connectivity, new UI with device wide search (in your face iPhone), Exchange support and GPS. Available in carbon black or orchid purple, the new Sidekick LX will hit the streets on May 13th for $200 after a 2-year and mail-in-rebate. Current T-Mobile customers can preorder it now, though.
That’s not a mouse, this is mouse! Think Crocodile Dundee for a sec, and you’ll know what I’m getting at. The 3D Connexion (owned by Logitech) SpacePilot Pro is, as the company calls it, the ultimate professional 3D mouse. At $499 it’s cost prohibitive for most people, which is a good thing since it’s intended for use with 3D software environments. At the center of the input device is the 3Dconnexion Cap, which can be yanked in a variety of ways and can detect movements as slight as 4 micrometers (1/25 of a human hair). Keeping your daily life in order is the LCD Workflow assistant that provides visual access to your calendar, mail, feeds and more. It’s available now.
While we all knew Assassin’s Creed for the consoles looked stellar, the lack of depth kept it from being a quality title. To be released next week for the iPhone/Touch, I think that the reviews won’t be as critical this time around given the lack of hype. Looking very streamlined, Assassin’s Creed is a direct prequel to the original and places Altair in the year 1191 AD in search of a special chalice that will end the crusades. I am interested to see how the gameplay mechanics work and hope that it’s not just another name recognition cash in like Metal Gear Solid Touch was. Aiming to mix stealth, action, and puzzle solving elements, Assassin’s creed will also have animated cutscenes and mini games. I will admit that these screenshots do look impressive, but as we all know it will take more than that to satisfy today’s fickle gamer. Made by mobile games behemoth GameLoft no price has been set as of yet.
