Over the years I’ve used quite a few gaming keyboards in the attempt to either increase my PC gaming performance, or just make it more comfortable. In each case there has always been something that immediately defines the device as being different from your average keyboard. Some of the earlier ones simply had backlit keys (because gaming in the dark is always better), others have a special set of dedicated gaming keys, while another has interchangeable keysets. Well I’ve spent a bit of time with the SteelSeries 7G gaming keyboard, and it has none of these aforementioned features. So what sets it apart from that old clunker that came with your PC? Read on to find out.
By all appearances, this is just your average ordinary $10 keyboard. Of course it actually costs around $140 more than that. So what amazing features commands such a high price? They say it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and that is the case with the SteelSeries 7G. The magic here is in the keys, which use 18K gold plated mechanical switches, rather than your run-of-the-mill rubber pads.
I loved Transformers just as much as the next kid when I was in school. I had a pretty sweet Optimus Prime and a few others, but not the massive collections that some people did. Well if you’re obsessive about your robots in disguise, here’s a collectible that you might not have gotten your hands on when it debuted back in 1983.
This very dated timepiece is more than meets the eye. As you’ve no doubt discerned from the previous paragraph, it is really a Transformer. With a few twists here and turns there, you’ve got yourself a tiny robot ready to kick some ass (very tiny ass). Back in 1983 there was a transforming watch called Kronoform. I believe we covered this a few years back. Well it seems that Takara Tomy has decided to re-release this watch in two versions. One is a Cybertron Autoceptor and the other a Destron Time Limit. You can pick these up sometime in August for just shy of $300.
I’m convinced that I would go completely mad if I had to work in a cubicle all day. The urge to knock down the barricades that wall me in would likely only be surpassed by the desire to throw random objects into the other tiny squares. I’d give myself two weeks until I got myself fired for one of the aforementioned reasons. Now if I was trying to get myself fired, I would do so with the assistance of one of these awesome DIY trebuchets.
I think the best way to go about this sort of task is to start off on Monday by bringing in your kit as discreetly as possible. This shouldn’t be too difficult, as the model will only end up being 26-inches tall. Just toss your coat over the box and you’re good. It will probably take around 2 hours to construct if you pace yourself. This is just enough time to work on it for a half hour during your lunch break. As the week progresses, people will no doubt take an interest in your handy work. Thankfully not everyone knows exactly what a trebuchet is, so you could probably convince them that it’s a really crappy car or something.
Using one of those ‘page-a-day’ printed calendars seems like a waste of 365 pieces of paper to me, unless it’s made from paper napkins like this calendar designed by Stas Aki. It’s not only a great way to recycle, but if you limit yourself to just a single napkin every day it might even help you become a neater person.
Despite the haunting product shot, Phantom Chess doesn’t have any connections with the supernatural, so you ghost hunters can just move on. The real ‘secret’ is good-old fashioned electromagnetism, though I’m sure you were able to figure that part out on your own. (It’s not like self-playing chess games are a recent innovation.) It’s designed for those who are truly lazy, and moving your piece is as easy as tapping the start and target squares and letting the game do the rest. In addition, not only will taken pieces be automatically moved to the side of the board, but you can even turn on Battle Chess like sound effects to make things more exciting.
Phantom Chess is powered by an 8-bit dual processor and has an ELO level rating of 1400 from the SSDF. (Swedish Chess Computer Association or Svenska schackdatorföreningen) In comparison, Garry Kasparov has a rating of over 2800, so while you won’t be competing against the most brilliant minds in chess, I’m sure the Phantom could still give most of us a good schooling. You can pick one up from Pro-Idee for about $213.
We’ve been following the Aptera electric spacefighter/spermmobile for over two years now as it inches closer to production, and yesterday Aptera announced the rollout of a pre-production version of their wicked awesome electric car. You still can’t buy one yet, but the pre-production evaluation is an important step towards production of a purchasable consumer model, which Aptera says should happen by this October (in California, anyway).
The Aptera is still maintaining a sub 6 second 0-60 time, 200 mile range (100 miles on electricity alone), and a pricetag starting at a mere $25,000 (up to $45k with options). For more info, check out some of our previous Aptera coverage (with videos) here and here.
The only way sane people end a busy day is with a glass of whiskey or five. But how to get that one single perfect ice cube (or five) out of the ice cube tray? Here’s how: the Quicksnap. It’s got little snappy things on the bottom that let you pop out single cubes of ice at a time. Painfully obvious, painfully simple, painfully necessary, and it’s painful that it’s currently only a concept… Should be on the market later this year, though.
Never mind the dual screens, dual hard drives, Wacom tablet, and integrated color calibration… If you buy a Lenovo W700ds, your co-workers will strip naked for you.
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