I’m not looking to fuel the debate over whether or not high-end AV cables are as effective as claimed or just snake oil, but I can’t see the sum of the parts going into these AudioQuest cables adding up to a price tag of well over $8,000. Even if they’re made of “Solid PSS Silver” and feature “Dual Star-Quad Geometry.” But if stuff like this didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be blessed with comments from satisfied users on Amazon like this one from Valannin “Pantheon Outcast”:
If there is one cable I would whole-heartedly trust to my Chimera-hunting needs, this would be the cable. No other cable has the tensile strength to properly and efficiently garrote a lycanthrope, asphyxiate an Esquilax or even gag a mermaid. Last week, using my trusty AudioQuest K2 (retrofitted with lead weights, bright orange latex paint and a generous coating of crushed glass stolen from the window of an abandoned church at midnight), I managed to snuff 3 golden unicorns in swift succession!
Pros: Quickly tears through scales, fur, bone, and adamantium with ease
Coils and uncoils from hip holster (optional) quickly and quietly
For a product fabricated from 1,000 Onyx Dragon fetuses, the price is unbelievably reasonable!
Cons: Shipping from the R’lyeh took far too long
Doesn’t come in 10′ lengths (which would be perfect for hydra, cerberii and other multi-headed creatures)
After every use, I can feel 6 ounces of my soul slipping from my core into the ether. But this may be due to the fact that I prefer to work without gloves. YMMV.
Overall, I would recommend that any hunter buy one, nay, two, of these immediately, and experience the difference that upgrading to the K2 will make in your next quest!
Update: It looks like Amazon has put these cables on sale for just $6,800, so at that price I’d recommend buying two sets which will save you $3,300 in the long run.
The last couple of iPhone remote solutions we brought you have managed to either reduce the size of the extra hardware to an easy to deal with dongle, or removed the need for anything to be attached to the iPhone altogether thanks to Bluetooth. Sadly that’s not the case with the VooMote ONE from a German company called zero1.tv.
To say the sled-type dock that adds IR functionality to the iPhone or iPod Touch has a lot of ‘junk in the trunk’ is an understatement. On the plus side it allows the device to be used in the proper upright orientation (not upside down) it’s able to learn IR codes for devices not included in its database and you’re still able to place and receive calls, but the added bulk down where the sled attaches to the dock connector is a bit much. It’s supposed to ship in December, and even though no pricing info has been announced, something tells me it’s not going to be cheaper than the My TV Remote’s $9.99 price tag.
I don’t think anyone’s snickering behind the Flip’s back about it being too pudgy, but Kodak’s new uninspiringly named ‘Mini Video Camera’ certainly improves on the pocket-friendliness of these zoom-less camcorders. As you can see it’s really no bigger than a credit card, and even at 1/2 inch thick it’s remarkably svelte. But what you gain in petiteness you lose in functionality and capability since this little guy is only VGA 640×480 capable, for either videos or stills. It does support microSD cards though, giving you hours and hours of capture time with a 16GB card, and it’s waterproof making it still usable at the beach or during monsoon season. And with a price tag of just $99.95 the lack of even 720P ‘HD’ is almost forgivable.
We’re just going to file this ridiculously amazing real-life version of one of the motorcycles from Excitebike under ‘why ask wky?’ Given the photographs of the bike all appear on the Flickr account of Justin Harder I’m going to assume that’s where credit is due, and based on this ‘making of’ gallery it appears the bike is actually made from MDF mounted over a metal frame instead of just pixels. Of course copious amounts of bonus points are awarded for the creation of a wearable pixelated helmet, safety pads and even a trophy. That’s well above and beyond the call of duty right there.
Given the fact I’ve watched countless humans accidentally walk into freshly cleaned windows, it’s no surprise that birds do the same thing. Except that hitting a skyscraper in mid-flight can actually be fatal to our fine feathered friends. So a German company, Glaswerke Arnold, has developed a new type of glass with a patterned UV reflective coating that’s visible to birds, but not humans. It’s been around since about 2006 but the latest version features a criss-cross UV pattern making it even more obvious. It apparently reduces bird strikes by as much as 75% and as an added bonus it also serves to help insulate the building where it’s installed.
I know what you’re thinking. “Didn’t these guys just start a giveaway on Friday?” Well if you must know, we did. However we’re so excited about getting free stuff into your hands that there’s going to be a new contest running until next Monday. This time we’re giving away a Ferrari Wireless Gamepad 430 Scuderia Limited Edition from Thrustmaster.
Yes, that is quite a mouthful. This controller was inpired by the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, which makes it ideal for racing games, though you need not reserve it for only those titles. Extra features include an optical wheel with auto-centering (for better steering), dual progressive triggers and fully-customizable buttons. The best part is that this gamepad will work for both the PC and PS3.
The worst part about giving away items like this is that we can’t give them to all of you. Generally there is only one to be had. However, there’s a similar contest running over at GamerFront, also starting today. So if you’re in the US, drop a comment below for a chance to win, then head over there and drop another to double your odds. Good luck!
There’s something about walking around with a book or a sketch pad that just makes one feel a little more sophisticated. Of course if you’re just carrying something around for the sake of carrying it, then it seems just plain silly. With my iPad, it’s rare for me to actually need to carry around a regular book. So perhaps I should look at investing in one of these Pen & Quill cases.
With different models for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, these bonded leather cases turn your device into a bonded leather book. Not only do they look stylish, but they are functional as well. They protect the device, and act as a stand for those times when you want to watch videos without holding it. Prices start at $40, and all but the iPod Touch version are currently shipping.
If this (i)Pawn app from Volumique turns out to be real, it could really change the way some games are played on the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. The game, which is supposed to be available sometime in November, uses a set of physical playing pieces, or tokens, that actually interact with the touchscreen. Now we’ve already seen iPhone-friendly styluses, so that’s nothing new, but what’s really intriguing here is how the app is able to recognize the individual playing pieces.
My original theory was that the underside of each token had a specific pattern of conductive material that the iPhone’s multitouch capabilities could detect, and the app itself would sort out which was which. But looking closely at the photos and the video below, it appears that each token is standing atop a cell-sized battery, so perhaps the iPhone’s capacitive display is capable of distinguishing different voltages? I don’t know, and the video below could very well just be an impressive ruse with a pre-animated sequence of on-screen events and some well-timed placement of the game tokens. But if it is real, it could turn the iPhone, and even better the iPad, into a virtual game board. Hasbro, are you paying attention?
Once smartphones gained GPS functionality the makers of dedicated navigation units had to either step up their game with more elaborate and expensive devices to compete, or do what Bushnell did with their dead simple, cheap and easy-to-use BackTrack. The original model basically just allowed you to find your way back to a single marked location, but the new Point-3 and Point-5 models can remember up to 3 or 5 locations. You guess which does which.
They’re also both smaller than the original BackTrack but with larger backlit LCD displays, and the Point-5 model adds a digital compass and displays your latitude and longitude, the current time, your altitude and the temperature. And that’s probably why it’s $89.99 compared to the Point-3 which is $69.99. (For comparison the original BackTrack is still available for $79.99.)
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