Peripherals News - Page 35

Soldiers have their guns, pilots have their planes, congressmen have their pens, and gamers, well, they have their mice. A good mouse is critical to gaining the advantage in an online game, a place where everyone is extremely competitive. This is why companies like ROCCAT produce mice like the new Savu, to give gamers the advantage in a game.

Not only will a new, high quality mouse give you an advantage in an online game, but this mouse will give you that advantage in style. You see, this new Savu mouse features a lighting system that allows up to 1.8 million different colors. The device also features changeable DPI resolutions all the way up to 4000DPI.

The feature list is quite extensive, so I'll post the press release below. The mouse, with more information, is available at ROCCAT's site.

Fractal Design always has cool looking products and today's launch of the new Adjust 108 is no different. Fractal Design often uses metal in the products they design and, once again, today's launch is no different. The new Adjust 108 is a fan controller which can manage up to 6 different fans from one 5.25" bay.

The device has some other unique features that I have never seen on any other device. One of the coolest and most useful features is that it features a jumper to change the intensity of the LED. This is something that I have often wanted on many cases and other devices, so for it to finally be included on something is awesome.

The device can also give you more information in a glance than other devices through its use of dual-colored LEDs. If the LED below a fan slider is white, it means the fan is operating at a low RPM. If the LED is blue, then it means that the fan is operating at a high RPM. Of course, the device is clad in brushed aluminium to give it a clean, simplistic look.

USB flash drives can be hard to hang onto sometimes. They always seem to disappear at the worst time possible. And I'd venture to guess that most people don't run any sort of encryption on a flash drive. This new device claims to be the "only USB storage drive that protects its contents with a password spoken by its owner."

But, what if you have a cold or are in a room with other people? Don't worry! The flash drive features a back-up text version where you can type your password instead. This is for those times where you have laryngitis or just forgot the spoken password. At 8GB, it's not the largest drive on the market, or the best looking, but it certainly is cool.

If you make security easier, such as this, then people are more likely to use it. And since it analysis the voice along with the password, just knowing what to say won't allow access. Unfortunately it still has a text-based password which could get out and compromise security, but it's still a novel device to show your friends.

If you want to be a champion gamer, you better have some good hardware to support you in your quest to be the best. There are many different mice and keyboards built for the sole purpose of gaming, and today sees the announcement of another. Genius has announced a new mouse in its line of GX Gaming.

The new mouse looks pretty sleek. It features five programmable buttons and can handle 21 macros to give you an edge in whatever game you may be playing. All of the settings are stored in on-board memory so that they move with the mouse rather than stay with the computer. Additionally, it features 4 different DPIs that can be changed on-the-fly via the mouse.

The full text of the release is below.

UPDATE - Happy April Fools :)

Feeling nostalgic? Missing those terrible graphics of yesteryear? Well, SteelSeries has your back with an all new line of products that are based on an 8-bit theme. The products are boxy just like the graphics were not too long ago. I'm not quite sure of how comfortable they are, but they sure do look cool.

The first product I would like to look at is the mouse. A brick isn't my first choice for a mouse. The press release states:

Earlier today we visited the VIA Labs at the VIA headquarters here in Taipei where we got a look at an upcoming product which we can only discuss later this week - stay tuned for that. However, what we can discuss today is something cool we saw in the development labs area of the VIA office and that has to do with USB 3.0 cabling.

Usually most copper wired USB 3.0 cables have a maximum length of around 3 meters and can fall prone to security issues since EMI is omitted and like tapping a phone line, if you knew enough about what you were doing, you could steal sensitive data from an unaware user. What VIA has done to massively increase the length of USB 3.0 cable is to develop its own style of USB 3.0 cable which uses fiber optic rather than copper wiring.

Besides the benefits of the added length and better security since fiber optic cabling does not omit EMI, USB 3.0 cable with fiber optics is far less lighter than copper based cabling and it is also much thinner, possibly allowing it to get into really tight areas where traditional and thicker USB 3.0 cable may not fit.

Razer may have been showing off its expensive Blade laptop at CES, but for those of you who don't want to buy an entire laptop for their cool Switchblade UI configurable touchscreen with programmable keys, you're in luck, it's made it' way to a standalone keyboard.

There are 10 programmable buttons at the top of the Switchblade panel that are backed by an LCD, which allow the look of each key to be different. These keys can be programmed to launch applications, toggle functions like the Windows key, and execute macros. Below them is a nicely-sized touchscreen that doubles as a touchpad, a numpad, a directional pad optimized for gaming, and even a secondary display.

Razer has said they plan to release an SDK that should unleash the community to build their own applications for the Switchblade UI. Even at this point in time, there's a YouTube app and a web browser. Switchblade also supports on-the-fly macro recording, which lets users quickly automate combos without having to exit a game. All preferences and macros are stored in the cloud, another nice benefit.

CES 2012 - Here we are looking at the near $2800 Razer Blade, is the fastest PC I have ever seen boot with my own eyes first off. Beside the raw speed of this unit, there have been a few really innovative additions included. The mouse pad has been moved to the right and has LED lit function buttons that will change the operation of this multi-touch LCD mouse pad. This will allow for real time stats to be displayed, even the option to get on the net and watch game play video as the game is still on the main screen. I know that is a lot of money to pay for a mobile gaming system, but this is the coolest laptop/notebook that I have ever had the pleasure of using.

They also made something that was awarded for CES 2012, Project Fiona! This is essentially a tablet with a thick aluminum frame added to support the handles of the game pad controllers that are derived from the Hydra Nunchucks. This is still in development, and there are beta testers with new requests, and Razer is working out all of the final details still. I for one like the idea, and hopefully Fiona makes her way to store shelves, as I think there is a ton of potential here!

For those Star Wars freaks out there Razer is delivering a newly painted and backlit kit of this keyboard featuring the mouse pad of the Blade along with a Naga mouse. Another cool feature of mouse and keyboard combo is that it doesn't matter which side of the force you are on, the keyboard and LCD mouse pad will illuminate and sport either icon and its coloration. The mouse pad under the Naga mouse is also part of the combo, and will reverse teams with a flip of the inner white section of the pad.

CES 2012 - As I showed up late to this meeting, I was greeted with open arms to a table full of goodies new to the peripherals market. Seen here is a collection of some of the lightest and most balanced mice I have ever played with. As we discussed the mice, all five versions of the SteelSeries mice (Kinzu V2, Sensei, Diablo III, and Ikari) are offering what I was told is an almost invisible user experience. With these mice there aren't any crazy DPI numbers to tinker with and get used to. The plan here was to offer an experience of natural movement to make you feel the mouse is part of your body and should give the user a very comfortable feeling, or in SteelSeries' own words "they have failed." From the little time I did have with these mice, I really think they are onto something with this line of attack on the mouse market.

There was also this pair of SteelSeries FLUX headphones sitting on the table. These headphones are really well thought out for users on the go. By this, I mean that they are fully collapsible to save room when not in use, but offer great sound and a really creative hidden option. These cans will hook up to a PC or any mobile device and also offer a daisy chain option. This means that with one set plugged into a device, with a the provided cable, you can connect a second pair of headphones right to the first pair making watching a movie on a laptop or tablet with your significant other or anyone really easy!

Next up is the SteelSeries ION wireless controller. This handy "little" gaming controller was designed to work specifically with tablets, but can be used on any system. The main objective here was to offer a D-pad, dual analog joysticks, the typical four button layout, and a pair of paddle buttons at the top to be able to slide into your front pocket. Again the point here is to keep mobility simple in size so you don't have to lug around a full sized XBOX controller, but instead offers a similar layout in a smaller unit that still feels great in your hands while using it.

CES 2012 - First on the list of cool offerings from Thermaltake in the add-on market is the Max 5 Duo. This hady 5.25" bay device offers quite a bit in one small package. This bay device not only offers a 2.5" and 3.5" hot swap hard drive bays that are powered with a single power lead, and of course each drive gets its own SATA connection in the back. Another added feature to this unit is the dual USB 3.0 ports to allow those with chassis to put two more high speed ports on the board as long as you have multiple native USB 3.0 20-pin connections.

Thermaltake has also moved into the USB charging market. What I found here is that they are now going to offer a multitude of USB charging solutions, some with additional power outlets as well as the USB charging ports. Every device you buy these days comes with a wall charger of some sort, but here strides are taken to make then not only more universal to just detach the factory plug ends and use these devices, but there are going to be regional offerings with the appropriate power plugs, but Thermaltake took it even one step further with dual port, car lighter, USB charging devices.

Under the Toughpower moniker, that we are used to from Thermaltake's power supplies, they are now going to be delivering a 90W and a 120W universal laptop power supplies. These units are used just as you would use a factory equipped version, but with the universal tips supplied with these units, the possibilities of what can be powered or what devices batteries can be charged with it, the list is pretty much endless.