Most Powerful Computer Mouse

For the new readers, RAT 9 isn’t literally a “RAT” – like the animal.  Unlike the real thing, this mechanical RAT from Mad Catz will take your game to a whole new level!

The Mad Catz RAT 9 is a wireless gaming mouse. It has a 2.4Ghz wireless frequency, 56000dpi sensor where you can move your pointer most at any surface with ease and with no disturbance at all. Two scroll wheels and an impressive feature sniper button for gamers where it reduces the mouse’s sensitivity to a level you customize while holding it down and instantly comes back to the default level when it is released. Hitting more headshots at games and more detailed work for artists as it seems.

The hardware has a clever light-up toggle next to the left mouse button that swaps between three preset modes, there are only five customizable buttons but there is no onboard memory to store your factory-preset variations. Also, there are four DPI(Dots Per Inch) adjustments in the mouse by default.

Rat 9 has two swappable lithium-ion battery cartridges; you socket one and put the second in a charging station that doubles as the 2.4GHz wireless transmitter. The battery life capacity is capable of being used at solid eight hours before it runs out. A flashing indicator on the side always tells you when to change the battery and a freshly charged up one is always just a 15-second swap away. The mouse automatically turns itself off after several minutes and it only takes one click to wake it up. Instantly it is ready to take shots without ever needing to press the physical switch on/off button.

Here is a product demo of Mad Catz Cyborg RAT 9 where you will see it’s features and sleek design.

Design of the RAT 9 is a one sexy mouse. It’s skeletal, metallic and almost completely asymmetrical. Most mouse is a one-size-fit-few and the RAT lets you transform itself to fit the shape of your hand. On it’s standard form it’s a modest, narrow peripheral suited for small hands or a fingertip grip style and you can transform it into a wide, elongated device in just a minute.

When it comes to comfort, RAT 9 is coated in soft-touch plastic and you can also swap for a pair of textured rubber palmand pinky grips if wanted instead. There’s a taller soft-touch palm grip for claw-style gamers to better align the wrists. This is a fairly comfortable mouse and you might not find an exact match. It depends on your preference. However, for its price of $130, not all gamers may be able to afford this baby. Expect this to be available before Christmas – perfect time to pray that Santa will give you one!

(image via macpcwiz.com)

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Blind Soldier Can Using His Tongue

Lance Corporal Craig Lundberg was blinded by a rocket propelled grenade while on patrol in Basra in Iraq during 2007. But thanks to new device that could revolutionise treatment for blind patients Craig can now see his surrounding environment using his tongue.

The BrainPort miniature video camera and sensory equipment works by converting visual images into a series of electrical pulses which are relayed to the wearer via their tongue. Different images are then built using different strength pulses. Allowing the wearer to navigate around objects or even pick them up.

The BrainPort is currently only in a prototype stage at the moment currently sends information to 400 points on the tongue. However the designers plan to increase this to 4,000 points, providing a clearer image in the future.

“It feels like licking a nine volt battery or like popping candy,” Lundberg explained.

Read more: http://realitypod.com/2010/06/blind-see-with-tongue/#ixzz1KtibtKxv

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TRANSFORM YOUR IPHONE TO AN DSLR CAMERA

Have you heard of iPhone 4 DSLR? Well, Apple has something new in store for iPhone users out there. Apple has just come up with an upgrade on the iPhone 4’s camera; it has now 5 megapixel s still frames, HD video, LED flash and a DSLR lens. With these updates, the iPhone can shoot amazing photos and videos with SLR lens, have them edited and share them in the internet all in one amazing device.

The concept of having a DSLR lens in the iPhone 4 was an idea from Jeremy Salvador of iPhoneDSLR.com. The “mod” idea is a unique combination of the technology from Canon, Apple and OWLE . Jeremy Salvador started it out using the OWLE Bubo accessories but eventually OWLE and Vid-Atlantic made a collaboration of their ideas and technology to come up with a more refined iPhone DSLR attachment. Currently, the attachment is compatible with existing iPhone 3GS but the group is working on the iPhone 4 DSLR attachment and hopefully will release it soon.

This concept was made possible by attaching a suitable mounting tool, which will serve as an adaptor for Canon EF lenses. Adding the DSLR EF lenses will further enhance still images as well as videos. With the DSLR you can come up with great quality photos and videos, edit on the fly and share it via the internet. The iPhone DSLR prototype also comes with a tripod and a handle which gives its users the convenience and comfort while taking photos or shooting videos. It also includes the OWLE Bubo and EnCinema 35mm adapter build up with Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens.

At present the mount only fits Canon EF lenses but it may eventually be able to fit other lenses as well such as the Nikon lenses, M42 lenses as well as Canon FD lenses given the right adaptors. It also comes with an impressive housing that is made of solid anodized billet aluminum. Looks like its heavy as shown in its photos but amazingly it only weighs around 1.1 lbs.

It also comes with two handle grips and female threaded mounting holes which will enable you to screw it up on a tripod for more comfort. This housing fits well with any iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 devices. Using this mounting tool gives you the “feel” of using a professional camera! This is really another amazing concept made on mobile devices. Thanks to this concept because it has magically turned the iPhone into one amazing camera.

The iPhone 4 version of this device will not yet be available for a while. All we have to do is just wait patiently for this device and see for ourselves how great this iPhone 4 DSLR device is. But if you can’t wait, checkout the HD video captured using the iPhone 4 DSLR prototype accessory.



iPhone 4 with OWLE and EnCinema 35mm Adapter (SLR Lens) from \\Vid-Atlantic Media Prod on Vimeo.

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Guy With No Arms Plays Guitar

Guy with no arms plays the guitar! brought to you by Funny Jokes

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Charice To Sing Phil. Anthem at Pacquiao/Mosley Fight

MANILA, Philippines — Charice Pempengco of the hit TV show “Glee” says she has been chosen to sing the Philippine national anthem ahead of Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Shane Mosley in Las Vegas next month.

The Philippine-born singer, who is known best by the single name, Charice, says she’s thrilled that Pacquiao chose her to sing at the opening ceremony for the May 7 bout at the MGM Grand Garden.The teenager tweeted Tuesday that she feels “really blessed” for the opportunity.Pacquiao traditionally hand-picks the singer of the national anthem at his bouts.

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Asia's Answer to Susan Boyle

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Ways to Extend your Laptop's Battery Life

Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up.  How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible?  Here are 15 easy ways to do so.

1. Defrag regularly -  The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery.  Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.

2. Dim your screen – Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen.  Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance.  Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.

3. Cut down on programs running in the background.  Itunes, Desktop Search, etc.  All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life.  Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.

4. Cut down external devices – USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery.  Remove or shut them down when not in use.  It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.

5. Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory.  Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse.  Even having one in the drive can be power consuming.  They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used.  Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.

7.  Keep the battery contacts clean:  Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.  This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.

8. Take care of your battery – Exercise the Battery.  Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time.  Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)

9. Hibernate not standby – Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does.  Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

10. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler.  Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips byLapTopMag.com.

11. Set up and optimize your power options – Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).

12. Don’t multitask – Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery.  Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3′s, set your mind to one thing only.  If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!

13. Go easy on the PC demands – The more you demand from your PC.  Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD.  If you’ve got a single battery charge – pick your priorities wisely.

14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop -  Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries.  Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.

15. Prevent the Memory Effect - If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ – Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which donot suffer from the memory effect.

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