RoboraptorSupplier Major Toy Website www.roboraptoronline.comPrice $179 Who needs pet dogs and cats when you can have your own robot velociraptor running around? Sure, it doesn’t really do much apart from looking cool, and it’d be nice to see it rend flesh from bone every now and then, but if you want a funky robot in the vein of the Robosapien, this is the slickest machine on the block. A brownie point winner as a gift for the kids.
Altec Lansing AHS602SRS headphonesSupplier InnovisionWebsite www.innovision.comPrice $35
Headphones are pretty much standard issue on gamers these days. Thing is, you can get headphones designed specifically for gamers. Yeah. The AHS602 set shown here perform decently, supporting SRS (surround sound) and a microphone. It also has passive noise reduction, otherwise known as ‘foam’. We noted however that the headphones were strangely uncomfortable to wear. We finally tracked this down to the somewhat small ear cups. A great buy for leprechauns and gnomes.Delta TFB1212GHESupplier PC Case GearWebsite www.pccasegear.com.auPrice $35
We weren’t too sure what to expect from this chunky Delta fan. Everyone knows Delta has a reputation for designing fans better suited for service on a hovercraft than inside a PC. So we weren’t surprised when the TFB1212GHE whirred to life and blew poor Nathan over. As it drank from the 12V rail of our test PSU, you could feel, hear and even taste its raw 200cfm performance. It was loud, but not as loud as we expected it to be. In a word – awesome.AirTouch KeyboardSupplier PC Case GearWebsite www.pccasegear.com.auPrice $49
Just for a laugh we used the AirTouch Keyboard to do this review. Let’s go over the experience. Firstly, the reviewer’s modest type rate plummeted from a 71wpm to 15wpm; the capital ‘T’ in ‘AirTouch’ never came out as a capital on the first attempt and from time to time he would hit the Caps Lock key, turning the current sentence into a temporary shout-fest. Not to mention the pain in both hand and wrist after its completion. A bendy wendy novelty that doubles as a keyboard.PyramatSupplier PyramatWebsite www.pyramat.comPrice $199.95
The Pyramat is a standard floor mat equipped with speakers and sub-woofer. Although nice, the cushions could be wider, and we’re not totally convinced that having a speaker and sub-woofer directly next to your head while you play Rocking the Suburbs is entirely healthy. Nonetheless, if you feel the need to be closer to your favourite band and your back’s giving you pain in spades, then the Pyramat might just be for you.Wireless PC LockSupplier AnywareWebsite www.anyware.com.auPrice $79.95
There’s only one way to ensure your siblings don’t find your secret MacGyver MPEG collection – lock your machine down tighter than a chastity belt. Only, they don’t make chastity belts for computers, but they do make this wireless PC lock: attach the USB dongle to your PC, install the drivers, and keep ahold of the keyring sized transmitter. When you walk away, the PC will automaticaly lock, and unlock again when you return. Neato!Atari FlashbackSupplier AtariWebsite www.atari.com.auPrice $79.95
Remember when Asteroids was, like, the best game ever? No? Well now is the perfect opportunity to find out why it was (and isn’t now). Atari has packed 20 of its classics into a tiny box that wouldn’t look out of place on the bridge of the original starship Enterprise, along with two controllers so you and your only friend can enjoy those amazing titles that ‘defined a generation’. Just expect to be heckled by brother when he comes home and demands to play Splinter Cell on his Xbox.TunePower Battery PackSupplier BelkinWebsite www.belkin.com.auPrice $169.95
Music is life. Life is music. Well, for as long as it lasts. There’s nothing more annoying than having the music cut short as the battery dies on your iPod. So what to do? Belkin has the answer – a sleek rubber clip-on battery back that extends the life of your iPod by another eight to ten hours. And it’s rechargeable, too. Never be without your music again!Sunbeam LightbusSupplier XCOM TechnologyWebsite www.xcom.com.auPrice $35
This is, of course, just another rheobus, but in the true nature of Sunbeam, they’ve added a sound sensitivity module for a mode that has your lights dancing to your sound card’s output – or even to your HDD activity. If these guys are to be believed, with their hip ‘art, passion and sunbeam’ saying, you can add up to 625 effects with existent lights in your box. This fella features four three-pin power channels and several modes. Get this and do as the box demands – ‘enjoy the wonderful light world’. Cute. Turbo-Cool 850 SSISupplier PC Case GearWebsite www.pccasegear.com.auPrice $680
Looking for a high-capacity power supply? Like a two-in-one kind of high? This bad arse mega pumping electro juicer is just what you’re after, with a continuous rate of 850W, it peaks at 950W. Gasp. This is what you want if you’re running four CPUs with a dozen hard drives, ten optical drives, overclocked and peltier-cooled SLI video card setup and 8GB of high-performance memory. Either that, or you could give everyone that impression. With SATA and ATX 24-pin, it’s fully futureproofed. Beyond awesome.Antec Titan 550 Case with 550WSupplier PC Case GearWebsite www.pccasegear.comPrice $299
This case is ideal for server situations, with drive space for up to seven 3.5in hard drives and enough room for a potato farm. Speaking of server, it also supports server-size mobos, such as dual-Xeon or Opteron setups, with support for up to extended ATX size. Which should go to explain the depth of this incredibly large box, at 58.4cm. Definitely plenty of decent air ventilation and almost enough room for it to create its own atmoshpere. In what seems to be a rarity, this case also sports a PSU, and a decent TruePower 550W on at that.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012