SteelSeries Rival 700 Mouse Adds Tactile And Visual Alerts To Your PC Gaming

We’re not sure if it will make any measurable difference in your game, but the SteelSeries Rival 700’s unique features should add an entirely different dimension to any PC gamer’s arsenal. Armed with the ability to provide various types of notifications, it offers a unique way to increase your awareness of the numerous things going on in any game.

Sporting facilities for both tactile and visual alerts, this gaming mouse should bring an entirely new tool at disposal. Even better, you can choose which in-game events trigger alerts and what kind of alerts you’re provided (e.g. you can make it vibrate twice when a cooldown period is over), so you can customize every aspect of the feedback, ensuring you only get the information you require.

The SteelSeries Rival 700 comes with tactile alerts (just like console gamepads) that cause vibration at the central part of the mouse, which you should feel strongly right on your palm. It restricts the vibration to that singular area, so at no point will it impact the mouse’s tracking, ensuring it won’t cause unwanted in-game actions. You can customize both the pattern and duration of each vibration, so you can program different alerts for different events, essentially serving as an intelligent feedback mechanism to help inform your in-game decision-making.

Aside from vibrations, the mouse also comes with an OLED display on the side, which you can use to show stats, settings, and other pertinent information, all of which are customizable, too. Other features include a Pixart 3360 optical sensor, reinforced plastic click buttons, double-injected rubber side grips, and swappable cables of different lengths.

Available now, the SteelSeries Rival 700 is priced at $99.99.

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These Blips Mini Lenses Can Turn Any Smartphone Into A Microscope

Blips aren’t the only add-on lenses to turn a smartphone into a microscope. With an ultra-thin size, high levels of magnification, and ultra-clear optics, though, it just may offer the best solution for anyone on the hunt for a low-cost magnification system.

Designed for easy installation, the lenses are integrated into a thin strip that looks like a small piece of tape. Using electrostatic charge, the strip can easily be taped over your smartphone camera’s existing lens, immediately turning it into a powerful digital microscope. Even better, they can be removed and reapplied at any time, making for a truly handy tool for students, amateur scientists, and micro-photographyenthusiasts.

Two lenses come in each pack of Blips – a 0.5mm macro lens for observing minuscule objects in motion (like alien bacteria) and a 1.2mm micro lens for high levels of magnification. Because the lenses are so thin, you don’t even have to remove them from your phone, as it can still slip into your pants pocket without any extra bulge. It can work with any brand or model of smartphone, although the actual magnification will depend on how the phone camera’s sensor and lenses are configured, with the macro getting up to 15x magnification and the micro providing up to 30x.

Do note, you’ll need to clean both the phone camera and the add-on lenses after a few uses to ensure both high levels of adherence and maximum clarity. When not in use, the lenses can be kept in the included storage card, which is sized to fit conveniently in a wallet’s card pouch.

A Kickstarter campaign is currently running to fund Blips. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at €20.

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These Blips Mini Lenses Can Turn Any Smartphone Into A Microscope

Blips aren’t the only add-on lenses to turn a smartphone into a microscope. With an ultra-thin size, high levels of magnification, and ultra-clear optics, though, it just may offer the best solution for anyone on the hunt for a low-cost magnification system.

Designed for easy installation, the lenses are integrated into a thin strip that looks like a small piece of tape. Using electrostatic charge, the strip can easily be taped over your smartphone camera’s existing lens, immediately turning it into a powerful digital microscope. Even better, they can be removed and reapplied at any time, making for a truly handy tool for students, amateur scientists, and micro-photographyenthusiasts.

Two lenses come in each pack of Blips – a 0.5mm macro lens for observing minuscule objects in motion (like alien bacteria) and a 1.2mm micro lens for high levels of magnification. Because the lenses are so thin, you don’t even have to remove them from your phone, as it can still slip into your pants pocket without any extra bulge. It can work with any brand or model of smartphone, although the actual magnification will depend on how the phone camera’s sensor and lenses are configured, with the macro getting up to 15x magnification and the micro providing up to 30x.

Do note, you’ll need to clean both the phone camera and the add-on lenses after a few uses to ensure both high levels of adherence and maximum clarity. When not in use, the lenses can be kept in the included storage card, which is sized to fit conveniently in a wallet’s card pouch.

A Kickstarter campaign is currently running to fund Blips. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at €20.

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Google Home Brings A Standalone Robot Assistant To Your Digs

We’re big fans of the Amazon Echo and its clever solution of using a wireless speaker as a standalone virtual assistant. That’s why we’re not surprised to see Google Home, a new wireless speaker that brings the outfit’s numerous digital assistant technologies.

Like the Echo, the new device combines a speaker with an always-listening microphone to conduct two-way interactions. Unlike it, however, the integrated Google Assistant should leverage the company’s robust search algorithms, so you can expect the same quality of responses as you get from the outfit’s numerous search-related technologies. Even better, the new digital assistant can respond intelligently to follow-up question, so you can drill down on queries until you get the exact answers you want.

Aside from answering queries, Google Home can also serve as a home automation hub, so you can adjust the thermostat, switch on the lights, or control any compatible appliances with simple voice commands. It can also stream music directly from the cloud, apart from coming with Google Cast support, so you can use it to stream videos to your Chromecast as well as group with other speakers for multi-room audio. For notifications, the device will let out a soft beep, at which point you can prompt it to read the notification by saying, “Ok Google, I’m listening.”

The device itself is shaped like a small jug, so it’s not quite portable enough for use outside the house, with no visible buttons and a series of LED indicators on top. It has an all-white upper half, with a customizable lower half for better matching your interiors.

The Google Home is slated to come out in the fourth quarter.

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Vuze Camera Makes 3D VR Shooting An Affordable Proposition

There’s no shortage of 360-degree cameras for shooting spherical videos that you can enjoy in virtual reality. There is, however, a shortage of cameras that can do that in 3D without retailing in the five figures. That’s the gap the Vuze 3D VR Camera is looking to fill at the moment.

Similar to rigs like the Gear 360, Luna, and PixPro SP360, it’s a compact camera that can shoot 360-degree videos that are stitched together automatically with no extra work on your part. Unlike them, it doesn’t just stick to 2D content, with the ability to record in 3D for truly immersive original content.

The Vuze 3D VR Camera measures just 12 x 12 x 3 cm, making it small enough to fit in your pants pocket for easy portability. Despite the size, it’s quite powerful, with eight onboard cameras (two on each side) capturing content in 360 x 180 degrees. It can record in 4K at 30fps, all of which is automatically stored on a loaded SD card.  According to Vuze, a 64GB card can hold approximately an hour of raw footage, which you will need to transfer to an accompanying app (Mac or Windows) before it’s automatically stitched.

Features include a single button for dead simple operation, onboard WiFi (for remote control via a mobile app), an included mini-tripod, and an optional waterproof case for underwater use. Do note, the battery is only rated for an hour of operation, so you’ll likely have to bring a power bank along if you’re using this on the road.

Now available for preorder, the Vuze 3D VR Camera is priced at $799.

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You Can Now Use Robots In Your Nerf Battles With The Terrascout RC Drone

Half the fun of Nerf battles is blasting foam darts against opposing combat teams right in the thick of the action, so we’re not entirely sure about the joys of sending in a remote drone to blast them while you hide away in a corner. To make sure you still enjoy it, the Nerf N-Strike Elite Terrascout RC Drone uses an integrated camera for streaming the ensuing commotion, allowing to you get a full view of the mayhem while remaining safely out of the line of fire.

Operated using a wireless remote with a built-in screen, it lets you accurately maneuver the tank from a safe distance, allowing you to spring a surprise attack on any unwitting opponents. Whether you want to take a shot at co-workers in another cubicle, fire darts at random people behind you at the beach, or have the kids battle a dart-shooting robot in the backyard, this thing should do the trick.

Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, the Nerf N-Strike Elite Terrascout moves around using tank-style treads, allowing it to maneuver in less-than-flat terrains. The blaster can be aimed independently of the direction the drone is facing, with the 720p camera following the line of sight of wherever the barrel is facing. Features include a fully-automatic 18-dart clip system, an integrated SD card for recording your attacks, a rechargeable battery on the robot (the remote needs four AAs), a pair of tactical rails (one on the handle and one below the muzzle), and compatibility with the outfit’s barrel extensions. Do note, it’s not waterproof, so keep it confined to dry conditions.

Slated to come out in the fall, the Nerf N-Strike Elite Terrascout RC Drone is priced at $200.

SeeNote Is A Digital, Always-On Post-It Note You Can Stick Anywhere

There’s no shortage of screens that can show notifications. Whether you prefer your task reminders to show up on a PC, a smartphone, or a smartwatch display, it can be done. For some reason, though, a lot of us still find the Post-it Note a whole lot more effective for the job. And while the SeeNote isn’t likely to put an end to the classic sticky memo pad, it does bring the utility of a reminder you can stick anywhere to the modern digital screen.

An e-ink display, it’s designed to serve as an always-on notification screen for showing your to-do lists, reminders, and motivational quotes. Yes, you can probably use your ebook reader for that, too. Unlike those, however, it comes with an adhesive backing (and a backup magnetic backing – for the fridge) that allows it to be stuck to any vertical surface, so you can place it on the cubicle wall, a bathroom mirror, or any other place of your liking. Unlike sticky notes, either, the adhesive backing is reusable, so you can easily remove it for placement somewhere else multiple times a day.

The SeeNote connects to the network via WiFi, pulling down items for display from the company’s servers. These items can be customized from the accompanying app, where you can define exactly what you want to show up on the screen, whether it’s personal notes, calendar entries, or email messages.  It can work with a variety of apps, pulling any kind of information that you’d like shown on the screen, along with IFTTT support for access to your home automation devices. Measuring 3.5 inches on all sides, it’s small enough to carry in a bag pouch for use at both home and work, with lights on the edges that softly glow when there's an urgent notification.

Now available for preorder, SeeNote is priced at $99.

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Use Onkyo’s DP-X1 Music Player To Listen To Your Hi-Res Files On The Road

Being an audiophile ain’t easy. Much as you can appreciate listening to music on your everyday smartphone, you can’t help but know deep down you can be listening to something much better. And while there are some options in audiophile-grade portable players, Onkyo just made things more affordable than ever with the DP-X1.

Armed with two ESS Sabre 9601K amplifiers and two ESS Sabre digital-to-analog converters, the device delivers the kind of power and signal control you’re never going to get from a smartphone. There’s also two balanced drives that support both ACG and BTL, ensuring cleaner and clearer sound with excellent stability.

The Onkyo DP-X1 supports all popular hi-res audio formats, including 11.2MHz DSD, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, and even MQA (via a firmware update scheduled for mid-2016). Want to play MP3s? Even those will sound better, with onboard real-time DSD conversion upscaling everything to DSD-quality audio. Other audio features include a high-precision equalizer with 16,384 bands, a 2.5mm 4-pole balanced headphones output, and a 3.5mm 3-pole headphone output.

Clad in a smartphone-like form factor, the audio player comes with a 4.7-inch capacitive screen, 32GB of onboard storage, two microSD card slots that can handle up to 200GB cards each (your hi-res files will need that space), WiFi, and Bluetooth. It runs Android 5.1.1, so you can use it with your favorite online streaming services, as well as run any apps, watch any movie, and play any game that you normally do on an Android phone.
Available now, the Onkyo DP-X1 is priced at $899.

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