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Researchers are building a robotic Lionfish exterminator
We joke around a lot about bringing about a horrific robot apocalypse, but let's get real: sometimes, building a killer robot is just the right thing to do. Well, at least when those robots are being used to cull invasive species. Researchers at Robots In Service of the Environment (RISE) are developing a robot to fight an invasive population of Lionfish that's threatening ecosystems off the coast of Florida as well as in the Caribbean and Bermuda.
Hunt Hardcore works for beginning and experienced hunters
Hunt Hardcore offers a variety of social media type features that allows hunters with all levels of experience to share their adventures and seek help to become better hunters. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later and requires users to register an account or use their Facebook account to login. The app contains a lot of the same information as the hunthardcore1.com web site. As with most social media apps, Hunt Hardcore allows users to make friends through the app and follow the new friends' postings. As users submit comments, trip stories, photos and video they receive activity points and the app then ranks users based on their point totals. You can also search users by name or get a listing of all members. Users will find a section devoted to photos posted by other users. The section contains lots of photos showing hunters in a variety of locations. Some show the hunters' kill while others show the animals the hunters were stalking. The one issue I had with this section was that none of the photos had any details about the photo such as when and where the kill took place or any other specifics about the actual hunt. The most information users will find is in the app's forum. Here the section is broken down into six different sections: Big Game Hunting, Bird and Small Game, Weapon Specific posts, State Hunting regulations, Taxidermy, and Hunting Products. Each of these segments contain numerous posts from users dealing with those specific areas. For example under the Big Game Forum you will find sub headings for Elk, Whitetail Deer, Bears, Wolves and other predators, and more. As you move deeper into the forum you can get details of hunting trips including some with photos and videos. Another section is devoted to classified listings where hunters can sell all types of weapons, tents and other camping gear, GPS devices, and a few listings for hunting trips posted by outfitters who specialize in putting hunters in a position to take down a particular species such as a New Mexico cougar, or Wyoming elk. Hunt Hardcore has some other features posted but these did not include a lot of information. One labeled Quizzes had no content, another had a blog but it had not been updated since December of 2012, and a third for polls had just three or four polls listed and just one of those dealt with a hunting issue. The others sought input from users on site logos and features. Overall if users stick to the forums and utilize the apps huge member list I think they will find Hunt Hardcore useful. Making friends with other hunters in different parts of the country or state you live in can be especially helpful. The photos and videos make interesting viewing but I wish they offered more specifics about the hunting trips.
Improve your hunting chances with Hunt Predictor
Experienced hunters have a better chance of being successful because of that experience, Over time and lots of actual hunting they learn about the impact of wind, temperature, sun and moon times, and location. Now you can gain some of that same knowledge in a shorter time with Hunt Predictor. This free universal app runs on iOS 7.0 or later. Hunt Predictor provides users with detailed information on a number of valuable elements necessary to be a successful hunter and ties all the data to specific locations. Users input the locations they plan on hunting. You can enter the latitude and longitude coordinates if you know them or simply find your destination and double tap until the map zooms in close and the coordinates can be saved for future use. The app breaks out specific predictions for three types of prey, deer, turkeys, and waterfowl. Select which type of animal you are seeking and then select your saved location. Hunt Predictor brings up a seven day chart with breakouts for each day and the overall chance of success. Select your planned hunting day and the app reveals breakouts for overall weather, barometric pressure, temperature, moon illumination, wind speed and direction and the time of year. At the top of the page is an adjustable graph for the entire day. You can change the time and see what changes occur in the various conditions. Find the best time to hunt and the worst then compare what changed. That will give you an improved big picture on conditions and what to look for in the future. All three animal areas work the same. Another feature included in Hunting Predictor is the ability to track your hunting buddies. You can invite friends directly from you contacts or search other users for people you know. Once you have hooked up and become buddies the app will display your locations so you can keep track of each other during your hunt. This would be especially helpful if you have split up and are hunting in the same general area so that you don't mistake other hunters for game. The predictions offered in this app are based on algorithms developed through thorough research and input from hundreds of hunts. Hunt Predictor is powered by sportsmantracker.com so once you start using the app you can also gain access to that website and all the tools offered there. Take advantage of both Hunt Predictor and the sportsman.com web site and improve your chances of coming back with a trophy buck. Give it a shot.
ConnectedAfield: A worthwhile hunting and fishing companion
When you're planning your next hunting or fishing trip and putting together a list of all the items you need to take with you, consider downloading ConnectedAfield. This free universal app requires iOS 7.1 or later and will provide you with some helpful tools for your time in the wilderness. ConnectedAfield offers some features you would expect. Users can get the latest weather information based on their GPS location. The weather information includes the current data, hourly and daily forecasts and the latest radar image for your location. You will also have access to updated solunar tables listing sunrise, sunset, and moonrise times plus the most likely feeding times for your prey. I found the Mapping feature to be especially useful. The app provides interactive maps based on your GPS location. Or you can enter a location so you can use the map before your trip. Once you call up a map you can save it for future use. ConnectedAfield allows users to put marks on the map to identify important spots. Users get a number of symbols to choose from to use as markers so you can indicate spots where you killed a specific animal such as a deer or bear, a good place to camp, where you placed a trail camera, a feeding area, where a tree stand is located, yours or someone else's, a rock pile off shore in a lake where fish congregate and many more. Almost no limit to the number and kinds of spots you can mark for future reference. Another feature in mapping is the use of a ruler to measure the distance between two points. Just place the crosshairs from the app on the two points and the distance appears at the bottom of the screen. This will be useful if you are marking the distance from camp or off a road, or how long the hike is to an area you want to hunt. Lots of uses for this tool. ConnectedAfield has a social media section too so you can check out pictures and information from other outdoorsmen or post your trip info and photos of your kills or catches. This area is broken into more specific segments for general information, predators, or almost every type of prey you can hunt or catch: bear, deer, elk, waterfowl, small game, fresh water fish, salt water fish, and many more. Three other sections worth noting. The app provides an area for you to compile a journal so you make notes on each trip. ConnectedAfield also saves the weather and solunar information with each entry. The second area is a classified section so you can buy and sell all kinds of hunting and fishing gear or services. And finally users will find links to each state's hunting and fishing regulations so you can double check season dates and catch and size limitations. Overall I believe ConnectedAfield will prove to be a valuable app to keep with you the next time you venture out hunting or fishing. You will still need the knowledge and skills to be successful but it provides some important assists.
Audubon says climate change could wipe out half of US birds by 2080
If you enjoy hunting, photographing or just watching birds, you may have to move to Canada in a few decades, according to Audubon. The venerated US conservation society just released interactive maps along with an article showing exactly how bird species across North America are menaced by man-made global warming. Following a seven-year study, the news isn't great: many migratory birds could be extinct within 70 years, while others may leave their home states and provinces forever. Though the predictions are theoretical, Audubon's scientists took a conservative approach, ironically using modeling techniques common in farming and energy resource management. It stressed that "Audubon is not in the business of using scary language or going beyond what the science tells us," but called the threat to bird species "urgent."
TUG alpha patch allows you to hunt dumb goats
What purpose do really dumb goats serve? If they're in TUG's new 0.6.3 alpha update, it's to be hunted for their pelts and cooked over a roaring flame. In a new video, TUG shows off several of the sandbox elements that went into today's patch. Players can create and cultivate farms, or alternatively go hunting for the aforementioned "dumb goats." There is also a physics system in place for projectiles, new craftables, and the ability to have a good old-fashioned cook-out. We're not kidding around, this is one goat-tastic video. Check it out after the break!
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's latest Live Letter
As of this writing, the Letter from the Producer LIVE took place yesterday, and that means we have a whole bunch of Final Fantasy XIV news to discuss! It's a happy time for people like me, because it's at least a couple weeks of very chewable information to discuss. And at just the right time, too, we were in the middle of a serious drought there. Not that all of the information is good, mind you. Every time I think about Atma my hands instinctively ball into fists. Still, there's stuff to chat about, there's good stuff in with the bad, and perhaps most importantly there's enough to fuel some speculation and some off-the-cuff reaction before we dive into the meat of E3 and we learn even more about the future of the game. So let's get right into it, starting with the bit of news that I already foreshadowed in the intro.
Garmin's Astro 320 GPS handheld offers nine-mile coverage, keeps your hunting dogs in line
Before you and your pooches head out to hunt innocent ducks this year, you might wanna check out Garmin's new Astro 320 dog tracker -- a handheld GPS device designed to help hunters keep even closer tabs on their four-legged sentries. The latest addition to the Astro family can simultaneously track up to ten hunting dogs per receiver, with a revamped antenna and three-axis electronic compass covering up to nine miles of flat terrain. Boasting a 20-hour battery life, the 1.7GB handheld can also tell hunters whether their canines are running or pointing, while its mapping capabilities provide their precise coordinates relative to powerlines, buildings, and individual trees. All this information is displayed on a 2.6-inch display, where users will be able to access 100k or 24k topographic and satellite maps. A keypad lock function, meanwhile, will make sure you don't accidentally press any buttons while you're in the thick of a hound-led hunt. The handheld will be available in July for $500, with the full system (including a DC 40 tracking collar) priced at $650. You can flip through the gallery below for images of some antenna-toting doggies, or head past the break for a more testosterone-laced pic and the full PR. %Gallery-125121%
Tachyon announces 720p Tachyon XC HD helmet cam, excites us with a Picatinny rifle mount (video)
Iron sights? Only for newbs. Holo sights? Much nicer -- at least until someone pulls an EMP. Picatinny-mounted camera? Not something you're going to find in Call of Duty, soldier, but soon something you can get for real courtesy of Tachyon. That company was the first to offer a consumer-friendly(ish) 3D POV experience by turning a pair of their cameras into sort of Siamese affair, and now it's enabling hunters, soldiers, officers of the law, and anybody who likes shooting stuff to get an up-close recording of exactly what the heck they're shootin' at. When we reviewed those 3D cameras we weren't exactly smitten with the VGA quality, but hopefully the 720p sensor in the new Tachyon XC HD tackles that. It's built into the same shell that struck us as being hugely durable before, and now it's even more so, rated waterproof to 100 feet. The new camera will set you back $179, matching GoPro's recent HD Hero 960, while that Picatinny rail mount is $27 -- unless you're a member of law enforcement or the military, in which case it'll be free. Full details in the PR below, as is a fun video of a little GunCam action. %Gallery-105616%
Runes of Magic stages fox hunt event
Looking for an in-game diversion to help wile away your weekend? Well, look no further than Runes of Magic's fox hunt, a mini-event that aims to rid Taborea of its fox population by sending hordes of player pelt-hunters in search of the furry four-legged fiends. To get started, you'll need to speak with Owenstein, an NPC merchant near the Harf Trading Post in the Ystra Highlands. Each time you bring him a bundle of 50 pelts, he'll gift you with a Happy Smile package, which in turn will grant you one of several desirable reward items. The event kicks off today and runs through Monday, October 11th. Check out the announcement on the Runes of Magic Facebook page for more details.
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 is about more than just shooting animals
Shake off that sense of deja vu. We're talking about a different Cabela's game here: Activision has just announced Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011, the next installment in its iterative series of hunt-em-down-and-shoot-em-ups. It's set to stalk retail shelves "late fall" and will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS systems. Every version sans the DS installment will come packed with the Top Shot Elite controller, a wireless gun peripheral created by the same people at Activision who brought you the Guitar Hero controllers. Activision is apparently putting a lot of production value into this latest Cabela's title, tapping Brad Santos, screenwriter and creative director, to pen the tale of Cole Rainsford, who has joined his estranged father in the African safari to hunt dangerous animals terrorizing local villages there. See, kids? Hunting is a noble pursuit. Feel free to track some screens from the upcoming game (and the controller) in our gallery below. If you prefer your game a bit more lively, then head past the break for a teaser trailer. %Gallery-98550%
Garmin upgrades its doggone Astro tracking system with DC 40 collar GPS tracker
Chances are the closest you've come to hunting with a pooch is swearing at that giggle-happy mutt who shames your every miss in Duck Hunt. In the real world, dogs are sent out to flush game and track down new things to shoot at, often way out of sight. Garmin's Astro receiver, combined with the DC 30 collar tracker (pictured above), made it easy to keep the all seeing eye on your very own mutt even when miles away, and now the DC 40 makes it even easier. The DC 40 sports a redesign that should make it a more reliable companion, including a new charging connector that won't get clogged with mud. Also new is the ability to create a PIN so that other Astro users can't spy (and possibly even steal) your pooches. The Astro receiver can track up to 10 hounds at once at seven miles of range, and will even let hunters mark where their companions scurried up some prey for future reconnaissance. The price? Garmin isn't saying just yet, but the current DC 30 and Astro receiver package goes for $599, and we'd expect this to cost about the same, though the DC 40 collar unit itself is also said to be available separately if you just want to make sure your hound has the latest couture. Update: Garmin was kind enough to send us a picture of the new DC 40, above.
Field & Stream: Total Outdoorsman Challenge coming to 360 in May
It can be hard being a a total outdoorsman every now and then -- don't we know it! Sometimes it snows, or there are vicious bears, or maybe we're just feeling like snuggling up inside with a warm mug of hot cocoa instead of mercilessly hunting down animals for sport. Thankfully, development studio Beast understand our predicament and has announced a March release date for upcoming Xbox 360 hunting sim Field & Stream: Total Outdoorsman Challenge. Finally, a solution! At last, we can "brave the elements" of the wild without having to actually experience the raw elements that make us want to stay safely indoors. And considering that the closest we get to "the wild" is the local zoo, it's good to know that the game will feature "more than 30 big game, native, and fowl species across multiple environments." Heck, we can even polish up our lacking rifleman skills with F&S:TOC's free hunt and practice modes. How could we go wrong! What's this about Cabela's somethingorother, you say? %Gallery-83626%
Who wants to buy a virtual spacestation?
You sir! Can I interest you in this pristine virtual space station? No? Ma'am! Over here ma'am! How would you like to live amongst the stars in a brand new virtual space station? If you think this post is a silly post, then think again. Planet Calypso (formerly Entropia Universe) really is auctioning off one of their virtual space stations to their players, making this the third time that a major piece of Calypso property has been auctioned off to a private party. This time it's the Crystal Palace Space Station that's up for auction, one of Calypso's long time prime off-world hunting grounds. What makes this auction so newsworthy is the fact that it will be conducted through Planet Calypso's auction systems using PED (Project Entropia Dollar), which basically makes the virtual space station worth real money, as the PED needs to be purchased by the player with real world currency.
Hunting down 10 iPhone apps for the outdoorsman
At least here in Colorado, the big game hunting season is mostly over for another year, except for a few late-season licenses. While many hunters may be nursing deer camp hangovers, maintaining their firearms, or telling yarns about the ones that got away, those who own an iPhone or iPod touch can still be blasting away at Bambi. There are a huge number of hunting-related apps in the App Store, ranging from various deer and duck hunting simulations to duck and deer calls. Let's take a look at a ten-pack of apps: Go out and blast at virtual deer, elk, caribou, grizzly bears, and black bears with 3D Hunting Trophy Whitetail [US$0.99, iTunes Link]. Four weapon types (Lever-Action Rifle, Bolt-Action Rifle, Scoped Bolt-Action Rifle, or Bow & Arrow) are available for your shooting enjoyment, and you get to use calls and scents to attract your prey.
Go on a Great American Bird Hunt with Mastiff
While we think of Mastiff as the publisher of random niche games like La Pucelle and Technic Beat (and the occasional more mainstream game like Moon), the publisher has started to carve out a little empire in Wii outdoor sports games, with Deer Drive, Shimano Xtreme Fishing and now Remington Great American Bird Hunt. You can see some screens in our gallery below, and decide whether you'll be up for a Great American Bird Hunt with up to three friends next month.And now, we get to the real business of this post: the old, hilarious, but sadly unused box art for Ultimate Duck Hunting, which we're always in search of even the flimsiest excuse to post. You'll find it after the break.%Gallery-75330%
Cabela's Outdoor Adventures shoots into fall
It seems like every game except for Modern Warfare 2 is being pushed into 2010. One game, however, is not afraid of Modern Warfare 2 -- Cabela's Outdoor Adventures on 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, and PC. Having bravely faced down Halo 3 at retail, the Cabela's series is ready to triumph over adversity once again, thanks to the power of a "simulation-style, seamlessly integrated experience that includes big game hunting, fishing and bird shooting."The new game features over 50 different hunting and fishing challenges, animal call and stealth gameplay elements, and a new VITALS system. Yes, that is an acronym ("Visually Integrated Targeting and Lock-on System) but it really is just about shooting stuff in the vitals.Outdoor Adventures comes out this fall. Now that we just read about the VITALS system, we're thinking that if we were Activision, and Cabela's told us it wanted this game out in the fall, we would make sure that happened.
VC Tuesday: Cyber Deer Hunt
This week, the lone WiiWare release is a deer hunting game from Arc System Works. We would have expected such a game to come from an American publisher first, so we're a bit surprised to see ASW premiere it in Japan. Not surprised enough to pay that much attention.Our attention is fixed, instead, firmly on the Virtual Console. Between the proto-strategy game Famicom Wars and Namco's arcade arena combat game Cyber Sled, it's a pretty awesome week to have a Wii in Japan. Even if we're pretty sure the Virtual Console Arcade version of Cyber Sled can't have multiplayer (since the arcade game used separate cabinets for each player).Virtual Console: Ninja-kun: Ashura no Shou (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Famicom Wars (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) R-TYPE (Sega Master System, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Cyber Sled (Arcade, 800 Wii Points) WiiWare: Shikagari (Hunting) (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) [Image via The Arcade Flyer Archive]
Slay a festive goat to win game-time and prizes in AoC
In keeping with the macabre nature of the Conan world, you won't be helping orphans for Age of Conan's seasonal event. Nope. No delivering festive cookies to elves or spreading holiday love. Just hunting down mountain goats. Nothing says Christmas in Hyboria like a freshly slain and skinned goat carcass for that special someone. The problem in this particular case is that these "holiday" goats are in short supply -- extremely short supply in fact, as there will only be one special goat per server. All the bragging rights (and prizes) go to one lucky person per server who manages to track it down.There will be a hefty portion of luck involved in winning your server's event, but Funcom is also providing clues to the goat's whereabouts in the form of riddles on the official site. The events will take place on different days across the servers, and the goats won't be in the same place either. Now we've got to admit that we were a bit slow to catch this (we'll blame the spirit of the holidays for making us lazy) and some servers have already had their riddles posted and goats killed. However, if your server hasn't had the event yet, then it will be either be on later today, or the 29th, the 30th, or the 31st of December. Each server's winner will receive a pack of prizes (the same as the Season give-away pack) and two months of free game-time. Happy hunting!
Carl Zeiss combines spotting scope, digital camera with the PhotoScope 85 T* FL
Esteemed lens manufacturer Carl Zeiss is breaking new ground by releasing the PhotoScope 85 T* FL, a spotting scope that also serves as a seven megapixel digital camera -- just in case "super-zoom" wasn't enough for you. With 15 - 45x magnification, a focal length of 600 - 1800 mm, a flip-out OLED display, and an IR remote for vibration-free release, it's great for birdwatchers but perhaps even better for the paparazzi. Look for it in Spring or Summer 2009 if you're planning to profit off the next Amy Winehouse meltdown.[Via PhotographyBLOG]
