Do you ever feel like your Wii accessories aren't niche enough? Does it seem like fitting your Wiimote into a simple gun-shaped cradle to play Link's Crossbow Training doesn't completely capture the realism you're after? Well you're in luck, because the Wii Laser Sight Crossbow is here! That's right, it's a crossbow meant to lovingly hold your Wiimote, and turn any game into a trip to the Renaissance Fair. C'mon, you've got the Nerf Blaster, lightsaber, and teddy bear add-ons, isn't it time to complete the collection? Available now for the totally odd price of $27.54.

[Via technabob]

This one's YouTube caption says it best: "Shooting at the monitor from the arbalest! Striking!" If you replace 'arbalest' with 'fancy European crossbow' you've got a recipe for entertainment. Some Ukrainian crazies got ahold of an Asus LS201 monitor with protective glass and really went all out. The hammer and nails scenes are less than convincing, but the crossbow moment has to be seen to be believed. Think of it as Ukraine's present to you. Video is after the break.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

Although we got a small glimpse of Windows Mobile 6 during yesterday's HTC Vox preview, and we've known this thing was coming for a good while, it looks like some textual slippage has revealed that "Crossbow" just might coincide quite nicely with Cupid's weaponry. In a long list of MSDN Events and Webcasts, it looks looked like we'd be hearing all about WinMo 6 from none other than Jim Wilson on February 14th. Of course, the link has now been updated to hopefully cover up the leak, but thanks to Google's caching abilities and a sweet screencap, we've got the proof in front of us, friends. Unless something goes terribly awry, Microsoft will be making this OS official within a matter of weeks, and you can probably still look forward to hearing Mr. Wilson cover the system during his MSDN geekSpeak on Valentine's Day.

[Via Modaco]

Some of us are still trying to keep straight in our brains the difference between Windows Mobile Smartphone, Pocket PC, and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices, but with the impending arrival of Crossbow, that ship has apparently sailed. In the realm of new Windows releases, Vista has obviously been garnering the lion's share of the attention, but Windows Mobile 5 is about to ride off into the mobile platform sunset in favor of Windows Mobile 6 -- codenamed the aforementioned Crossbow -- and the naming convention to differentiate between its various flavors is riding with it. Smartphone (read: phones without touchscreens) is rumored to be replaced by the slightly less colorful "Standard," Pocket PC Phone Edition becomes "Professional," and the plain ol' Pocket PC becomes "Classic," perhaps to reflect the fact that phoneless Pocket PCs have been all but shunned to niche markets in recent years. With all due respect to Microsoft and its hardware partners, they could call it "The Stopgap Version To Hold Us Over Until Photon" for all we care; let's just get some product moving in the pipeline, eh?

The speculation is over kids, mobile-review got themselves a copy of the next major release of the Windows Mobile OS and slapped up a review for all to see. Codenamed "Crossbow," the mobile OS is expected to hit sometime in the first half of 2007 under what can be assumed to be a Windows Mobile 6.0 moniker. Although, as the review points out, a full numeric update is a bit generous as it could just as well be dubbed Windows Mobile 5.0 Second Edition given the lack of new features. For that, you'll have to wait another few years for Photon which will finally unify the Pocket PC and Smartphone divisions -- it's the former (a near-RTM development version) under review. So, now that your expectations are fully deflated, what are we looking at? To start with, most of the new functions in Crossbow are meant to play nice with the 2007 release of Office and Exchange. Just to run down the highlights, we're getting a fully revamped Outlook Mobile app with new Vista-inspired sounds and themes, Windows Live integration featuring Live Search Mobile, Live Mail Mobile, Live Messenger Mobile (which, ironically, was first available on Symbian S60 3rd edition deivces) all available direct from the Today screen, VoIP (SIP) support bundled into the phone-related part of the system, and Smart Dial 2.0 integration for fast search through contacts just like WinMo 5.0 SmartPhone edition. We're still looking at a typical 64MB ROM / 64MB RAM footprint and a minimum 200MHz CPU. Overall, the system performance is speedier throughout due to continued efforts at optimization started with AKU 3.0. There are few more changes of course but what we're looking at here is not an attempt to leapfrog the competition, rather, Crossbow is an effort just to keep the pace which ain't all bad. Oh, and good news for HP and E-Ten device owners, you'll likely have the option of updating to the new OS via a firmware update -- everyone else had best get to pestering their manufacture or trolling the torrents for the bump.

[Thanks, Eldar]

Here ya go WinMo lovers, a screen shot of the purported next generation Windows Mobile OS codenamed Crossbow, courtesy of MS Mobile News. Sure, it could just be a WinMo 5.0 theme for all we know but if this is the full Pocket PC homescreen above, then we can expect a glossier look, continued softkey support, and a smattering of oh so Vista icons when this, and the SmartPhone version are released in the first half of 2007. As we already heard from Microsoft, Crossbow will feature a new version of Office Communicator and "strong links with Office 2007 and Exchange 12." If all this still leaves you aching for the hotness of Photon, well, suck it up son 'cause that's not scheduled to hit until the first half of 2008.

Most people have some sort of fantasy about flying, but not everyone is as dumb about it as Brian Walker. Calling it Project RUSH (Rapid Up Super High), the man has built for himself the world's largest crossbow to launch a tiny rocket-propelled craft carrying his fragile body 20 miles into the air. He plans to pull 10 gs as the carbon-fiber bowstring releases and sends his little spaceship-like vehicle soaring into the air while firing a jet turbine with 1350 pounds of thrust. He will be wearing a Russian space suit to help keep his innards in, and has hydrogen peroxide rockets to help slow his descent, but we can't think his mother is very happy about this all the same. Right now Brian is waiting on FAA approval, and is planning to test the launcher with a giant fiberglass arrow before he launches himself this fall.

[Via MAKE]