Believe it or not, this isn't the first time we've seen robotic falcons used to chase off actual birds, but rather than keeping pigeons at bay, the Falco Robot GBRS is reportedly able to keep pestering birds clear from airports and the like. Humorously hailed as a "Gregarious Bird Removal System," the creature is reportedly a result of ten years of experimentation, and word on the street proclaims that the remote-controlled device was able to scare off a thousand seagulls at a Genoa airport. Mum and dad would be so ashamed.

[Via CNET]

There's no denying the coolness of the Novint Falcon haptic gaming controller, but it looks like realness factor is getting upped a notch -- the company just announced the separate availability of that pistol grip it's been demoing for a while, as well as a black version, pictured above. The pistol grip is a $20 add-on for any Falcon, while the black version will list for $199 -- still pricey, but if you're a gamer, totally worth it. Check out a video of the pistol grip in action after the break.

[Via I4U News]

Although word on the street is that Microsoft is planning to release the successor to the Xbox 360 in 2010, the company is still apparently planning on updating the 360 design several more times in the next couple years. Just like the "Falcon" motherboard now on shelves updated the original 360 design with a 65nm CPU, the upcoming "Jasper" revision should take the GPU to 65nm as well -- but that's more or less common knowledge. What we're hearing now is that all those RRoDed 360s sitting in warehouses are going to be retrofitted with the same 65 / 90nm CPU / GPU combo as Falcon, but on a mobo design called "Opus" that fits the original Xbox case molds. That means no HDMI, since pre-Falcon cases didn't have the openings -- but apparently MS is only planning on sending these out as warranty replacements. The real action, however, appears to be "Valhalla," a supposed final rev of the 360 that integrates the GPU and CPU into a single "superchip." Details on that are more than sketchy, and we're definitely skeptical -- especially since we'd been hearing chatter about 45nm CPUs, but nothing about a unified architecture. We'll see when we see -- as long as all these boxes play CoD4, we'll be happy.

Ever since we first got wind of this thing, we had a sneaking suspicion it just wouldn't take off regardless of how clever it was. Sadly, reviewers over at Bit-Tech tended to agree, deeming the Novint Falcon the "coolest peripheral" it had ever touched, but completely unlikely to ever gain steam in the marketplace. During the review, it was reiterated time and time again just how phenomenal the device actually is; the internal motors were able to transmit textures to one's hand almost impeccably, and it certainly enhanced certain aspects of game play once it became second nature to use. Unfortunately, all that gushing was met with the stark reality that there's no real promise that developers will ever latch on to this thing, and without guaranteed support, it's hard to recommend handing over $239. Nevertheless, we're sure more than a few of you may be willing to take the chance, and either way, the in-depth look at this curious creation is worth a read just to see what you're (potentially) missing.

We've been waiting and waiting, and after months of speculation, a hardware revision, a couple limited editions, and even a new SKU, it looks like Microsoft is finally shipping "Falcon"-equipped Xbox 360s with 65nm CPUs. According to the eagle-eyed posters in the official Xbox forums, Halo edition 360s from lot #734 appear to be the first machines with the new chips, and the time-honored method of peeking inside the case with a flashlight should confirm you have the latest and greatest once you get your baby home. Check the read links for tons more info (and a fun little flamewar).

[Image from user JWSpeed in the Xbox forums]

Read -- Original thread with pics of the new chipset
Read -- What to look for to see if you've got a 65nm 360

Well it appears that despite all of our wishing, hoping, and positive-thinking exercises, Microsoft has failed to deliver on a small dream of ours, namely, 65nm chips for the new HDMI-rocking Xbox 360 Premiums. Despite signs pointing otherwise, new photos show that this batch of systems continue to carry the Zephyr motherboard layout, which uses the older, hotter 90nm chips, though the boys in Redmond have addressed the heat issue a little bit with the addition of a second "daughter" heatsink attached to the CPU by heatpipe. The new 65nm "Falcon" boards -- which chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) confirmed are in production -- are still on their way according to the rumor mill, slated for release sometime this Fall. Interestingly, Microsoft and TSMC have just laid plans to produce the Xbox's graphics-memory subsystem using the chip manufacturer's 90nm embedded DRAM spec. We won't speculate on when we'll start seeing that addition appear, however.

AMD had itself a busy day today: not only did the European Commission file antitrust charges against Intel for interfering with AMD's business in Europe, the Sunnyvale company released an updated product roadmap at its annual analyst conference. With the quad-core Barcelona processor on track for an August launch, the company announced its next-gen mobile platform, "Puma," which will feature hybrid graphics support. Looking even farther ahead, AMD also announced some chips we won't see for a while yet: the all-new workstation- and server-oriented "Bulldozer" chip and mobile device "Bobcat" chip are scheduled to arrive sometime in 2010, and represent entirely new chip designs for the company. The hits didn't stop there, however: AMD's also announced its first Fusion integrated CPU / GPU chip, the "Falcon," which will use the Bulldozer core -- no word on what happened to Hawk or when we'll see this ship. Finally, the company answered speculation that it's looking to get out of the manufacturing game by saying that it's aiming for the "right balance" between in-house and outside fabrication, but that it's committed to its current existing mix through 2009. All in all, it looks like AMD has got some pretty ambitious plans for the future -- but will it be enough to hold off scrappy upstart Hynix? Tons more info, including all the slides, at the read link.

[Thanks, Ryan]

We knew it was coming, but it sounds like we finally know what it's all about: the 65nm Xbox 360 is apparently being code-named Falcon, according to Dean Takahashi. Stands to reason we can expect long-fabled cooler / less failure-prone / cheaper 360s to be Falcon's result, but hey, we'd take just two out of three at this point.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We've tracked this little guy from his prototype days, through a Switched On feature, and all the way up to this January's release date announcement. Now we can finally say that the Novint Falcon -- top rate purveyor of the game-controlling, force-feedbacking, wrist-snapping, virtual-textured 3D input experience -- is officially on sale. Novint is offering the squat interface on their website for $189, bundled with a limited edition "grip", 24 mini-games and a numbered certificate of authenticity, just in case your skeptical friends don't believe you actually own a Falcon.

[Thanks, Sabrina]

While of late we've seemed a bit partial to the ultraportable end of the spectrum, it's hard not to give props to the complete, unadulterated power and gargantuan-ocity of Falcon's new Fragbook DRX. In addition to the boring stuff like a Core 2 Duo Extreme X6800 2.93GHz processor, 4GB of RAM and a 17-inch 1920 x 1200 LCD, the "laptop" packs a 100GB 7200RPM HDD <em>in addition to two 160GB 5400RPM drives, and really ices the cake with the dual NVIDIA GeForce 7950GTX Go 512MB graphics cards. Other minor details include 802.11n WiFi, a built-in TV tuner and a 8x dual-layer DVD burner. Sadly, the one hour of battery life, 12.1 pound heft and $7687 won't endear this puppy to the mainstream, but would the gamer elite really have it any other way?

[Via PC Joint]

Falcon Northwest has unveiled the FragBook TLX which, as you can probably tell by the name, targets Falcon's traditional audience of hardcore gamers. Similar to its FragBook desktop replacement brethren, the TLX is based around a 17-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD; but unlike the DR model, the TLX has a relatively diminutive design. At only 1.5-inches thick and weighing 7-pounds, it's certainly not what you'd call an ultraportable, but then again, most ultraportables don't feature the TLX's 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo processor, up to 160GB of hard drive storage and 2GB of RAM, nor the nVIDIA GeForce 7600 GO graphics card with 256MB of video RAM. The combination of thinness and performance doesn't come cheap though, as the starting price of the TLX is $3,516. Those of you who really want to burn money -- and be able to prove that you did so -- can opt for an optional flame painted color scheme for $426.

[Via Techie Diva]