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We wish The Crovel was in every game
It's fairly normal to see things in video games and wish that they existed in real life (gravity gun, ASHHPD, etc) but it's not every day that the opposite happens, where we come across something so ingenious that our favorite gaming heroes seem woefully ill-equipped in comparison. See, ever since we found out about The Crovel (pronounced crow-vel, like a crowbar-shovel), we can't stop daydreaming about all the different ways we'd like to slaughter hundreds and hundreds of zombies/orcs/demons with its various points and edges. Designed as a multi-purpose survival tool, The Crovel combines a spade, a sharpened edge for machete-style hacking, a serrated edge for saw-style sawin', a hammerhead for blunt-force trauma hammering, and a crowbar claw for good measure. For added Batman utility, the rope wrapping the handle can be unspooled for use as a tourniquet, or to transform the device into a grappling hook. The end of the handle can also be capped by an optional "Z Spike" for stabbing; it's basically the greatest makeshift anti-horde device ever created. Look, we know this isn't strictly video-game related, but it's awesome, and the only way we're going to see The Crovel in the next Valve or Irrational Games title is if we raise public awareness. Make it happen, developers.
Victorinox Secure Pro USB drive is 'un-hackable,' can file your nails
This isn't the first USB drive / Swiss army knife we've seen from Victorinox, but the company's new Secure Pro drive is the first that is supposedly "un-hackable." To put that claim to the test, Victorinox actually offered a £100,000 prize to a team of "professional hackers" if they could crack the drive during the company's launch event -- they were unable to do so. That un-hackableness apparently comes primarily from the drive's combination of AES256 technology and fingerprint security, which is paired with (get this) a self-destruct mechanism that irrevocably burns the CPU and memory chip if there's any attempt to force the drive open. All that and a pair of scissors -- how can you go wrong? No word on a release over here just yet, but the drive is now available in the UK in capacities from 8GB to 32GB for between £50 and £180 (or about $75 to $270). [Thanks, Nikolas R]
App Genie is 26 apps in 1
App Genie [iTunes link] takes a lot of little apps and combines them into one for U.S. $0.99. Even if you only use 4 or 5 that's a good price. Some of the apps require web access, some require the 3GS iPhone, and the weather app only works in the U.S. Here are a few I found useful... and some not so much: Product Search uses your camera to scan barcodes on 3GS phones. It worked well, and linked the barcode to products with price comparisons. There are apps that only do this that sell for more than this app. Language Translator. Type in one language. Translate to another. This app needs web connectivity. You can email the results which is a nice feature. There are dozens of languages. My check of German looked good. My Icelandic isn't so hot, but if you need this function, it appears to work well. There are all kind of Country Facts, i.e. population of Angola or ethnic group distribution in Canada. Lots of facts, in a handy place. Then there is Amazing Facts. Tap it and you'll get some piece of obscure information. Tap it again and you get more. There's a Unit Converter, a Tip Calculator (natch). a Magnifier that lets you zoom in digitally with your camera. There is a Battery Level meter for your iPhone with voice, that gives you the percentage of battery on your iPhone, talk time, and estimates for how long you can play video or audio files. It also provides an estimate of how long you can browse the web. There is a nice Checklists app with templates for a variety of activities like shopping, trip planning and house chores. Each checklist has sub items, and those are reasonably complete and helpful, or you can create your own. There's a Where am I? app that shows your location on a Google Map, which I think is reaching since it's already available on your phone. There is an up to date Currency Converter. It's web based, and handy if you are on the road a lot out of your native country. For less than a dollar this is a great app, even though it may duplicate some functionality you already have on your iPhone or iPod touch. I thought the product scanner app alone was worth $0.99. The rest is gravy. Some screen shots below: %Gallery-84514%
