SideWinder X3 Mouse
(Credit: Microsoft)Microsoft just announced a new addition to its SideWinder line of performance peripherals, introducing the SideWinder X3 mouse, a gaming powerhouse that should give the older SideWinder X5 a run for its money. We weren't very thrilled with the X5's $60 price tag or its flimsy build, but the X3 comes with a cheaper price tag ($40) and offers new features including new button placement and a smaller, ambidextrous shape.
Like its sibling, the new X3 features a 2,000 dpi laser sensor with variable sensitivity, five programmable main buttons, and USB connectivity, but this new version is a bit smaller and adds a single button on each side of the mouse for added gameplay versatility. As an added bonus, Microsoft also made the X3 ambidextrous for all the left-handed gamers.
The Microsoft SideWinder X3 Mouse will hit stores in May for $40, but pre-sale orders are available now on Amazon.com if you can't wait. One more pic after the jump.
(Source: Microsoft via Gizmodo)
... Read moreFollowing Tuesday's official Microsoft announcement of its first BlueTrack mice, Wednesday we get word of the unsurprising extension of the new sensor technology to Microsoft's SideWinder gaming mice. The SideWinder X8 will go for $100 when it ships in February (although Amazon.com is apparently already taking orders).
The new 4,000 dpi SideWinder X8 with BlueTrack sensor.
(Credit: Microsoft)As we reported Tuesday, the new BlueTrack sensor is a Microsoft-developed optical-tracking technology that purports to give mice greater accuracy over a wider variety of surfaces than laser or IR optical mice.
Microsoft claims scalable dpi settings from 250 to 4,000 dpi for the SideWinder X8, which should please gamers. Thankfully, this new mouse also brings back the macro-record button for on-the-fly command recording, introduced by last year's SideWinder, but missing from the more recent X5 model.
... Read more
The previously rumored SideWinder X6 gaming keyboard with detachable numeric pad is coming in October.
(Credit: Microsoft)Turns out the previously rumored SideWinder X6 gaming keyboard with detachable numeric pad is real and coming. But what caught us off-guard is that a new mouse, the SideWinder X5, will be joining Microsoft's gaming hardware lineup at the same time.
But first, let's take a close look at the upcoming keyboard. Backlit keyboards are so BTDT (been there, done that), but the SideWinder X6 uses different LED colors to differentiate modes. When used as a standard input device, the keys emit a red glow, but press the bank switch button for gaming and the keyboard glows amber. The latter mode disables both Windows and context menu keys so that you won't accidentally exit to the desktop while in the middle of battle. There's even a dimmer switch to customize the brightness of the backlights.
The SideWinder X5 is slightly smaller than its predecessor.
(Credit: Microsoft)At the same time, the SideWinder X6 in gaming mode transforms the numeric keypad into 30 programmable macro buttons. A macro toggle switch allows a total of 3 possible macro sets, making for 90 possible combinations. A cruise control feature does away with multiple button presses by giving "sticky key" functionality for up to 4 actions. The SideWinder X6 will be available in October for $79.95 in the U.S.
The SideWinder X5 looks, at first glance, to be almost identical to the original SideWinder mouse. However, the X5 is slightly smaller than its predecessor as, according to a Microsoft spokesperson, there was feedback that the first edition was too big for most hands.
Targeting the budget market, the X5 does not have adjustable weights, an LCD screen showing the current DPI setting, or even the cable stay accessory. The latter is a heavy box that holds the mouse wire in place so it doesn't flail about while gaming. The metallic scroll button in the original has also been replaced with a rubber one.
However, the X5 keeps the essential features needed by most gamers, including a 2,000dpi laser sensor, macro recording mode, and five customizable buttons. The SideWinder X5 will cost $59.95 and should hit U.S. stores in September.
(Via Crave Asia)
(Credit:
General Dynamics Canada )
Depleted uranium armor may provide great protection against other tanks, but it's useless against hackers bent on penetrating the networks that tankers and other crews increasingly rely on to move and shoot.
Looking to fill the order for "digital armor," General Dynamics Canada and Secure Computing have teamed up to develop Meshnet, a hardware/software firewall designed to protect networks and digital devices inside tanks and other military vehicles from hostile computer and virus attacks.
Without adequate firewall protection, a tech-savvy enemy could infiltrate the net to eavesdrop, ambush or "blind" a crew by cutting off its information flow. This was reportedly the case during Israel's incursion into South Lebanon last year, where Hezbollah hackers were allegedly able to monitor IDF communications, giving the guerrillas a leg up in attacking Israeli armor.
Inside the M1 Abrams
(Credit: U.S. Army)Sidewinder consolidates all major Internet security functions into a single system, providing "best-of-breed" antivirus and spyware network protection "against all types of threats, both known and unknown," according to Secure Computing.
The software is packed onto a circuit board slotted inside Meshnet's "ruggedized" olive-drab, conduction-cooled chassis. This not only allows it to operate in the hot, dusty jolt-prone tank interior, but also to avoid clashing with the overall color scheme.
The last reference to a Microsoft Sidewinder product on CNET was back on an old must-have games roundup from 2002, where we pointed to a Sidewinder steering wheel. Microsoft seemed to have let its gaming hardware brand die since then; that is, until today's announcement of the Sidewinder Mouse. Available in October for $80, the new Sidewinder comes with the usual laundry list of features we demand in our high-end gaming mice these days, including a few we haven't seen before.
The Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse includes more features than any gaming mouse to date. Some even look useful.
(Credit: Microsoft)Naturally, the Sidewinder is a laser mouse, with a customizable sensor that tops out at 2,000dpi. It includes buttons on the mouse itself for swapping between sensitivity settings, as well as a weight kit, for those with the touch of a safecracker who demand mousing perfection.
None of those features are new in general, as Logitech has had them in its G5 Laser mouse for a while. What's new is a built-in LCD that tells you what dpi setting you're currently in, as well as the fact that the weight-carrying case doubles as a cable guide. Also, Microsoft includes two additional sets of "feet" aka different varieties of Teflon pads, for the underside of the Sidewinder, allowing you to customize the glide.
The LCD and cable guide feel a little superfluous, but we can imagine a finicky gamer playing around with the different feet. Hopefully we'll find out for ourselves soon.
On Sale Now: $55.29 - $79.99
View the latest prices for Microsoft Sidewinder Gaming Mouse
- prev
- 1
- next
