It seems that the people at NZXT love gamers almost as much as they hate vowels. The company today took the wraps off of the Avatar S, a replacement for the already discontinued Avatar gaming mouse. The new model doesn't quite match the 2,600DPI of its predecessor -- instead it's got a 1,600 DPI laser sensor with three sensitivity settings: 1,600DPI, 800DPI, and 400DPI. The finned peripheral's five buttons are configurable, as is the LED lighting scheme and X-Y sensitivity -- customization that can be saved to the device's 16Kb of onboard memory. The mouse has a polling rate of 1000Hz and does tracking at 30 inches / second, and those little Teflon feet should help you move the thing around a bit more easily. The mouse comes in both black and white will run you $39.99 when it launches at the end June -- $20 cheaper than its predecessor's launch price, or $10 per fin.
As you may know, crafting a katana is a delicate process that involves carefully constructing a razor-sharp high-carbon edge around a soft shock-absorbent core. One day though, smiths and forging fires could be replaced by electrode-wielding mad-scientists, with the technology to selectively harden and soften metal at will. At least that's what we envisioned when we read about Jörg Weißmüller's breakthrough research in the field of nanomaterials. The German scientist discovered that by placing precious metals in acid he could create tiny ducts through corrosion. Once those channels are flooded with a conductive liquid, electrical currents can be used to harden the material and, if you change your mind about the brittle results, the effect can easily be reversed to make it soft again. The tech could eventually lead to self-healing vehicle armor or scratch-resistant cellphones -- but, really, we just want to zap our way to a high-quality samurai sword. Physorg
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