Hands-On: TaylorMade 2008 ball lineup prototypes

 

We recently got our hands on the new balls from the guys at TaylorMade, and although it is rather obvious that we haven’t used them in anger yet (bloomin’ weather!), we have been doing what most golfers do this time of the year with their new balls; putting down the hall-way.

Whilst this hasn’t really gathered much information to go on, it still gave me a feeling about the sharpness of the balls.

It seems my fav’s from last year, the TP Reds, haven’t lost any of their charm, and nor has their brother the TP Blacks.

The new boys on the block, the Burner balls which are sold as a longer ball, seem to feel slightly harder, but also seemed to be going straighter and faster along the several meter course.

Even though it was really just an excuse to keep my eye in with the Nike Unitized Techno putter (you’ll be seeing more of this over the next few weeks) that is sitting here to be reviewed, it does allow me to show you our exclusive images of the balls. The pics are after the hop….

ROCCAT Range

The brand new, very sexy (in a figurative way), and undeniably cool ROCCAT gaming peripheral line has just been brought to our attention, and I must say, nice work from the guys in Hamburg.

 First up, we have the ROCCAT KONE mouse.

 

This 10 button wonder sports movable weights, customizable lights with 1000’s of colours, integrated processing power and a very fine form factor indeed. No DPi values have been found on their website, but I doubt it’ll be shabby. (€69.99)

Next, we have the VALO keyboard.

 

With a screen in the corner, internal processor and 41 macro keys, it should provide enough hardware-based punch to go along with the mouse. (€99.99)

And finally, we have the SENSE mousepad.

 

With a minimal friction surface and a microcrystalline layer to ensure gliding ease, on paper it seems to be as fully featured as the rest of the range, and with a pricetag of only €19.99, it’s cheap as well.

They should all be available from your regular gaming-peripheral suppliers from February 2008

[Read More]

TaylorMade 2008 Ball-Lineup

 

Having obviously read through our back-collection of reviews, you’ll no doubt know my love for the TaylorMade TP Red (and Black) balls that entered the office some time ago. The only other ball that has recently entered my bag is the Nike One Black Prototype, which confirms that to get in there, the ball needs to be something special, and TM’s previous effort was brilliant.

Which is why with great pleasure I present the 2008 TP Red and Black balls for your perusal. Oh, and not only that, they decided to choose today to drop the new Burner balls on us as well, their new line that includes clubs and now balls that is specially tailored to the big hitters among you. All the relevant press release info is after the hop, but do read it as these balls all have new technology to make you a better golfer, which everyone likes.

adidas EuroPass

With England out of it, you might be forgiven for not really giving a flying monkey’s about the UEFA European Championships in Austria and Switzerland in the summer of next year.

Well, this is the EuroPass, the official ball of the championships.

Utilizing the existing +Teamgeist technology that we have previously covered at length, it also has its own tricks to make it more exciting and easier to mainpulate. It uses mini-pimples (like a golf ball) to allow more ‘grip and swerve’ as well as assisting the goalies catch it (more details after the jump).

So it will be easier to ‘create’ shots, but easier to stop them (Scott Carson may have wanted it for England v Croatia then?), which should make the finals something of a spectacle.

Expect to see it in use next year, but there are rumours it and its replicas may be available to buy pretty soon.

Slow News…Month

Well people, it really is that time of year again, where we deck the halls and make merry with plenty of fatty food stuffs, but for those of us with a gadget disposition, the news can come a bit slow this time of year.

Think about it. There’s no point a company releasing a product now is there? The marketing buzz needed, stocking shelves and getting people to buy it would be far too late for Christmas now, and as such nothing tends to happen after mid-Nov until we start hearing word of the 2008 line-up in very early January.

The only thing you can do is pull up a chair, crack open those Xmas beers or mulled wine and read the stories that we can bring you in the run-up to Santa’s birthday [:)], and quietly wait until at some point in early 2008 we release with the real RandomlyAccessed v2.0, where we will outline all the new lines you need to look forward to in the coming year.

Or, I heard ‘1001 Recipes involving Rhubarb’ is just coming on TV….your choice…