{"id":13996,"date":"2011-09-12T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T22:00:00","slug":"top-hardware-gimmicks-you-d-want-to-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/hardware\/13996-top-hardware-gimmicks-you-d-want-to-own","title":{"rendered":"Top hardware gimmicks you\u2019d want to own"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We&rsquo;ve all bought something on impulse, some piece of hardware that we just had to have.<\/p>\n<p>Thoughts of, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s totally useful&rdquo; and &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how I&rsquo;ve managed before without it&rdquo; convince you to go ahead and buy the item, only to be disappointed and leave your new purchase to gather dust in the cupboard.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, if you&rsquo;re the type to get excited by a new toy or gimmick, you might consider one of these&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Antec BIAS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Antec BIAS is a monitor lighting kit that installs itself on the back of your 24-inch or smaller monitor. It makes used of six white LEDs and projects soothing while light on the wall behind your monitor.<\/p>\n<p>It claims to reduce eye fatigue, increase perceived image clarity and perceived contrast ratio.<\/p>\n<p>We&rsquo;re not buying the marketing, but it does look really cool.<\/p>\n<p>The device retails for under R100 locally, meaning it&rsquo;s a relatively inexpensive waste of money. I&rsquo;ve just ordered mine. (<em>James: Hey! I want one too!).<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/antec_BIAS_156717545.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"339\" height=\"339\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>OCZ N.I.A<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ah the good old Neural Impulse Actuator from OCZ, the device they said would revolutionise gaming.<\/p>\n<p>It didn&rsquo;t, but you aren&rsquo;t nerd enough if you never considered owning one.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily the high price tag meant not too many wasted their money on the N.I.A, though I still crave some of that &ldquo;Space-Age Technology&rdquo; from time to time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/OCZ_NIA_223333574.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video eyewear<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Who hasn&rsquo;t wanted a pair of glasses with little screens in them?<\/p>\n<p>With manufacturers providing a range of solutions that give the impression of watching a 75-inch+ TV from 3 metres away there is no limit to the appeal of this one.<\/p>\n<p>However, poor resolutions, low battery life and a high cost makes video eyewear a gimmick for now, but we sure do dream of the day when good quality affordable devices become available.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/TV_in_glasses_588501287.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>USB powered XXX<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You name it, and there is a USB powered version being sold online.<\/p>\n<p>Mug warmers, cigarette lighters, fans, cup holders&#8230; and this is just the start.<\/p>\n<p>Companies are quick to take the versatility of the USB port way too far by providing you with all sorts of devices that don&rsquo;t actually work well enough to justify themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Just ask my USB mug warmer that struggles to heat half a glass of milk in 4 hours.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/mug_warmer_659251759.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Gaming Glasses<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gaming eyewear looks pretty cool. Featuring a soft amber tint, the glasses are supposed to reduce eye fatigue and increase perceived contrast.<\/p>\n<p>While there may be some merit to this, you&rsquo;re wearing glasses indoors, while looking at a monitor.<\/p>\n<p>They&rsquo;re also quite pricy, but that&rsquo;s not to say wannabe pro gamers won&rsquo;t splash the required dosh.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/steelseries_scope_2_659072294.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is no end to the amount of gimmick hardware available out there for gamers and PC users in general.<\/p>\n<p>The marketing surrounded them seems to promise the world, and the price tag is irrelevant when you really want the device, so you&rsquo;ll often give in.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&rsquo;t a bad thing though, because if it puts a smile on your face, why the heck not?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Have you bought any hardware gimmicks lately? Let us know in the comments below<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\">and on the<\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> <a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/17594-Hardware-gimmicks-you&rsquo;d-want-to-own\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Top hardware gimmicks you&rsquo;d want to own\">MyGaming forum<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/hardware\/8139-SteelSeries-Scope-pro-gaming-eyewear-announced.html\" target=\"_self\" title=\"SteelSeries Scope pro gaming eyewear announced\">SteelSeries Scope pro gaming eyewear announced<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We take a look at gimmicky hardware that puts a smile on your face<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}