This huge, motorized crossbow is fully automatic, meaning it automatically loads, cocks, and fires. It doesn't appear to have a huge range, but it's certainly enough to make me glad it's not widely available for sale. [Ubergizmo]

Why would you need a crossbow when you are already holding an AR-15? I cannot envision a scenario where it makes sense—unless you are invited to some island beyond the bounds of law where men are hunted for sport. You don't want to make it too easy, so you hunt with the crossbow. Then again, we are talking about the most dangerous game of all here, so you have the high-powered rifle as a backup. Speaking of backups, you might want to add the G.R.A.D. .22-cal knife gun to your double-kill arsenal just in case. Hit the following link to see a video of the TAC-15 in action. [YouTube and PSE via BBG]

Instructions on how to become your own LEGO arms dealer can be found in Hüdepohl's book, LEGO for Adults. The book features construction plans for the two weapons, detailed operating instructions, and a Thriller Automatic mini poster. According to the website, only 1,050 copies of the book were made because of LEGO's rules against using their trademark in connection with guns. So grab the book quick, before you're on the losing end of a LEGO showdown. [Xubor via Boingboing]

If you're worried aiming is going to be an issue, fret not. A laser sight is included to make sure you beat all your current scores in Link's Crossbow Training. Priced at $28, the Wii Crossbow is priced on the steep side, but you can always take it in the garden, load it up with Nerf darts and pelt the bejeezus out of next door's cat. Alternatively, you could use it to save some Christian aid officials that unwittingly have happened upon difficult times in war-torn Burma. You are Rambo. [Deal Extreme viaTechnabob]

Behold the new UMPC with Menlow, for it will "truly put the full Internet in your pocket"! According to the Intel Ultra Mobile Group Chief Evangelist, that is. And provided you have the pants of Krusty The Clown and are ready to take all kinds of "is that the full Internet in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" jokes. The most interesting bit from Mark, showing the Compal prototype in Beijing, was his mention of the Ultra Mobile Platform 2008 running Windows, Linux and Mac OS X:

"This can also run Linux. We don't care what you put on it. [Can you run OS X?] Absol... you know? I bet you could, because the iPhone is going to be running OS X."

While a fully functional PC with 45 nanometer Silverthorn processor running Mac OS X won't be a surprise, it's nice to find that 1) Intel doesn't give a damn about Windows in the brave new world of mobility computing and 2) there seems to be an absol-I-bet-you-could possibility of Apple using Menlow for their next iPhone/Mini-me MacBooks.

In any case, the Compal-who-thinks-it's-a-PSP is a nice "fully functional PC" on its own, running for 4 to 6 hours on "cellphone batteries" with a panoramic touchscreen, sliding keyboard and support for all kinds of Wi-Fi and WiMax. – Jesus Diaz

Blogging Beijing: Intel UMPC Prototype [Textura Design]

If you put your head down on your desk and take a nap, you'll feel like you were actually there! – Jason Chen

Windows Mobile 6 In Excruciating Detail [Crunchgear]

As for the phone itself, there's GPS, quad-band GSM, the front QWERTY, a 2.8-inch touchscreen, 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM, miniSD expansion, 200MHz OMAP processor, 802.11b/g WiFi, 2-megapixel auto-focus camera, Bluetooth 1.2, and the whole thing runs on Windows Mobile 6 Crossbow. All in all, the specs aren't THAT impressive, but it's a solid phone that features the next mobile OS from Microsoft. – Jason Chen

i-Mate JAQ4 [i-Mate]

There are a handful in various shapes and form-factors, but the most notable one could be the Asus Aries—an HTC Excalibur/Motorola Q-like device with a QWERTY on the bottom. It has WM6, f course, and Tri-band UMTS, a 2-megapixel camera, a scroll wheel (not like that lousy touchpad thing on the HTC Dash/Excalibur), a secondary camera on the front for video calls, and a 520Mhz XScale processor. It's impressive on paper, and should be an interesting alternative to HTC's offerings.

Check out the rest of the Asus phones in the gallery.

– Jason Chen

Asus's Latest WM6 Phones [Gear Diary]

ASUS Aries Windows Mobile 6 Standard Phone on the way [Mobile Top Soft]

LG's iPhone clone to run Windows Mobile 6 [Mobility Today]

Otherwise, it's pretty much what you would expect from a smartphone nowadays: 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD slot, etc. There's no built-in GPS functionality, so be prepared to break out a dongle. Come to think of it, Asus' fake phones look better than this. – Nicholas Deleon

Exclusivité : Asus va commercialiser un Smartphone 3G avec clavier et écran non tactile (in French) [GPSAndGo via SlashPhone]

The current Pocket PC Phone Edition (touchscreen, Mobile Office) is going to be Professional, whereas the current Smartphone (no touchscreen, no Mobile Office), is the Standard, and the current Pocket PC Edition (for PDAs, no calling) will be the Classic. These names still don't really do a good job of describing how one does or does not have touchscreen and other functionality, but it's a lot better than what they had before. – Jason Chen

Crossbow Info [Pocketinfo via Crunchgear]

It's also a pre-release version, so good luck in not screwing up your phone. – Jason Chen

Download [Hotfile]

So what's changed?

Not a whole lot, which jives with what we saw before. There's a new default skin which looks like Vista, an updated keyboard, Windows Live Search installed by default, and othe rcosmetic changes.

And from the video, it doesn't seem like Crossbow's all THAT much faster than the Windows Mobile 5. Sure, there are some speed increases, but delays are still the name of the game. Let's hope there've been some tweaks between this release and the final. – Jason Chen

Video [Smartmania.cz]

WM Crossbow [Smartmania.cz via Mobility Today]

It doesn't look like much has changed. – Mark Wilson

Windows Mobile Crossbow [via Davey C. at mobilitytoday]

Another welcome new feature: support for HTML in messages. It's about time. Other than that, it looks like there's not a whole lot of new stuff here. It looks like this is just stopgap for the holy grail, Windows Mobile Photon, which is expected to be released in a couple of years. But when will we see this version? And will we be able to upgrade our existing phones?

The reviewers predict the first devices loaded with this updated operating system will appear in the second quarter of next year, with only HP and E-Ten on the list of companies that are ready to upgrade existing devices. Check out the long-winded review for every conceivable detail. – Charlie White

Review of Windows Mobile 6.0 for PPC (Crossbow) operating system [Mobile Review]

Crossbow beta testers are disappointed, however. Unfortunately, most of its updates are cosmetic, and there's still no way to actually quit applications. There's no WiFi sync, either. Dang. – Charlie White

Windows Mobile Crossbow [Mobility Today]

Other upcoming features are a strong link to Office 2007 and Exchange 12 for push emails and other features, and also instant messaging built in. No doubt it's going to be Windows Live Messenger, so AIM and ICQ users will have to install third party software again. Crossbow looks to be released to manufacturers at the end of 2006 and in phones around Q1/Q2 2007. Crossbow's successor should be available sometime Q1/Q2 2008, so there's something to look forward to.

In our opinion, we'd Crossbow's shaping up to look really great, but hopefully its stability is improved over WM5. – Jason Chen

New Windows Mobile OS "Crossbow" shows its face [MS Mobiles]

By removing the external dependency on the Blackberry software, an enterprise with 20,000 mobile users could save up to $1.5 million just from licensing. It normally takes from 6 to 12 months for mobile operators to test a new OS, so you won't be seeing this until sometime in '07.

Microsoft Developing Next Mobile OS: Crossbow [PC World]