Here’s something neat that’s been received at AMN Tek. CoolIT Systems brings us the CoolIT Beverage Chiller. This little gadget promises that it’s built-in cold plate chills to 45 degrees F and “keeps beverages at a cool drinking temperature”. Cold beverages and PC or console gaming sure go good together, right? So let’s take a look at the Beverage Chiller and see if it does what it was made to do.

Here we can see the actual blue “cold plate” with the CoolIT Systems logo. The cold plate resides in a white plastic case with a USB cable; which means that the beverage cooler can be used with desktop computers, laptops, your Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PS3, or anything with a powered USB port. Talk about convenient! The cold plate is big enough to place normal size cans of Bawls, soda cans, bottles, or mugs and glasses on it with no problem. But good luck if you drink like a racehorse and absolutely must have a 32 or 48 ounce bottle of Gatorade on hand at all times (like myself). Upon testing the unit with a tall glass of (sugar-free) iced tea for 45 minutes with my parched mouth waiting to get its drink on, I’ve come to the conclusion that the CoolIT Beverage Chiller does exactly what it’s made to do; and that is keep your favorite beverage frosty cold while you’re in the heated battle of a Quake 4 deathmatch or just simply watching your Sims run around and do stuff.

All-in-all, I’d say that the CoolIT Systems Beverage Cooler is a great, little gizmo, that does exactly what it was meant to do. It keeps your drinks cold in case you are in the middle of a game or if you need to run out for a little bit. Just place your beverage container (provided it fits) on the beverage cooler and let stand. When you get back, your drink will be just as cold as you left it.

We did find one little problem with the Chiller. If the room’s ambient temperature is scorching hot, the Chiller really won’t make a difference. So if you live in the middle of the desert or any place with high ambient temps, you can help the Beverage Chiller do it’s job by keeping your air conditioner running.

If you do a little searching at online stores, you can find the Beverage Cooler can be yours for anywhere between $18-24 USD. That isn’t bad at all for the amount of cooling this little guy does for you. Besides, have you ever tasted warm Bawls? It’s just as bad, or worse, than any other hot sugary soft-drink.

If you’re a gamer and you absolutely must have a cold drink nearby in the middle of frag fests, then the CoolIT Systems Beverage Chiller is something you might want to take a look at.

And the Halo Merchandise just keeps on coming. You’ll hear no complaints from me. You’re never too old to play with toys (if you’re willing to remain single), and Bungie.net was recently updated with info sure to lead you down the path of abstinence and solitude.

Jasman Toys is producing replicas of the Covenant plasma rifle and plasma pistol. They’re fully functional replicas! That doesn’t make death by plasma scoring a possibility. It just means they have flashing lights, make sound effects, and even have a recoil effect. Laser tag just went up a notch.

The US Army has taken an interesting step into technology with their new training device. It’s called Laser Shot: Live Fire Training. It allows for an almost virtual reality training session. With a complex set up of motion detectors, heat sensors, and projectors, as well as a few other things I doubt they told me. Soldiers can fire live ammunition at simulated targets and actually get a reaction. This allows for more realistic training, rather than using the paper and metal targets of the past. I don’t know which is worse, the Army training with a video game, or teenagers playing the game used in the simulations.