I won't claim to be a crowbar expert, but I'm pretty sure this is a crowbar; it's not flat.
I had it lying flat for photography purposes (so that you could get a good look at the text), but the curved end is there. PC Perspective has a side shot that shows this well: http://www.pcper.com/news/Editorial/NVIDIA-continu...
Interestingly, the crowbar in Half Life may have been colored red to either make it more visible in the game (to pick up), and / or possibly because Lego was used by the game designers in Half Life to make early game mock ups and prototypes. Since the color of the crowbars in Lego is also red. There is no other reason I could find.
AFAIK - that does not mean that a crowbar must be red to be called a crowbar.
According to wikipedia, the terms prybar and crowbar are 100% equivalent to each other and mean exactly the same thing as each other. The guy who wrote this acticle is correct that its not a flatbar. Because a flatbar is, by the very definition of the word FLAT.
Crowbar seems to score pretty highly in all regards for describing the object depicted here. So trying to correct the reviewer over their multiple free and valid vocabulary choices is both completely unnecessary and utterly pointless.
There is already a great place to discuss what is the emphatically "correct" term, and argue whether a crowbar isn't a prybar or a flatbar, or anything else. And it absolutely isn't right here. Its the Wikipedia page mentioned above (discussion tab).
In italian we don't have that problem because it only has one name: piede di porco. Literally it means "swine's foot", because the end of that tool looks like a pig hoof. In my whole life I always thought that the typical color for crowbars is red, and I never played half life. Crowbars in my opinion are red because they're needed by firefighters to get people out of buildings, cars or whatever. Just like a firefighter's axe is red, a firefighting hose cabinet is red, an alarm button is red, most crowbars are red for that reason, they must be easy to find and identify in a hurry.
Gee, let me think, what do you open with a pry-bar? Maybe a Krait? That, or they are shipping their super-high-end Graphics card in a wood box as a PR stunt.
Hey crowbar freaks!! I think this is just a gimmik. And that the Anand Tech already has a Nvidia product being tested for review release on the product launch day. But is it soooo hard to guess, you crowbar freaks?? :D P.S- Great respect for AnandTech Family.
Wouldn't that be something if HL3 wound up bundled w/a new NVidia card? That would be truly awesome. Would be nice if Saturday's announcement was for the 670GTX/660GTX type parts. And what would be even nicer than that, would be if Saturday's announcement isn't just a paper launch and there are actual cards (more than 1 per etailer) to buy in a timely manner.
Crow bars start life as a hex shaped rod (round) and get bent so one end is good for prying up nails with the main shaft of the tool nearly parallel to the work surface and the other end gets bent so it looks like a rounded shepards crook and is good for prying up nails whilst the main shaft is nearly perpendicular to the work surface. I suspect these are nicer to hold and fit your hand better. I have one of these and it is generally too big and heavier than the little flat bar. I don't do serious prying.
The black piece in the photo started life as a flat piece of steel and is called a flat bar. These are usually smaller and cheaper to make. I use these because they are smaller and cheaper.
Now that we have PCIe 3.0... gotta go with the dual-GPU GTX 690 idea = boring. Or maybe a dual-GPU lower end model = better, but still boring.
But I'll soil myself if it's Project Denver incarnated. (highly unlikely... but isn't this due soon?)
Or maybe a joint announcement with Valve about... a gaming system? Valve is coming to the Linux platform apparently, where nvidia has its stuff together. Not likely, but Valve has been making a lot of press lately.
Ok, enough dreaming... it's another boring desktop GPU.
Given Valves recent announcement on Linux ports and their hiring of a hardware team a joint game console announcement doesn't seem so far fetched. The market for a Linux port of Source is tiny unless they plan on creating one themselves with a Linux game box.
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Duraz0rz - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Calling it now...free copy of HL3 bundled with GT650.MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
That would be sooo amazing!A5 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
LOL yeah right.Duraz0rz - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Lemme rephrase that...free coupon for HL3 with the purchase of GT 650.thetuna - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Shit, I'd settle for a piece of paper saying hl3 exists...ARoyalF - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
LMAO, that or it will be released in the next 5 years.KZ0 - Thursday, April 26, 2012 - link
And apply Valve time on that, and it suddenly means 'it might exist some time in the future'rs2 - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
No, talk of HL3 is premature. They still have to finish HL2 Episode 3 first.SlyNine - Saturday, April 28, 2012 - link
As soon as I seen the crowbar. I I def thought of HalflifeGoty - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
The crowbar in HL is red, not black (also, really a crowbar, not a prybar)./Story
uop - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Used to kill snakes, in particular a Krait?meloz - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
rofl, that's pretty vicious uop!Chillin1248 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
It's not a crowbar. It's called a flat bar, commonly known as a pry bar./too much time on his hands
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
I won't claim to be a crowbar expert, but I'm pretty sure this is a crowbar; it's not flat.I had it lying flat for photography purposes (so that you could get a good look at the text), but the curved end is there. PC Perspective has a side shot that shows this well: http://www.pcper.com/news/Editorial/NVIDIA-continu...
Chillin1248 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Flat bar:http://www.showroom411.com/Media/CMS/2009/flat%20b...
http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWHT55528-21-Inch-Spr...
:)
macuser2134 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Interestingly, the crowbar in Half Life may have been colored red to either make it more visible in the game (to pick up), and / or possibly because Lego was used by the game designers in Half Life to make early game mock ups and prototypes. Since the color of the crowbars in Lego is also red. There is no other reason I could find.AFAIK - that does not mean that a crowbar must be red to be called a crowbar.
According to wikipedia, the terms prybar and crowbar are 100% equivalent to each other and mean exactly the same thing as each other. The guy who wrote this acticle is correct that its not a flatbar. Because a flatbar is, by the very definition of the word FLAT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowbar_%28tool%29
Crowbar seems to score pretty highly in all regards for describing the object depicted here. So trying to correct the reviewer over their multiple free and valid vocabulary choices is both completely unnecessary and utterly pointless.
There is already a great place to discuss what is the emphatically "correct" term, and argue whether a crowbar isn't a prybar or a flatbar, or anything else. And it absolutely isn't right here. Its the Wikipedia page mentioned above (discussion tab).
Murloc - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
In italian we don't have that problem because it only has one name: piede di porco. Literally it means "swine's foot", because the end of that tool looks like a pig hoof.In my whole life I always thought that the typical color for crowbars is red, and I never played half life.
Crowbars in my opinion are red because they're needed by firefighters to get people out of buildings, cars or whatever.
Just like a firefighter's axe is red, a firefighting hose cabinet is red, an alarm button is red, most crowbars are red for that reason, they must be easy to find and identify in a hurry.
Chillin1248 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
There are differences between a crowbar and a flat bar, look at the "hook" part of a crowbar and compare it to a flat bar ("L" shaped).But I meant it more as a passing jest anyways rather than correcting the writer...
TGressus - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
marketed as a flat pry bar in the states. probably goes by all kinds of names on the job.piss poor internet sleuthing by the way. if you didn't know, you didn't have to comment.
stonemetal - Friday, April 27, 2012 - link
It is flat in that its cross section is flat like paper. Crow bars typically have round or hexagonal cross sections.maevinj - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Yeah, I call those my bitch bar at work. Definitely not a crowbarMonkeyPaw - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Gee, let me think, what do you open with a pry-bar? Maybe a Krait? That, or they are shipping their super-high-end Graphics card in a wood box as a PR stunt.TGressus - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
Krait homophone for crate. Nice thinking!Hard to imagine why that would get released at a LAN tournament, though :(
Ujjwal Tiwari - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Hey crowbar freaks!! I think this is just a gimmik. And that the Anand Tech already has a Nvidia product being tested for review release on the product launch day. But is it soooo hard to guess, you crowbar freaks?? :DP.S- Great respect for AnandTech Family.
MichaelD - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Wouldn't that be something if HL3 wound up bundled w/a new NVidia card? That would be truly awesome. Would be nice if Saturday's announcement was for the 670GTX/660GTX type parts. And what would be even nicer than that, would be if Saturday's announcement isn't just a paper launch and there are actual cards (more than 1 per etailer) to buy in a timely manner.prophet001 - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Not a crowbar... definitely a flatbar.Still though, kinda odd.
voodoobunny - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
......
...
could this mean Half-Life 3 is coming???? Could it could it????
(*not at all excited*)
voodoobunny - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
although I guess it could also be a striking snake :(. *sigh*lebarle - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Crow bars start life as a hex shaped rod (round) and get bent so one end is good for prying up nails with the main shaft of the tool nearly parallel to the work surface and the other end gets bent so it looks like a rounded shepards crook and is good for prying up nails whilst the main shaft is nearly perpendicular to the work surface. I suspect these are nicer to hold and fit your hand better. I have one of these and it is generally too big and heavier than the little flat bar. I don't do serious prying.The black piece in the photo started life as a flat piece of steel and is called a flat bar. These are usually smaller and cheaper to make. I use these because they are smaller and cheaper.
Not that anyone cares or should care.
I wonder what Nvidia is getting ready to release?
jwcalla - Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - link
Now that we have PCIe 3.0... gotta go with the dual-GPU GTX 690 idea = boring. Or maybe a dual-GPU lower end model = better, but still boring.But I'll soil myself if it's Project Denver incarnated. (highly unlikely... but isn't this due soon?)
Or maybe a joint announcement with Valve about... a gaming system? Valve is coming to the Linux platform apparently, where nvidia has its stuff together. Not likely, but Valve has been making a lot of press lately.
Ok, enough dreaming... it's another boring desktop GPU.
tilandal - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
Given Valves recent announcement on Linux ports and their hiring of a hardware team a joint game console announcement doesn't seem so far fetched. The market for a Linux port of Source is tiny unless they plan on creating one themselves with a Linux game box.PsiAmp - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - link
for a emergency burning video card extraction.Jen Hsung posing with a flat bar after unsuccessful tests
http://i.imgur.com/qBGWt.jpg