Parrot's AR.Drone helicopter brings military-style amusement to the iPhone

Sure, the iPhone does a commendable job with heavy-duty 3D acceleration for intense virtual reality gaming, but funk that noise -- these guys want to bring you the real thing. Parrot -- better known for its Bluetooth accessories -- has introduced the AR.Drone, a WiFi-enabled remote control helicopter that takes its commands from the iPhone or iPod touch of your choice. The wacky toy has a pair of on-board cameras, one to help steady itself and the other to beam a live bird's-eye view (almost literally, if you pretend for a moment that this is in fact a bird) from the captain's seat onto your phone's screen. Parrot's mainly pushing the hardware here -- it's offering up a host of open source goodies to help developers learn about the product and figure out how to turn it into a must-have toy with replay value, and they'll have plenty of time to do so since it won't be available to consumers until "sometime in 2010." Follow the break for a video of the AR.Drone mercilessly hunting down and destroying all who dare oppose it.
%Gallery-81517%