These are days of miracles and selfies. . . the way the camera follows us in slo-mo it’s no wonder we all need to get the shot from a better angle. Greg Lutzka knows this better than most and that’s likely why he has just signed with GoPro camera accessory leader GoPole.
Lutzka will be joining some of the world’s top action sports athletes including surfer Jamie O’Brien, wakeboarder Josh Palma and snowboarder Tim Humphreys to help promote and support action footage captured utilizing GoPole products. Skateboarding is an essential part of GoPole’s mission to push the progression and diversity within action sports and adding Lutzka, who has a reputation of being one of the hardest working skateboarders in the industry, will only solidify their efforts.
Okay, we’re going to show our console color here for a minute, but Activision has officially announced that the stalled Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise is back in action and will be released on PS4 and Xbox One later this year and also for PS3 and Xbox 360 after that.
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 will be employing the core gameplay of the first four titles of the series, hence it retained the “Pro Skater” title. This game will see the additions of power-ups and shooting projectiles in specific additions while the developers promise that the gameplay will be finely tuned. . . . There will be new set of levels with objectives. The missions can be completed either alone or with friends through online co-op. There is also multiplayer competitive play. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 can be played with either friends or strangers or the combination of both.
Skaters featured in the game will include: Nyjah Huston, Aaron Homoki, Ishod Wair, Riley Hawk, Lizzie Armanto, Chris Cole, David Gonzalez, Leticia Bufoni, and Andrew Reynolds. But what about Wii U? Nope. Apparently there’s no love for Nintendo at the Pro Skater house.
Last fall when word went out that surfer Alana Blanchard had joined up as an ambassador for 50 Cent’s SMS Audio headphone company we thought, “Pffffft, what does Alana know about headphones. She just needs something to fill the audio slot on her sponsor dance card.” Well, our understanding of Alana’s personal audio knowledge has not changed since September, however, we did get the chance to plug in some SMS Audio headphones and you know what? We like ’em.
We’re kind of picky about headphones. We only like in-ears, because, really, why roll around with big Princess Leah buns on the sides of your head all day. And we only go wired because we have enough stuff to keep charged already. How hard is it to run a wire down your shirt and plug it into your phone. Not hard at all. That’s why we think 50’s In-ear Wired Sport headphones are right up there with our favorite sounders yet.
The earphones ship with three sizes of ear pieces and “stay-fit wings” and once we got them sized right they locked in and didn’t budge a bit no matter how much we got rattled them. They also kept most of the ambient sound out even though they are not noise canceling. The MFI cord is tangle free and flat and features a three-button controller with a mic for controlling the volume and taking calls on the roll. What more do you need? The In-ear Wired Sports retail for $79.95 if you click right here you can get them for $42.99.
Nixon today (April 22, 2015) announced the launch of their smartest surf watch ever. It’s called the Ultratide and not only does it have have the tide, but it has all the surf metrics that are important to surfers thanks to a partnership with Surfline.
The Ultratide features Bluetooth® wireless technology to provide you with real time data, including wave height, swell direction, wind direction and speed, water and air temperatures, Surfline rating, and custom Surf Alerts. The Ultratide provides the user with 10 live data points of forecast details, which is 10x the amount of data typically found in surf/tide watches. Browse the entire Surfline network of spots – over 3300 and growing – and select your favorites. Set up custom alerts for each spot and the Ultratide will make sure you never miss an epic session again.
Yes, this is a Nixon watch that does more than look good telling the time. Pre-release colors are available right now at select retailers as well as Nixon.com and Surfline.com. The full range of Ultratide watches goes on sale May 15, 2015. The watch sells for $300. For the official word from Nixon, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Next time we borrow grandma’s iPad it seems we’ll have something to do with it — Alto’s Adventure snowboarding game. The Verge calls this “chill snowboarding adventure” the “next great iPad game.”
But what really sets it apart from other similar games is its style. Alto takes place on an achingly beautiful mountain, one filled with crumbling ruins, dark forests, and icy slopes. The weather and time of day change regularly, and you’ll find yourself chasing (and being chased) by llamas and village elders. It feels like an art game fused with a fun little time waster; like Sword & Sworcery meets Tiny Wings. “We wanted it to be a beautiful experience,” says Ryan Cash, from developer Snowman, “but the gameplay and fun factor matters just as much to us.”
The game is available in the iTunes store for $1.99 and has no in app purchases (thankfully). For a more in depth review, click the link.
Aside from creating nearly everything to do with modern street skating (before it was called that) Rodney Mullen has also become a hot-ticket public speaker on the Silicon Valley lecture circuit speaking to groups about dedication and remaining true to your passions. But there’s more, as Wired Magazine writer Brendan I. Koerner found out in his profile on Mr. Mullen in the February issue of the tech culture magazine.
More than 30 years after he invented most of the gravity-defying maneuvers that still form skateboarding’s basic vocabulary, Mullen is enjoying a strange sort of second act. He has become a sought-after speaker on the Silicon Valley conference circuit, making the rounds at PopTech, Foo Camp, TEDx, and myriad of other events where technology bigwigs gather to feast on ideas. . . As his speaking career has flourished, Mullen also has landed an array of choice consulting gigs: advising the head of a USC research lab that develops virtual reality systems, shooting a short film about creativity for Adobe, collaborating with the Smithsonian to launch a project about skateboarding, history, and innovation.
For the rest of the profile, please click the link.
If you like Burton Snowboardsand music, then Braven has just the Bluetooth speakers for you.
Heralded for their superior ruggedness, plethora of features and outstanding sound quality, the compact BRV-1 and battle-ready BRV-X can withstand even the hardest elements. Ideal for riders and those who love the outdoors, both wireless Bluetooth speakers enjoy an IPX7 certified waterproof rating and can transform into a battery bank to charge USB devices to stay powered up while on the go.
Guess the whole waterproof thing comes in handy when you’re in the hot tub apré shred and you want the other kids to know you’re down with the Big B. For the official word from Braven, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
As we’ve discovered over the past decade, creating a video demo of a tech product is much easier that creating a tech product. Over the years we’ve seen some amazingly cool technology that hoped to be transformative. Then nothing went to market. We know nothing about Alon Getz or his company Ride On, but from the looks of this video he and his team are at least dreaming in the right direction. If you’re impressed with this edit, then by all means donate some funding to Ride On’s Indie Gogo project and help get this immersive heads up display goggle out on the market. Click the link.
We’ve often given our friends at Nixon grief for the fact that all their watches really do is tell time. And time of day really isn’t all that important of a metric when compared to all the other data points we use to run our lives. Sure the SuperTide kicks down a great overview of the tide, but in the era of truly smart watches, all most Nixon watches had going for them is they looked good and kept the proper time. With the launch of their Nixon UltraTide all that is about to change. This new Nixon tide watch delivers up to the minute Surfline tide, swell, wind, and weather data directly to the wrist.
Using advanced technology to take surf watches to an entirely new level, Nixon and Surfline’s goal in creating the Ultratide was not to change the way people surf, but rather give surfers more information and to deliver it in real time so you’ll never not know. . . . The Ultratide – unlike virtually every smart watch out there today – has no pesky cords required to sync or charge. Syncing with your smartphone via Bluetooth delivers the most accurate and up-to-date surf conditions directly to your wrist. This is not predicted information… this is real time with 10 live data points including creating custom surf alerts for the spots you want and the conditions you like. Browse the entire Surfline network of spots – over 2,700 and growing – and select your favorites. Set up custom alerts for each spot, and The Ultratide will make sure you never miss an epic session again.
Sounds like this watch is going to be a serious surf watch killer. The only bad news — it’s not out in time for Christmas. We’re all going to have to wait until “early spring,” well after the Apple Watch has dropped. Not to worry. From what we’ve heard the Apple watches aren’t even waterproof. For the official word from Nixon and Surfline, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Quiksilver isn’t completely stuck trying to figure out which direction they’re headed . Their Roxy brand just partnered with Sony on a nice looking SmartBand fitness tracker and as we all know, wearables are the future.
The wearable technology in SmartBand with ROXY talks to the Lifelog app and your Android smartphone via Bluetooth® and NFC. If you receive any calls, messages, likes or tweets while away from your phone, SmartBand with Roxy will vibrate to notify you. SmartBand with ROXY can also measure your sleep cycle and wake you up at the optimum time. . . A perfect solution for a girl who is always on the go and ready for an adventure, SmartBand with ROXY merges fashion with technology in a unique way. Our favorite feature: it’s waterproof! So no need to take off SmartBand with ROXY when you go stand-up paddle boarding!
If we were teenage girls (who had Android phones) we’d buy one right now, even for $99.
