by The Editors on August 13, 2008
A. Garrett Lisi, the surfer/snowboarder whose Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything sent shock waves through the theoretical physic world last year has just won another grant from the Foundational Questions Institute to continue work on his theory, according to a story on Newscientist.com.
Lisi will get $77,222 to work on his theory, which involves using a recently mapped 248-dimension mathematical structure called E8 to unify all the fundamental particles and forces, including gravity. In the last round of awards in 2006, FQXi gave Lisi $77,280 over two years.
That should keep him in the water for a while.
[Link: New Scientist]
by The Editors on August 12, 2008
Like an aging Barker’s Beauty from the Price is Right, deep laugh lines were beginning to show around the eyes of one of snowboarding’s longest-running websites and its ass was beginning to sag. Yobeat.com just wasn’t keeping up. That’s what happens when you’ve been blogging longer than the word blog has existed (we know all about this.)
Yobeat.com co-creator Brooke Geery has finally updated her side project’s backend to WordPress and given the site a whole new graphic face and we’re all thanking her for this. . . at least those of us who enjoy caustic ramblings.
Follow the jump for the entire press release. Yeah, it’s that professional now.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 12, 2008
In a new ad for HP Shaun White cruises into a room in green jogging shorts only to find all his friends wearing Shaun White masks that they’ve printed out on their HP Printers. “This is part of Feed Company’s ongoing back-to-school online campaign for HP,” according to a story on AdGabber.
Yeah, seeing a couch full of Shaun’s is a little unsetting, if you ask us. And no, it doesn’t make us want to buy an HP printer. Then again, maybe it ties into the whole Crash Course with Shaun White.
Click the link to watch Peanuts Thrown at Shaun White.
[Link: AdGabber]
by The Editors on August 12, 2008
Sometimes we forget that Hayes Brothers Snowboards is wholly owned by a private equity firm. Now, we won’t have to remember that any more because their parent company Ault Glazer & Co., Inc. has announced that it will no longer be a PE firm and that the business that’s left over will now be called Global Sports and Entertainment, Inc. This firm will be run by Bill Dully.
The new holding company will have minority ownership in Freedom Grill and Boom Entertainment, and will wholly own The Collectors X, Hayes Brothers Snowboard, as well as Global Authentication, Inc. as its flagship operation.
How’s that for a portfolio of companies: grills that attach to your trailer hitch, sports memorabilia athentication, oh, and snowboarding. Talk about synergy.
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on August 6, 2008
For a while it looked like Future Snowboarding would be done, but now, thanks to the savior of all sagging snowboarding magazines there will be another day.
Storm Mountain Publishing, (SMP) the Boulder, CO based publisher of SNOWBOARD and Freeskier magazines announced last week that it has purchased Future US, Inc’s snowboarding division for an undisclosed amount.
This purchase makes sense for Future’s website alone, but we are still amazed that small publishing companies are able to make the magazine model work while remaining honest about their distribution numbers.
[Link: Transworld Business]
by The Editors on August 4, 2008
The UK’s Factory Media LTD, the parent company of Surfer’s Path, Kingpin, Onboard, Surf Europe and 10 other action sports magazine titles is launching a video channel called Mpora.tv today according to a story on Marketing Week UK.
The channel, which launches in the UK today (4 August), is set to extend across Europe during the year. The launch is intended to supplement the user-generated video website Mpora.com and is aimed at expanding its core audience to include mainstream viewers.
Nothing like video to bring in that mythical “mainstream viewer” huh? Guess we can add Mpora to the growing list of action sports video crapragators because it doesn’t look like they’re doing anything new.
[Link: Marketing Week UK]
by The Editors on July 28, 2008
Things haven’t been going so well since last Thursday’s Volcom Conference call. Shares are down, the market is down, but the Motley Fool investing site is still “stoked” on the stock.
Volcom is one of the smartest consumer-goods companies I can think of, boasting what I consider an intense, in-depth understanding of its customers. That kind of deep understanding of and affinity for a specific client base similarly attracted me to Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN). . . Furthermore, Volcom’s recent stock’s weakness is giving investors a great opportunity to buy, although the short term might be rough.
Rough, indeed.
[Link: Motley Fool]
by The Editors on July 25, 2008
If you were basking in the sun at Huntington Beach yesterday (like much of the surf industry) and missed the Volcom conference call, here it is transcribed in it’s entirety. Here’s how Wooly kicked it off:
We are no more than half way through the year and I feel good about the progress that we have made managing our business in the U.S. running our new European operation and integrating Electric. The power of Volcom brand continues to capture the attention of consumers around the world and we are excited about the global opportunities that lay ahead.
His comments about electric:
Last quarter we added the full product line from electric, which includes sunglass, goggles, soft goods and accessories. During this period we launched three new sunglass styles, the Technician XL in May and the Detroit and Hoodlum the last week of June. So far the initial sell-through on all three styles has been very positive and we look forward to continuing to build on this excitement.
The Laguna Surf & Sport story:
The multi branded concept of the LS&S stores is a little different for us, but we believe it helps diversify our retail business by providing us with greater insight about our customers and market trends. It also brings an experience team to the company adding strength to our overall retail infrastructure. We plan to keep these stores operating under the LS&S name with the same employees, management and general product and brand mix.
For the rest of the call (including analyst questions) click the link.
[Link: Seeking Alpha and Reuters]
by The Editors on July 24, 2008
Julian Fine, a 31-year-old snowboarder from Sydney, Australia died at Portillo, Chile on July 22, 2008 after slipping off a “poma, or t-bar” lift at the resort.
He’s gone on a lift on the way up a mountain … and he was nearly at the top and he was just unable to hold onto the lift any more and he let go of it and he was caught in a sense in one of those sections on a mountain that was very difficult to get out of,” Michael Fine [Julian’s father] said. “He couldn’t traverse to the other side, and in his attempts to get out he ended up going over a ledge.”
Our thoughts are with the Fine family.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on July 23, 2008
Tomorrow, July 24, 2008 at 1:30 PST Volcom will host a conference call to discuss their financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.
The conference call will be available to interested parties through a live audio Internet broadcast at www.volcom.com. Volcom intends to utilize this webcast event to discuss financially-oriented goals and objectives and to disclose material company and industry-based topics in an open manner. The company does not plan to report or comment on its progress during the current fiscal quarter.
For those who are not available to listen to the live broadcast, the call will be archived for one year on the Volcom website. A telephone playback of the conference call will also be available until 11:59 p.m. EST, Thursday, July 31, 2008. Listeners should call (800) 642-1687 (domestic) or (706) 645-9291 (international) and use reservation: 55485369.
[Link: BusinessWire]
