On the bike, your smartphone isn’t just a communication device, many apps turn it into a cycling computer. But it’s difficult to see the readouts from the screen if you have your phone in a back pocket or pouch. Australian start-up Annex Products has a Quad Lock case and mount that solves that problem.
Continue reading Keep Your iPhone Secure in Action with Quad Lock
COAST has announced a new products that it will be showing at the upcoming SHOT Show next month in Las Vegas, including the High Performance HP7 flash light, which is durable for just about any adventure. It packs 251 lumens of light into a sleek 5.5-inch aluminum body, and requires just four AAA batteries (included), while delivering a runtime of five hours and 45 minutes. This mighty light has a beam distance of 196 meters – that’s 643 feet – while offering high and low beam modes as well. This handheld flashlight also features a Cyclone heat sink system to decrease heat buildup to maximize light output and LED lifespan. Continue reading SHOT Show: COAST Preview
The price for a pair of sneakers easily competes with the cost of a fine pair of Italian leather dress shoes — for men or women. Yet sneakers are the last article of clothing that anyone thinks about washing. You might polish those fine Italian leather shoes, but will you use a shampoo-like wash and scrub brush to keep your running shoes, or even your boutique sneakers, looking new?
This week Netpulse, Inc, a provider of personalized interactive media for fitness centers and active lifestyle consumers, announced that it has acquired San Francisco-based Virtual Active. As a part of the acquisition, the entire Virtual Active team will be joining Netpulse, also based in San Francisco, to develop engaging exercise media experiences for active people.
This will see Netpulse expand its platform, which provides consumers worldwide with engaging content and data regarding their fitness experience, outside health clubs via mobile devices and home fitness products. Additionally, Netpulse has partnerships with seven of the leading commercial fitness equipment manufacturers, accounting for over 73 percent of global fitness equipment sales to health clubs. Continue reading Netpulse Nets Virtual Active
You and your riding buddies have just finished an all day mountain bike adventure and you are back at the car digging into the cooler to reward yourselves with a tasty beverage. Where’s the bottle opener?!?! There are none on your key chains and no one in the parking lot has one. Sure, you are mountain bikers and nothing is going to keep you from a cold bottle of suds, but slamming the bottle on the side of the guard rail can often lead to a sudsy mess and half of your hard earned beer on the ground. StemCAPtain has come to the rescue with their headset top cap that doubles as a bottle opener.
This past VeloSwap in Denver, we had a chance to chat with Mike Hogan, one of the StemCAPtain owners, who handed us a bottle opener to try. Bikes and beer goes hand and hand, so on the bike this opener went. The installation was just as easy as the StemCAPtain Clock and StepCAPtain Thermometer that we tested earlier this year and the entire install took less than two minutes to put on the bike. Continue reading Hands On: StemCAPtain Bottle Opener
The GoPro camera maybe ready to go anywhere – and for those who really push things that could be straight off the bike should the plastic handlebar mount fail. Stepping up to this concern is K-Edge of Boise, Idaho. We’ve seen some of the company’s other products and its line of GO BIG Mount mounts, designed specifically for the GoPro cameras are what we’d call the real deal.
The company offers both handle bar and seat mounts, with prices ranging from $20 to $60. K-Edge even offers a warranty that offers to replace a mount should a rider crash and break one – company founder has reportedly said he’d love to see the video in which said accident occurred! Continue reading Metal Grip Solid
There are times when having a good extra pair of shoes can come in real handy, and the Timberland Radler Trail Camp hikers could be just the thing. At just 9 ounces (255g) each these are plenty light, but weight is just part of the issue. The problem for many of us is that shoes – even when they weigh next to nothing – are still big and bulky. Video after the jump
There always seems to be that guy who mounts a boombox or other stereo on his bike so the world can enjoy some music. Sadly most of the time this just means that it becomes a portable way to annoy the world, and with the speakers pointed off the side and behind the rider, probably don’t provide the best sound for the one who wants to hear it most. Then there are those people who seem to think that headphones and a bike on the open road mix.
Handlebar speakers are probably the better bet, and the 3D Surround Music Box, which retails for around $58, is designed to provide some tunes for the person doing the pedaling, while still allowing the world to be heard – and also not have to be subjected to a massive boombox of someone else’s music. It features just 2watts per channel but is enough to hear the music clearly with a frequency response of 120Hz to 20KHz, and is posed by just three AA batteries. Without batteries it adds about 355grams but that’s a small amount for a personal stereo! Additional images
There is no denying that the skateboard came about when surfers put wheels on short boards to ride on land when the surf wasn’t up, and now some surfers from Huntington Beach, California are essentially reinventing it all over again with the Hamboard. What makes this one different is that it basically combines modern skateboards with a surfboard, resulting in what the creators called “a really big skateboard” or “basically an uber longboard or longboards.”
And the word from the creators is these boards, despite the length or possibly because of it, can carve and flow quite well. The surfers behind Hamboard have also noted that opinion has changed from those who simply to dismiss it to those who want to try it. So it could be the reinvention of sidewalk surfing all over again.
Hamboard Official Website
[Via BeSportier: Extra Long Skateboard – Hamboard]
The Verge reports “Apple wants to see a new wave of app-based accessories using the new Bluetooth Low Energy profile in Bluetooth 4.0, with a particular focus on next-generation health and fitness gadgets like the FitBit Ultra and Jawbone Up.”
BLE is a feature in Bluetooth 4.0—the latest version of the wireless radio-based technology that connects two devices over a short distance, such as between cell phones and headsets—designed for low-power and -latency applications. It allows devices that utilize the protocol to realize long, continuous operation before a recharge.
Along with the ANT+ protocol, the medical community and health care-related industries have taken an interest in BLE and designing products around (more about BLE in health care explained here). But, if Apple, a major, influential player in the electronics industry, is throwing its support behind it, BLE could become standard across the board.
There are no further details or timeline, according to The Verge, but the site notes that while the iPhone 4S already supports Bluetooth 4.0, it could be some time before an abundance of products show up on shelves.
[Via The Verge: Apple preps iOS accessory makers for Bluetooth 4.0; not using Bluetooth for AirPlay]
Here is something even the Professor on Gilligan’s Island never crafted: a Hammock Boat. This concoction, which is making the rounds online, was reportedly seen near University of California at Davis (with reports varying as to how long ago that was), and we’re not sure if it came about after a weekend binge or a marathon of old TV shows. While it seems silly, it probably does provide a good upper body workout. But we can see this appealing very much to those who’d rather just float down the river instead.
[Via Bonjour Life: Hammock Boat Concept]
Lenovo’s ThinkPad line of laptops has rightfully earned it’s spot amongst the gadget elite. Not one to rest on its laurels, the company is now treading on new waters and taking its ThinkPad line to the great outdoors. The new ThinkPad X130e has been designed for the active lifestyle, joining the myriad of rugged gadgets we’ve seen here at Kinetic Shift. Powering the laptop will be your choice of a Sandy Bridge Intel Core i3 ULV processor, AMD Fusion E-300 APU, or AMD Fusion E-450 APU.
And that’s where all similarities with the rest of the ThinkPad line end, because this 11.6″ machine will feature a top cover rubber bumper to absorb any impacts made to the laptop. Rugged corners will also shield the notebook should it fall from an angle, while recessed ports should keep normal wear and tear at a minimum. Protecting the 11.6″ LED panel will be a 1.2 mm-thick bezel. Battery-wise, you can expect to get up to 8.5 hours of use before needing a recharge and the entire system will weigh a respectable 3.9 lbs. You won’t be getting a lot of RAM (the standard configuration will include 2GB of RAM upgradeable to 8GB), but for storage you can expect a 320GB or 500GB hard drive. There’s even the choice for a 128GB SSD. The laptop is expected to make its debut just before the holidays on December 20 starting at $469.
Lenovo Official Website
[via GizMag: Lenovo to launch student-targeted ruggedized ThinkPad X130e laptop]
There is no denying that the Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is a hit. It reportedly holds the Guinness World Record for being the best-selling consumer electronics device, and it has done a great job transforming video games into slightly more active activities. No one is going to argue that games will get anyone fit, but getting moving can’t hurt. Microsoft had previously announced it was bringing the Kinect to the PC, and now it seems that all new Xbox games will be required to offer Kinect support – and if rumors are true the Kinect will be built-in on the future Xbox 720. While this could just include voice support, which won’t get anyone off the couch and actually could make matters worse, we can’t help but think that maybe games will help America get back on a fitness track after all!