Six Swim Toys

by Ami Kealoha

Summer's peak calls for something a little more inventive than an inner tube to distract from soaring temperatures. From a hydrofoil that can hit speeds of 17 mph to a floating table tennis game, these water toys will keep young and old cool and happy.

Dinosaur Play Center
Featuring pterodactyls and other dinosaurs, a slide, wading pool, ring toss game, basketball hoop, and a spray nozzle, this inflatable pool provides hours of entertainment and outdoes standard kiddie pools by a lot. $60 from Sports Authority.

Floating Pool Volleyball Game Set
Complete with net and ball, this inflatable set moves the game from sandy courts into water, a much better playing field for cooling bodies and forgivis brutal dives for the ball. $25 from In the Swim.

6-foot Walk-on-Water Ball
Like a water-based human hamster wheel, exterior cups help grip the water's surface while the person inside moves the sphere simply by walking—if they can stay upright. Or, get two for new competitive water sports. Bumper balls anyone? $250 from Hammacher Schlemmer.

Hydrofoil Water Scooter
Perhaps the nearest equivalent to walking on water, riders propel this hydrofoil by simply hopping. Made from aircraft aluminum and fiberglass, it weighs only 26 pounds and is easily transportable. $500 from Hammacher Schlemmer (below, left).

Floating Pool Pong Table Game
Made from durable foam, this ping-pong set goes easily from tabletop to pool—though why play on land when you can be waist-deep in water? $90 (on sale) from Toy Splash (above, right).

Motorized Pool Lounger Float
Two joystick-controlled submerged motors enable paddle-free maneuvering of this cushy inflatable raft. Battery-powered, the motors are quiet and a built-in cupholder ensures total relaxation. On sale for $130 from Pool Toy.

Sameunderneath

by Ami Kealoha

Coining the term "street organic," Sameunderneath is a Portland-based clothing line that started using Bamboo fibers in their latest collection. With a dedication to socially conscious goals, Bamboo's sustainability, natural anti-bacterial and non-allergenic functions, breathability and fade-resistance make it an ideal material. Sameunderneath uses a 50-50 blend of bamboo and cotton, a supple fabric that's slightly thicker and more luxurious feeling than cotton for their subtly-styled t-shirts. Their Signature Tee (pictured), comes in warm orange, black and white, and features understated embroidered accents at the shoulder and hip, an embossed logo on the back of the neck, and an interior screen-print inset lining. Though the shirt's listed as "slim fit," it's cut a little wider than expected. $36 from Sameunderneath.

Also on Cool Hunting: Bam Clothing

Cool Hunting Video Presents: BAP Lab Part 1: New Media Artists

by Cool Hunting Video

A project of the Bushwick Art Project, BAP Lab is a curated, one-day event (just over 14 hours to be exact) that brings together over 80 different new media artists, musicians, performers, DJs, and visual artists in Brooklyn. On 22 July 2006 the second annual BAP Lab took place in a 20,000 square-square foot warehouse that's been converted into community space for artists called 3rd Ward. For CH's 44th video, we highlighted six of the artists there, who all make work best filed under the catch-all "New Media" genre. Playing with notions of time, vision, and technology, the episode includes Jamie Burkart's project called "Time is Long," which records viewers on a VHS tape that he's extended out of the VCR and through the heart of the gallery, so that the image plays back on another monitor 20 minutes later. Also making use of a video monitor and passé technology, Gregory Shakar's interactive "Analog Color Field Computer" allows the user to produce pure fields of color on monitors and manipulate corresponding pure tones. With a near microscopic perspective, Ernesto Klar's "Convergenze Parallele" uses custom-designed software to trace patterns of dust particles and amplify their movements sonically and visually. These and the other three artists in this episode are only the first segment of our two-part coverage of this new independent and inspiring festival.

DRY Soda

by Evan Orensten

Seattle-based DRY Soda offers four flavors of "culinary" soda that were created to be paired with food—a strategy similar to that of Modern Spirits Vodka.

One of the first things you notice about DRY sodas is the aroma of the four flavors, which is pleasant and not overwhelming. The sodas are caffeine free, very lightly sweetened with cane sugar, flavored with natural fruit and herb extracts and weigh in at a guilt free 50-70 calories. The packaging and bottles are also nicely designed

Our favorites were Kumquat, "With its high acidity and and bright fruitiness" it goes with just about everything, and Rhubarb, which "capatures both the sweet complexity and the mouth-watering tartness" and can be paired to any food that's in good company with a hearty red wine. We also enjoyed the Lemongrass and the Lavendar flavors.

Available in stores and restaurants on the West coast, and online from DRY Soda (a case of 12 bottles is $25).

Also on CH: Pop Soda, Jones Soda

To Be Confirmed: New Balance 574s and Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 Baja

by SummerSeventySix

All week this week we're bringing you the things that really caught our eye at the top British casualwear show To Be Confirmed last weekend. Today, sneakers...

New Balance 574
New Balance was started by an Englishman and the shoes are made in the U.K. They have been resurgent over the past couple of years, off the back of some really attractive Special Make-Ups (SMUs) in collaboration with the likes of BeingHunted and Solebox. The nearly neon colorways they've chosen for next year's 574 models continue to standout, and while their shoes normally hit Japan first, from next year, they'll be out everywhere at the same time.

Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 Baja
Okay, so these shoes are Japanese, but like the New Balance above, Onitsuka Tiger has pushed the boat out with the mad finishes. The Mexico 66 Baja model is one from the archives updated here in gold, with Baja being the reference for the three Velcro straps. The brand has obviously taken notice of the success adidas has had in mining its heritage for gems, and has done the same to good effect for Spring/Summer of next year. These will be out in more subdued colorways, like all black, for the less adventurous.

Tomorrow from the frontlines of To Be Confirmed: New t-shirts and sweats from Call Of The Wild

Editor's note: Please see our clarification of some of the details about the New Balance sneakers here.