Cool Hunting
| 23 September 2008view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Strida MAS Special Folding Bike
by Brian Fichtner
Before I settled on my track bike, I gave serious consideration to a Strida folding bike. I was living in a tiny one bedroom and the Strida met the stowage criteria handily. Now a decade into production, Strida continues to impress with generational improvements, most notably an innovative new drive system. At this year's Interbike Expo in Las Vegas, which runs 24-26 September, Areaware (Strida's North American distributor) will introduce three new models with updated components, along with a line of sensible accessories.
The MAS Special, named after the company founder Mark Sanders (click image for expanded view), introduces a dual-speed drive system engineered by the Swiss company Schlumpf Innovations. Foregoing cables and handlebar mounted shifters, the Schlumpf two-speed drive system is integrated into the crank set. Riders engage high or low gear by heel tapping either side of the crank. Available for Spring 2009, the MAS comes with a custom black anodized frame and parts, cable disc brakes and the standard Kevlar greaseless belt.
Element Skateboards Audio Visual Award Winners
by Phuong-Cac Nguyen
After a brief two-month open call for entries spanning a range of categories — from artwork to films — but all focused on skate, Element Skateboards recently announced the new talent who's bringing home the bread from their Element Audio Visual Awards. While most of the winners aren't big names yet, the purpose of the competition was meant to highlight and inspire the hard workers destined to move from the underground to "aboveground."
Standouts include Caleb Jack's ink drawing on a raw piece of wood and Maciek Salamon's incredible animated short film called "The Walk." Head to the site to see all the runners-up as well because they deserve every bit of attention and a job or two.
T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone
by Josh Rubin
Today in New York City T-Mobile, HTC and Google officially unveiled the much anticipated G1. The touch-screen phone is the first to use Google's open source Android platform. Available on 22 October 2008 for $179, this device offers the first user experience that even comes close to the ease, quality and delight of the iPhone interface. Some aspects of the touch-based interface are what we've come to expect, while other innovations are destined to become new standards. Phone locking, for example, uses a gesture based code instead of a pin code as shown in the video below.
This video was shot on the Kodak Zi6 pocket HD video camera which we just started playing with and are liking a whole lot.
There's a great demo video on the G1 site; for the full pitch head over to Phonescoop for further details.
Converse 1HUND(RED) x Wood Wood All Star Hi-Top
by Tim Yu
As the 26th artist to work with Converse's current creative initiative, the 1HUND(RED) Artists' footwear collaboration for PRODUCT (RED), CH favorites Wood Wood designed a stylish monochromatic rendition of the classic Chuck Taylor.
A minimalist take on the All Star Hi-Top, the Danish group used a smooth suede upper, laces and sole — all in a matching powdery grayish purple. The perforated upper reveals Wood Wood's constellation pattern logo and all Converse branding is all-white. Keeping with the PRODUCT (RED) theme, the red top lace holes lend the shoe a dot of color.
Available 1 October 2008 at specialty retailers, such as Colette in Paris, Dover St. Market in London, Undefeated in LA and Oak, Dave's Quality Meat and Nom de Guerre in NYC, 10% of the sales goes to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It's about time your sneaker obsession went to some good, but you'll have to act fast 'cause these are bound to go quick.
Check out the whole collection and get more info on 1 HUND(RED) Artists Footwear Collaboration at Converse.
Detailed images after the jump.
Takaratomy Air Guitar Pro Electric and Acoustic
by Josh Rubin
Takaratomy recently came out with a new toy that will help you clean up your chops before the next Air Guitar Championships. Taking the air guitar to the next level, the Air Guitar Pro consists of the upper neck of a guitar and plays chords as your fingers pass through infared ray strings that make up an invisible fretboard-of-sorts. All you do is strum the air to produce accurate sound.
More advanced than your Guitar Hero variety, the controller has seven buttons of different chords but also additional buttons on the side to change from major, minor, augmented and diminished sounds. It even includes ten beginner songs to get you up to speed. We think it's pretty advanced for such a compact design and now you can actually produce some sound when playing the air guitar.
Both an Electric and Acoustic variety are available for $56 from AC Gears. You can also check out the Air Guitar in action here.
