Hasta La Ideas

A selection of snowboarding gear that’s old, new and from the future

Whistler Blackcomb, an ideal destination for trying out new snowboarding gear, has 8,000 acres of snow-filled slopes that include six terrain parks and long, gladed runs. Following the first story on my favorite resorts and spas, this review surveys the gear that kept me moving downhill all day. Stay tuned for one more this week on apparel.

Salomon XLT 2012 board

I tested four different 2012 boards this year, but the Salomon XLT ($650)—super light and full of pop, but still solid at high speeds—really rocked my world. It’s a traditional camber board, which I now know is just right for me. I’ve tried rockers and rocker-camber hybrids and I see why people love them, but for all-mountain riding with minimal tomfoolery, I guess I lean toward the older school. The XLT gets its lightness and strength from Salomon’s Ghost Construction which combines honeycomb core components with carbon stringers—new tech for 2012.

Nike Kaiju 2011 boots

Admittedly, I was hesitant to give Nike’s snowboarding boots a try, but there’s something to be said for the fact that they’ve been a footwear innovator for decades. This year’s Zoom Kaiju boots ($350) have an air midsole, internal Flywire ankle harness and simple-but-smart lacing stays to optimize fit. The boots are moderately stiff making them versatile enough to play in the park and race down the steeps. Buyer note: the lining compresses almost a full size so buy them tight and by the fourth ride they’ll be perfect.

DFP Podium Custom Footbeds

As everyone’s foot is different, it’s a bit challenging for a bootmaker to create a footbed that will fully support you. I decided to give Dynamic Foot Positioning‘s custom-molded Podium insoles ($150) a try. The customization process happens in under 20 minutes at select dealers and basically entails heat-molding a blank to your foot. After trimming excess material away, you’re good to go. Walking out of the shop, I immediately felt an increase in comfort and support in my boots that resulted in happier feet on the mountain.

Salomon Cypher 2012 Bindings

The last thing you want to do with a light, fast board like the XLT is weigh it down with heavy bindings. That’s why the carbon-based Cypher ($200) compliments a fast board perfectly because it’s not only lightweight, but also strong.

Oakley A Frame Goggles

My mainstay for years, the Oakley A Frame goggles ($130) are distortion-free, glare cutting and super comfortable. Best of all, they never fog up.

Bern Carbon Baker Helmet

Light, comfortable and lined with EPS hard foam to meet safety certifications, Bern‘s carbon fiber Baker helmet ($230) looks good while protecting and insulating. The snap-out knit liner can be replaced with a lighter headband for summer biking as well.

Seeblade Goggle Wiper

A simple but necessary item for the often wet snow that falls at Whistler, this mini wiper blade ($5) straps on to your thumb for easy goggle squeege-ing. I bought one in one of the shops on the mountain only to discover that Seeblade is a Whistler company—necessity does breed innovation!

Ski Tracks GPS Tracking App

Launch Ski Tracks, hit start and this app will take regular GPS readings, even when running in the background. That data is interpreted on the fly to show you number of runs, number of lifts, total distance, top speed and more. Your day can even be visualized on a map and exported to Google Earth. Impressively, while it runs in the background all day, it doesn’t consume much battery life at all. At only $1 in the iTunes App Store, this one’s a steal.

Voici le nouveau spot viral de la marque Intel à l’occasion de leur nouveau processeur. L’agence Venables Bell & Partners a conçu cette course poursuite interactive baptisée “The Chase” afin d’illustrer les possibilités parmi les applications comme iTunes, Facebook ou Photoshop.

Previously on Fubiz

• Vodafone Symphonia
• Microsoft Surface 2.0
• Every 43 Seconds

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Kick the new year off with Feltron’s app that allows you to track and visualize your personal data

To keep better tabs on all those New Year’s resolution pounds you promised to lose or miles you want to run, Daytum‘s new iPhone app offers their personal data tracking service in a concise mobile form. Daytum allows you to document your life one category at a time, and then relays the timeline with a slew of beneficial charts and averages. I’ve started using it to track all my travel—miles flown, hotel nights stayed and airports visited.

The app allows you to work offline—adding, editing and deleting entries—as well as keep track of favorite items for quick reference. Other tools, such as those for switching between accounts, graphing data or providing convenient access for common functions help the app retain its purpose of everyday use. Fully integrated with Daytum’s site, the app can be used in tandem or stand-alone and for existing users it will import all of the past data you’ve entered at daytum.com.

Having a look at Daytum co-founder Nicholas Felton’s “Annual Reports” gives real insight into just how interesting personal tracking can be, as well as the full ways Daytum can help you communicate your unique information. The app is free from iTunes, and Daytum offers both a free or $4/month subscription service.

Our favorite multi-room A/V system’s new dock for drop-in music streaming

With their new Wireless Dock for iPod and iPhone, the Sonos system (which allows users to broadcast music from computers, the Internet, or any attached storage device wirelessly and throughout multiple rooms) has grown even more useful. Simply place the device in the dock and music will begin playing in whichever zone has been set as your default, making it easy to play visitors’ music or allowing a smooth transition between in-ear listening and in-home enjoyment of your personal soundtrack.

I’ve been testing Sonos’ wireless dock for the last couple weeks and am pleased with its simplicity. The beauty is that it transfers whatever you’re playing—files from your device, Last.fm, Pandora, or any other streaming program—to your home system. And unlike most docks, Sonos plays music digitally rather than converting files to analog, meaning that quality will never be comprised.

Buy the wireless dock on Sonos’ website and check out Cool Hunting’s other Sonos favorites here.

The most exciting new hardware launched by Apple since the iPhone, the iPad presents a brand new platform for consuming online content. To perfectly tailor our publication to the touch-screen medium, we developed the Cool Hunting application—a free app (downloadable now from iTunes).

Pulling off a project like this takes an amazing team. In our case we worked on the design with BBH and development with Front-Ended. None of this would have been possible without our launch sponsor Cadillac or our ad network Largetail.

Combining the strengths of the iPad with those of our recently re-designed site, in landscape mode you can scroll laterally through all of our stories or filter by category. With a simple two finger swipe, you can move from one story to the next, with images bordering the top and information displayed on the left hand side. Videos expand to consume the entire screen, taking advantage of the iPad’s gorgeously crisp display. While the horizontal view is more visual and immersive, the portrait view puts the focus on headlines, allowing you to quickly scan articles.

While many publications are taking a more literal approach to translating their content from print to pad (or web to pad), we chose to create an interface that best suits the user experience and creates new opportunities for our advertising partners. For Cadillac, the first brand to leverage our custom, single-sponsor approach, we worked with BBH to create a section that contains weekly updates of iPad-only Cool Hunting stories, advertorial and content specifically about the CTS-V Coupe.

Available for free from iTunes, we couldn’t be more excited about the application and the seemingly endless possibilities presented by the iPad.