Tag Archive for ‘Speed’ at Didnt You Hear…

Tag Archive for 'Speed'

…Cookie Composites make beautiful helmets?

Published

on October 20, 2008

. Comments

During an Australian vacation, I had a chance to stop by the Cookie Composites shop with a friend that’s an active skydiver so that he could pick up a new lens for his skydive helmet/camera rig.

Seeing this small company that operates on a global scale up close and personal really gave me an appreciation for their hands on approach and handmade quality. Each piece is made with precision and care, and they were happy to show us around even though we showed up at their door essentially unannounced.

In 2006, Cookie Composites decided to reshape their brand, and hired a team of media and advertisement specialists to develop the brand’s new values. During that time, Ricardo Sa Freire was brought on to develop a range of new helmets that would translate those new values into a signature shape for their new products, and he shared that process online.

The ROK helmet is what came out of that process, and it’s a helmet designed for swoop canopy divers and base jumpers, with air intakes in both sides that are used to measure the speed through the sound of the wind.

Since the process behind the end result is no less impressive than what they created, it’s a fantastic read that gives you a glimpse into the world and work of a real designer as he creates a product that is designed to look good, save lives, and function in some of the most extreme environments imaginable.

[Cookie Composites]

[Ricardo Sa Freire]

[Via: NOTCOT]

…It’s Things Thursday: World’s Greatest Shelby Slot Car Racetrack?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on October 16, 2008

in Toys

. Comments

World’s Greatest Shelby Slot Car Racetrack

Unfortunately, slot car racing is either too cheap, and its toy status quickly wears thin as it starts to fall apart and stops working, or it’s too expensive, and it’s not fun because you’re doing it as a hobby instead of an occasional fun activity.

However, The World’s Greatest Shelby Slot Car Racetrack looks to bridge those two extremes by creating a well-built track that you can set up at home and race for fun.

Featuring 63-3/4 feet of track, Neo Dymium ground-effect magnets and extra-long guide pins, the 1964 Daytona Coupes will whip around at breakneck speeds, but won’t launch off the track the first time you try and take a turn.

In addition, high-conductivity phosphor bronze shoes and a 22-volt power pack deliver speed and racability that you’re looking for, and that no track can match.

Get yours December 1st from Restoration Hardware.

[Restoration Hardware - The World’s Greatest Shelby Slot Car Racetrack]

[Via: Uncrate]

…The Grinch is ready to tow you?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on September 25, 2008

in Gadgets

. Comments

Grinch

Distortion Boarding’s Grinch Winch and Snow Grinch are winch machines designed for wakeboarding, skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and any other board sport where you need a little extra speed and momentum to pull off sick tricks.

With an adjustable hand throttle for varying the towing speed, a hydraulic brake for quick and easy stops, a rope friendly roller system that allows you to tow from almost any angle, and a 7 hp gas engine with 90:1 overdrive for top speeds of 25 to 30 MPH and deepwater starts, the Grinch is designed to be very user friendly.

With an adapter for a 2” receiver hitch on your vehicle, a tow kit for wheeling around, and the old school mounting method of just hammering the thing into the ground with stakes, the Winch is ready to go when and where you are, provided you can bring the necessary board skills to the table of course.

Just make sure your health insurance is in good shape before grabbing the rope, because this is one fun way to go down in a blaze of glory.

[Distortion Boarding - Grinch]

[Via: Gizmodo]

…Delicious looks delicious?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on August 1, 2008

in Websites

. Comments

Delicious (the social bookmarking site formerly known as del.icio.us that calls itself “the tastiest bookmarks on the web” and was also the father of the strange domain name), launched its long awaited redesign yesterday to help move the site beyond its late ‘90s style.

Though the underlying functionality is still the same, the new look and feel is designed to make it faster, easier to learn, and hopefully more desirable.

Speed

Search: We’ve completely overhauled our search engine to make it faster and more powerful. Searches used to take ages to return results; now they’re very quick. The new search engine is also smarter, and more social: you can search within one of your tags, another public user’s bookmarks, or your social network. Now it’s easier to take advantage of the expertise and interests of your friends, not to mention the Delicious community at large.

Design: Finally, we’ve updated the user interface to improve usability and add a few often-requested features (such as selectable detail levels and alphabetical sorting of bookmarks). Our goal has been to keep the new design similar in spirit to the old one, so all of you veterans should be able to jump in without any confusion. At the same time, we’re hoping that newcomers to Delicious will find it easier to learn.

I’m a big Delicious user (http://delicious.com/cory411), but since I use the Firefox plugin, I rarely if ever visit the site.

However, with looks like this, I just might have to give it a second chance.

[Delicious]

…You can rally in a rental?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on July 11, 2008

in Fun

. Comments

Rental Car Rally

Always dreamed of driving in a rally, but never had the car or the finances to do it?

Then check out the Rental Car Rally, a 36-hour race from NYC to Montreal that encourages you to rent a car, grab a friend, pay just $150 per team, and be on your way to automotive action and adventure.

All of the standard rally rules still apply (don’t speed, don’t kill pedestrians, etc.) but the financial burden is definitely lessened to let everyone get a shot at the action.

If you’re interested, check out the site for more information (and be sure to read the rules, since they were obviously written by someone with enough of a sense of humor to put on a rally made of rental cars).

[Rental Car Rally]

[Via: Uncrate]

…Racing can be a source of cheap thrills?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on May 6, 2008

in Information

. Comments

Motive Cheap Thrills

If you’re looking to get into motorsports without getting into a second mortgage, then check out Motive’s feature called, Cheap Thrills: A Poor Man’s Guide To Getting Started In Amateur Motorsprots.

The goal is to get you going without getting you in debt, and out of the stands and into a race car, even if that car isn’t going to set land speed records any time soon.

The goals are simple: Allow you to use your regular car, require little more than a racing helmet and driving gloves, and let you enjoy the thrill or racing.

Sports covered include Drag Racing, Autocross, Time Trials, and High-Performance Driving Events with a breakdown of cost, speed, time, wear, and risk.

Are you ready to buckle up and drive?

[Motive - Cheap Thrills]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Nelson Racing F-Bomb?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on March 18, 2008

in Cars

. Comments

Nelson Racing F-Bomb

When you’re the Chief Editor of Hotrod Magazine, it’s not like you can just drive around in a Dodge Stratus.

However, the Nelson Racing “F-Bomb” 1973 Chevy Camaro that David Freiburger drives around might just take the opposite to the extreme.

Featuring a twin turbo, 406 cubic inch V8, it’s got 1540 HP and 1527 lb.ft. of torque on tap so that any time speed is an option, the go pedal is sure to provide plenty of it.

Besides the monster engine though, the car has also been caged and minitubbed for safety, and was stripped down to the bare metal before being powder coated with a fighter plane motif that I can’t get enough of.

F-Bomb indeed.

HotRodTV “F-Bomb” Part 1:

HotRodTV “F-Bomb” Part 2:

[Nelson Racing - F-Bomb]

…Socialthing! will manage your online life?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on March 8, 2008

in Websites

. Comments

Socialthing! “is a digital life manager that puts what you do online into one place. See everything that’s going on with your friends in all the sites you use, post stuff to multiple places at once and more!”

Basically, it takes your online life and combines it into one easy to read, follow, and update page. Then, instead of checking each site individually to see new messages, updates, photos, etc., you can just check Socialthing! and see them all in one place. The goal is to make interacting across multiple sites as easy as interacting through just one.

Currently, Socialthing! supports del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, LiveJournal, Pownce, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube, with plans for more services as the company expands.

I’ve been beta testing the site for the past few days, and I think the service has some definite possibility. Unfortunately I ran into an issue with adding my Digg profile, but issues are to be expected with any beta release, and I’m sure they’ll have things running smoothly in no time. Everything else loaded without issue though, and I was impressed by the speed with which Socialthing! fetched my data.

Overall, I’d say it’s a useful tool that has the potential to become an indispensable one. Lifestreaming is quickly becoming more popular as everyone tries to manage their vast online world, and Socialthing! is one of the first sites out of the gate, which should give them a jump on adapting and changing to meet users needs with new features and functions.

They should be coming out of beta this weekend, so head on over and give it a try.

[Socialthing!]

…Threadlemanss lets you race other Threadless fans?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on February 20, 2008

in Fun

. Comments

Threadlemanss

Threadless is going to be hosting a Pinewood Derby race called the Threadlemanss 48 Heures Derby, and it’s your chance to speed your way to a stylish victory.

Anyone can design and submit a car, and then the Threadless staff will race them on May 16-17.

First through Fourth place will each receive Threadless gift certificate, and the “Best in Show” award (the best looking car, though not necessarily the fastest) will also receive a GC.

There’s a few rules to follow, so be sure to check out the site, but other than that, it’s up to you.

[Threadless - Threadlemanss]

…It’s Website Wednesday: Newspond?

Published

Cory O'Brien

on February 20, 2008

in Websites

. Comments

Newspond has dubbed itself “the most advanced news site on the planet”.

Quite a claim, eh?

The idea is that a “tireless electronic brain” finds and sorts news in real-time based on global popularity. This “self-sufficient news engine” “continually watches over and reads hundreds of different websites, including everything from major news portals to the tiniest blog, or forum”.

When it finds new news, it notes, sizes and gauges that news based on things like how fast a story spreads throughout the internet, the amount of discussion surrounding the story, the rate at which people click on or bookmark the article, and even the size of each of the sites reporting it.

The result is a Buoyancy Rating that tells you “the exact upward force exerted on a news story by the internet, in real-time”.

To view the news, you can sort Newspond by what’s hot at that moment, or you can sort stories by the highest popularity rating that they ever attained to see what’s hot for the day, week, or month.

As with any new site (it made its public debut on Tuesday) Newspond is still sorting out a few last minute bugs, and the volume of stories isn’t at the levels of the other social bookmarking sites (which could actually be a good thing) but my initial impression is a positive one. The site looks fantastic, has a wonderfully intuitive layout (including an easy to use commenting system), and features stories that I actually want to read. The timeline of sources is also an interesting idea, and the “real-time”iness of it all seems to work well, so I’m definitely going to be checking back to see how the site progresses.

Can this computerized Digg take on the social bookmarking kings?

Only time will tell, but it’s looking good so far.

[Newspond]

[Via: Mashable!]

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