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Microsoft turns Surface tablet into a skateboard, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky takes it for a spin

Alexis Santos — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:58:00 -0400

Gorilla Glass 2 and a chassis forged from magnesium lend Microsoft's Surface slates some durability, but the firm's decided to prove just how tough its tablets are by turning one into a skateboard. The wheeled slice of Windows 8 is said to have been rolled out during a tour of Redmond's Surface skunkworks, but Windows chief Steven Sinofksy couldn't resist hopping on the board today and tweeting a pair of photos. You can pre-order your deck now, though something tells us this mod isn't covered under Ballmer and Co.'s warranty.

Filed under: Microsoft

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Via: Microsoft News, Neowin

Source: Steven Sinofsky (Twitter) (1), (2)

Tron: Legacy gets its very own interactive halfpipe (video)

Trent Wolbe — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:58:00 -0500

Look, y'all know that Tron: Legacy comes out in just a few painful hours. You've probably seen those Daft Punk headphones, a blue-glowy Razer mouse, and the obligatory armchair, among other insane promotional items. But those earthly objects definitely weren't enough to fulfill the geeky capacity of the branding opportunities that such a cinematic event -- nay, spectacle -- creates. Melbourne-based interactive design company Eness went ahead and built an interactive projection-mapped skate ramp to commemorate the premiere. The Aussies who got to shred in this thing created and destroyed light trails, exploded through galaxies of color and shapes piped straight from the Grid, and had their airtime measured in real time and projected onto the ramp. It's not quite a real-life light cycle battle, but we'll take it. Must-see video after the jump.

Filed under: Alt

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DIY Ripstik underbody LED kit will make you look styley at night, still get heckled by skaters

Tim Stevens — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:09:00 -0400

The age of the underbody lighting craze on cars passed about as quickly as a bottle of N2O lasts on bracket night at the local strip, but that doesn't mean you can't still have some fun on your man-powered means of transportation. No, we're not talking a skateboard here, it's a Ripstik, featuring two narrow inline skate wheels and a weaving motion that will get you going where you're going without kicking -- so long as you aren't in a great hurry. Now modder metsfan1938 over at instructables is showing us how to add a little underbody bling, wiring up blue LEDs that are as practical as they are stylish if you tend to ride in an area that could see you getting run over at night. A little soldering and a bit of Dremel action is all that's required here, so if you live your life a wobbly quarter-mile at a time you'll want to click on through.

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Tony Hawk Ride mod actually rides (video)

Thomas Ricker — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:17:00 -0400

Face it, you're not still using your plastic Tony Hawk Ride motion sensing game peripheral are you? So why not recoup some of your pride (and $120) by installing your own trucks and wheels and get to pushing some real pavement in the great out of doors? Or skip all that and let someone else explain to the cops that it's not real, "it's only a video game." See what we mean in the video embed after the break.

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iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave

Sean Hollister — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:20:00 -0400

There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple's tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history -- not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an "HD" suffix -- as if that somehow justified the increased cost.

Besides, we've seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi -- but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers.

Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.

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Tony Hawk Ride ready to rock indoor tricks in the US (video)

Vlad Savov — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:58:00 -0500

After that false alarm about an October release date, the Tony Hawk: Ride bandwagon was all set for departure on November 17 and that's exactly what's happened. Available for a cent under $120, the new game / peripheral combo will allow players to shimmy, gesture, and ollie their way to (simulated) skateboarding immortality on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. The earliest European availability we can see is offered by Amazon UK, which indicates a December 4 launch for the Queen's isles and a discounted £89 ($149) price. You can check out our own feets-on with that wireless controller right here or, if you so wish, peruse the full PR at the read link. What's not optional, however, is missing the bonus "making of" video for that most radical of peripherals, which we've lovingly prepared for you just after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

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Thrustmaster T-Freestyle NW is your next Wii skate / snowboard controller

Darren Murph — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:41:00 -0500

Too broke to pay Tony Hawk's royalties on a Wii skateboard / snowboard? Yeah, we feel you, and evidently Thrustmaster does too. Said peripheral outfit has just introduced its newest Wii accessory, the T-Freestyle NW. Designed with work with any skate or snowboard game that lands on Nintendo's money-maker, the board is crafted from genuine maple and sports a totally stereotypical "skull" design on the top. There's also a safety stopper to prevent any sort of toppling disaster, and best of all, this thing will be available at the end of the month for just $29.99. Gnarly, dude.

Gallery: Thrustmaster T-Freestyle NW is your next Wii skate / snowboard controller

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

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Tony Hawk: RIDE makes official US debut on November 17th

Ross Miller — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:33:00 -0400

Turns out GameStop's October 13th listing for Tony Hawk: RIDE was just a hair off, to the tune of 36 days or so. Activison Blizzard's sent word today that the skating simulator's official North American launch is set for November 17th -- plenty of time to practice your faux ollies before showing your family some virtual board skills over Thanksgiving meals. Additionally, Europe's now official for November 20th, but we already heard that last week. No word on pricing, but across the pond, GAME.co.uk is pushing that £99 / $168 figure pretty hard, and while we're willing to bet that's the official Europe price, we're not convinced that's any indication of what we'll be paying stateside.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

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Tony Hawk's new 'Ride' game includes motion-sensing skateboard controller for shredding your mom's new carpet

Paul Miller — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:08:00 -0400

We'd heard rumblings that Tony Hawk was working on something with motion controls -- which seems only natural after EA's Skate hit the scene with its intuitive Flickit control scheme, and Shaun White's game put the Wii's Balance Board to good use, both making the Tony Hawk method of arcade-style button mashing feel a little dated. Well, Tony's new Ride is looking to change all that, with a skateboard peripheral that looks like... a skateboard. It's hard to tell from just looking at it how precisely interactive the controller will be -- it seems basic balancing and leaning would be in, while Christ Air-ing your little sister in the face wouldn't go over so well. According to the man himself, Hawk is quite good at the game, and skateboarders should find the transition easy. A promo video is after the break, and apparently on June 2nd we'll be seeing this thing in action.

Update: We added another video after the break, including video of the actual board in action. Turns out the motion controls are quite detailed, and in advanced modes even allow for in-place 180s, but nothing seems to involve lifting the board actually off the ground. Grabs can be performed by actually grabbing the edge of the board, with infrared sensors picking up your hand position, and pushing is performed by running your foot along the side of the board. Ollies and flip tricks are obviously going to be a bit different than the real deal, while manuals and steering are pretty much spot on, and apparently there's a lot of choice as to how much "realism" you'd like in controlling the thing. Tony Hawk also sees the controller as a "standard," which could work with snowboarding games, surfing games, exercise games and other assorted cash cows for Activision.

Gallery: Tony Hawk's 'Ride' motion-sensing skateboard in action

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

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Motorized SnoDeck shreds through the snow

Donald Melanson — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:41:00 -0400

You may have a hard time pulling off an ollie with it, but this so-called SnoDeck developed by a group of students at the University of Waterloo looks like it could at least provide a suitable alternative to snowboarding for those that don't feel like trekking up a hill all the time. Relying on some electric drill motors to move it along, the deck apparently has a turning radius of two meters, and a kill switch to prevent it from taking out by-standers when the rider falls off. Of course, this being a student project you'll have to be content with admiring it from afar for the time being, which you can do by hitting up the video after the break.

[Via MAKE:Blog]

Filed under: Transportation

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