Sports

The problem with the interchangeable lens systems commonly used in ski goggles is that they're tedious to work with. You have to slowly tear the frame from the original lens, line the grooves of the replacement lens up just right and then snap it back together section by section. Not only is this the type of thing you might need to get a table in the cafeteria for, it's the type of thing that could haunt you all day if you inadvertently put the lens in cockeyed. The Anon M1 goggles make switchable lenses easier and more seamless than they've ever been. Magna-Tech is a simple design upgrade that lets you remove your original lenses and snap the new ones in place within seconds.  Read More

Avalanche airbags have been around for decades and have been gaining a lot of steam in the North American market over the past few years. These airbags are almost always integrated into or added onto backpacks, but The North Face has a different idea: avalanche airbag clothing.  Read More

Snowshoeing has long been the poor stepchild of winter sports. It's actually a really fun way of getting out in the snow to exercise and enjoy nature, but it's just not quite as exhilarating as skiing or snowboarding and, in many places, has a secondary status in the grand scheme of winter sports. One German company believes it's time for snowshoeing to step out of the shadows and share that same sense of visceral fun that skiing and snowboarding imbue. Hive (Hike + Drive) has designed a unique pair of snowshoes that double as a sort of short ski or glider.  Read More

Water is essential to bring along - and drink - during long workouts. Yet cleaning water bottles between uses sometimes doesn't happen. It's hard to get in those long, tall bottles and feel you've gotten all the germs out. The FLEXR Sports Bottle is a new bottle that uses a biodegradable, collapsible liner to ensure the bottle is clean and ready for use.  Read More

Have you ever seen children out on the playground, playing some made-up game that only they know the rules to? Well, Play Visions’ CyberFire Football Set is kind of like a high-tech version of that. While onlookers just see a couple of kids with funny-looking headgear on, passing a foam football back and forth, those kids will see what appears to be a green or red fireball streaking through the air between them.  Read More

Danish based Big Architects has revealed plans to develop the Levi Resort in Lapland. Named the Koutalaki Ski Village, the futuristic development will sit on the mountain ridge of the Levi Ski center overlooking Sirkka village in the municipality of Kittila. The design seeks to create a new hybrid resort which integrates the village with roof top skiing from a man-made "peak."  Read More

Shooting video while you're riding a motorcycle, steering a jet ski, or skiing down the slopes of your favorite mountain isn't exactly easy, especially if you're trying to shoot that video with your smartphone. Optrix is aiming to make that process a little simpler by creating the Optrix HD, a rugged water-proof case for the iPhone and iPod touch that can be mounted on your helmet, bike, or anything else to shoot video while you're literally on the move.  Read More

A new dawn is breaking in the evolution of outdoor apparel technology. Many materials that dominate today's outdoor clothes - wool and down, for instance - have been plucked straight from nature for hundreds of years. While textile manufacturers and clothing companies have tried to improve upon natural designs, they've generally failed to come up with anything that unequivocally surpasses Mother Nature. Just beyond the action videos and gear shops though, an improved generation of materials with the potential to displace stale staples is slowly moving from test labs to retail shelves. If these materials can brave the real world and live up to the hype, outdoor apparel - and outdoor sports - will look very different in the future.  Read More

Even for diehard sports fanatics, it can sometimes be quite difficult to tell which player is which, when watching a field, court or rink full of team athletes. While this can be merely frustrating for fans, it can have larger ramifications for referees or coaches, whose jobs depend on being able to know which players are doing what, at what time. Scientists from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have devised what could be a solution to that problem – it’s a system that continuously tracks each player, superimposing their number and jersey color over top of their image, on a computer screen.  Read More