The D300s was mounted to the front of the hang glider and fitted with a 10.5mm fisheye lens. A custom hardwired trigger and release mechanism was used to fire both video and stills.

Of course, the $1800 D300s now has some serious semi-pro competition from the $1900 Canon 7D. And the 7D is an 18-megapixel, 1080p video beast. Click through the links above for our in-depth primers. [YouTube via CrunchGear]

Also: Waking Up On Mars: Australia's Bizarre Dust Storm

The SkiGym hooks up to a PC to use the included game Alpine Ski Racing, or it can be used as a standalone gym. The game includes 32 different courses from 18 real-world mountains, just to add to the realism. It's available for a bank account-crushing $2300, which if I'm not mistaken could purchase a pretty sweet ski trip, but if you're loaded and scared of crashing, give it a look. [Random Good Stuff]

When the BuzzBall moves about and the operator starts to turn, the seat begins to rotate against the direction of travel. If you haven't figured it out already, that means you get a series of spins and barrel rolls—while you're moving. How one stops this thing we haven't a clue, but it probably involves passing out.No pricing is available just yet, but the BuzzBall folks are surveying site visitors with some options. [Evento via OhGizmo!]

After successfully landing the 360-degree backflip three times into the cardboard boxes in training, I am disappointed that our last jump ended in an accident. As I lay here in the hospital with three broken vertebrae in my neck and two compressed and broken vertebrae in my back, I am also disappointed that we cannot perform the 360-degree Red Bull Experiment on New Year's Eve, but I'm happy that I will be able to walk again.

Yes, during ESPN's New Year's Even No Limits broadcast, he's gonna attempt a full backflip in an off-road racing truck off a specially-built jump designed just for this task. Since he's just sitting in the truck, it seems like most of the work will be done on the jump, so it's not like he's got to do a lot except for keep his gigantic balls strapped down. But still, it's crazy and impressive. I don't know the mechanics of how the jump will work, but I'm assuming it'll actively flip him into the air. The tricky thing will be the timing, getting the flip right so he lands wheels down and not on the front of the truck. In any case, it should make for some good YouTubing the next day whether he's successful or not. [Red Bull Experiment via Didn't You Hear...]

The Switchboard consists of two boards joined together, and when you move the attached bar along with your front foot, it turns the articulated front board, giving you lots of control. You might not want to try this one on icy slopes, but screaming down a hill of packed snow, powder or loose granular ice might be the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Imported from the Netherlands, Switchboard is now available in the United States for $590. [Venom, via Sci Fi Tech and SkiBikeFun]

You can see it in its two configurations here, where the white tent in the picture above is its single-wall summer configuration, and the orange and gray one shows the tent with its extra layer on top, constructed to withstand even the fiercest Alpine conditions. It's plenty big, too, with a 6.99-foot center height and 171 square feet of room inside, supposedly big enough for 10 people.

These $3000 tents are made for Arctic and Himalaya expeditions, but you'd better be pretty strong if you want to carry one of these things up Everest: It weighs 50 pounds in its pack. Might want to get one of your Sherpas to handle this one. [Mountain Hardware, via Born Rich]

Aimed at extreme sports enthusiasts such as snowboarders and skiers, the technology could offer a bit of comfort to those 450,000 wracked-up snow sports adventurers who are injured each year, many of whom sometimes have a long wait until they can get patched up in a proper hospital.

This idea might be great for ski patrol personnel to carry around, but what extreme sports participant would take along splints for broken bones? It could jinx the whole trip, dude. – Charlie White

Soft splint instantly heat-welds to hold broken limbs [NewScientistTech]

To paraphrase, nay, twist the words of Benjamin Franklin, those who sacrifice fun for safety deserve neither fun nor safety. But only to a certain point. That said, don't try this at home. – Charlie White

The Human Slingshot [The Uber Review]

Check out this octet of astonishing action pics in our gallery:

You control the throttle and steer the vehicle, but we can't imagine there's a whole lot of guidance involved. It's $96 for a 25-minute ride, and then, well, there's that plane ticket to New Zealand. – Charlie White

Fly By Wire [Queenstown Fly By Wire Ltd., via Sci Fi Tech]

Human Skate Board [Gizoo]