Gizmodo: skateboard

What Could Possible Go Wrong on a Skatekeyboard?

Mark Wilson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EDT

ASDFG and ZXCVB—those aren't just QWERTY strings, they're also potential sounds you'll make when face-planting off the Skatekeyboard. [F.A.T. via MAKE]

What in the Hell Is This Thing? A Skateboard Etch-A-Sketch?

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:30:00 EDT

MAKE calls this a huge XY table. Crunchgear thinks it's kind of a mouse-controlled Etch-A-Sketch. All I know is, it uses a mouse, three skateboards and an Arduino microcontroller. But for what purpose?

I suppose it could be used as an inexact Etch-A-Sketch, using three skateboards for linear movement, but it seems like an awful lot of effort (and space—it must take up an entire garage!) for that. So help me out: What could this thing be used for? Should I be scared or excited? [MAKE via Crunchgear]

WiSkab Skateboard Won't Make You Look Any Less Stupid On Top of the Wii Balance Board

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:20:00 EDT

Unlike the real Wii skateboard—actually designed for real skateboarding—the WiSkab is ready to be attached to the Balance Board. You know, so you can pretend you're a cool kid in your living room.

The WiSkab has the size of a full skate deck. It works with different skate and snowboarding games for the Wii, like Skate it or Shaun White's Snowboarding. [TechDigest]

iPhone Skateboard Deck Cancels Out Any Coolness You've Aquired Being a Skateboarder

John Mahoney — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:40:00 EST

No matter how many perfect Ollies or Fakie Frontside Flips you execute with this iPhone board, I wish you good luck with the ladies. You will need it. [Product Page via Nerd Approved]

The Dirtsurfer: New Bike And Skateboard Hybrid Thing

Matt Hickey — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:00:13 EDT

It's part bike and part skateboard and it looks all fun. It's the Freestyle Dirtsurfer and it's a new hybrid like toy for all of you X Games types who can't wait for winter to get here soon enough. One neat touch is a Razor-scooter-like brake on the back wheel so you don't end up in the ER the first time you try it on a downhill. And for $450, you really don't want to crash it too much. [ExExEq via Like Cool]

SoulArc Skateboard Has One Big Spring for Surf-Alike Goodness

Kit Eaton — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:50:00 EDT

There's something about the simplicity of a skateboard that keeps designers coming back to revisit it... but the SoulArc board certainly seems a worthy reinvention. It's designed to make skateboarding feel more like surfing, with a huge leaf-spring mounted between its long deck and the wheels: And it's less unwieldy-looking than this previous effort. As you dig your heel in, the spring relaxes into corners, giving you more of a surfing-through-waves feeling. There's a video of the board in action after the gallery.

Looks like that suspension might let you take the SoulArc board into places you wouldn't think of taking a standard skateboard too. It's the invention of college student Mitch Mulder and Salvaore Vilardi, and it's due to go on sale soon, after being demoed at the Action Sports Retail show in San Diego. Price still to be decided. [Core77]

Upcoming Xbox 360 Skateboard Controller Lets You Shred, Fight The Man, Retake Geometry For the Third Time

Jason Chen — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Actiga's partnering with Microsoft to make officially sponsored third-party wireless peripherals, the first of which is a skateboard controller. It's going to be compatible with the latest skating games, presumably, but there haven't been any compatibility announcements yet. What Actiga is going to follow this up with is unclear, but we'd think maybe a gun controller for all the FPS games, or a...yeah there's pretty much mostly shooter games on the 360. [Kotaku]

GroundSurf Electric Skateboard, Controlled by a Bluetooth Cellphone

Charlie White — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:02:23 EST

GroundSurf is a three-wheeled skateboard with an unusual twist: You can control it with a Bluetooth cellphone. It's driven by an electric motor between the two front wheels, and you can either remotely control its speed with your Bluetooth cellphone or lean forward to accelerate, backward to slow down or brake. But its designers, Paris-based company Ratleads, say it's not a skateboard at all, but a surfboard.

One of the inventors of GroundSurf, Stephane Pelletier, says GroundSurf gives you "that surf feeling," but on the ground. He explained, "It's been tested and developed with professional surfers. The back is a very specific truck that moves in different dimensional ways. Compared to a skateboard, it's not moving the same way at all. You really have to try it to believe it."

The GroundSurf will first roll out in 2008, distributed by California surf brand Gordon & Smith for retail price of between $1,770 in $2,040. [GroundSurf, via BlueTomorrow]

Student Projects: Wireless Motion Data Headed for Games?

Charlie White — Thu, 10 May 2007 08:47:38 EDT

Here's another NYU project, where student Vincent Dean Boyce has figured out a way to send mechanical and motion data from a skateboard (or it could be a snowboard or surfboard) via Bluetooth to a cellphone. Imagine the possibilities if you hook this up to an Xbox 360! – Charlie White with video by Richard Blakeley

SnoDeck: Skateboard Tank

Mark Wilson — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:43:14 EDT

The SnoDeck is the creation of Systems Design Engineering students at University of Waterloo. Driven by a few electric drill motors and sporting a 2-meter turning radius, we're impressed by its ability to not only tread through snow, but to do so while hauling around a emaciated emo kid.

Winter, you spite me with being over. – Mark Wilson

SnoDeck - Motorized Snow Skateboard [MAKE]

Look Out, Here Comes the Human Skateboard

Charlie White — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:13:24 EDT

We're not getting a whole lot of info on the human skateboard dude here, but just look at the pic. The guy can even flip over on his back and keep rolling. He should market this thing. – Charlie White

Human Skate Board [Gizoo]