Gizmodo: tahoe

Good Times at the Gizmodo Reader Meetup

Brian Lam — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:17:00 EDT

The Gizmodo reader meetup happened on Saturday at Alpine Meadows and we had a great time. The snow was soft, the gadgets were plentiful, the beer flowed and no one fell on their head except Joe, who got a black eye when he face planted on the first run. The photos above were uploaded on Nokia N95s to a central share. I didn't upload many, but I did spend most of my day fiddling with a Zune preloaded with songs to ride to.

Most people were from around the bay area, Reno and Tahoe area, but Christian came all the way from Dallas. And Mike Zhao, only 16, spent I think his milk money to afford the trip. And then Randy, ski patrol at Alpine, gave us a pretty good tour of the place. About 50 people came in total everyone was the type of person I'd hang out with outside of work. I'd always said that gadgets aren't just for nerds, and here was the proof.

Of course, special thanks go to Kevin from JBL, Brian from Zune, Joe from Nokia, Mike from Olympus, Derek from SPOT, Greg from Smith Optics, Racheal from Alpine and Hagen from Vudu for giving away prizes.

We'll do it again next year! If you came and took photos, send em over so I can upload em.

P.S. Brian from Zune has some skills on the snowboard!

Snowboarding Reader Meetup Tomorrow: Custom Gizmodo Zune Giveaway

Brian Lam — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:29:55 EDT

The little reader meetup on Saturday April 5th (that's TOMORROW!) continues to grow. Alpine Meadows is hosting us, treating us to breakfast, putting up a big Gizmodo banner, and giving our volunteer Red One camera crew a snowmobiled chaperon. Olympus is sending us a waterproof 1030 cam to demo. And Brian from the Zune team is coming out with some demo Zunes preloaded with good music to shred to. (I've picked a few tracks, but the Zune team's own music experts are dialing in a playlist, too.) Even better they're giving away a few Zunes with custom drawn Gizmodo logos. Who would have thought this little event would get so much love?

• Nokia is bringing a ton of N95s for us to use.

• Smith Optics will be bringing some of their new hot swappable goggles and fan driven turbo goggles to test out, along with a bluetooth helmet and I think lots and lots of headbands. (Slope style counts.)

• JBL is giving away headphones.

• VuDu is giving away a box.

• I'll have a Garmin Colorado preloaded with Ski trail maps. Overkill compared to a paper map, but potentially useful for off-piste adventures and worth checking out in person.

• Zune'll come along with a few loaners preloaded with Gizmodo approved snow shredding tracks and those custom Giz Zunes to give away.

• I'll have one loaner of the Vholdr outdoor camcorder.

• Nacski might be setting up a bus ride system from SF.

• Silverado Systems is going to bring a pair of RED One cams to document the day

• I'll bring a Dash GPS.

• Olympus is sending a water and shockproof 1030 to test.

If you want to come as a reader or as someone who wants to demo some gear, drop me an email. It would be great to meet in person.

[Photo by Planetxau — Some rights reserved]

Spring Snowboard and Ski Reader Meetup: I'm Feeling the Love

Brian Lam — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:59:04 EDT

Hey, if you haven't heard I'm doing an informal reader meet up April 5th, at (I think) Alpine Meadows in Tahoe. The point will be to ski or snowboard, while testing out some gadgets in the real world. What's cool is that plenty of people are coming and that there'll be some fun gear to play with while we're there. And more and more cool gear is showing up at this shindig.

• Nokia is bringing a ton of N95s for us to use.
• Smith Optics will be bringing some of their new hot swappable goggles and fan driven turbo goggles to test out, along with a bluetooth helmet and I think lots and lots of headbands. (Slope style counts.)
• JBL is giving away headphones.
• VuDu is giving away a box!
• I'll have a Garmin Colorado preloaded with Ski trail maps. Overkill compared to a paper map, but potentially useful for off-piste adventures and worth checking out in person.
• Zune'll come along with a few loaners preloaded with Gizmodo approved snow shredding tracks.
• I'll have one loaner of the Vholdr outdoor camcorder.
• Nacski might be setting up a bus ride system from SF.
• Silverado Systems is going to bring a pair of RED One cams
• I'll bring a Dash GPS.
• No camera companies have stepped up to participate with batches of loaners of outdoor cams cough*olympuspentaxsanyo*cough, but I'll keep trying.

If you want to come, I will welcome you with open arms as you spray fresh spring slush in my face. It will definitely be T-shirt weather by then, even more so than now. If you work for a gear company with outdoor gear, let me know if you want to bring some to show off.

Email me and I'll put you on the list with more details.

More to come.

Notes: Snowboarding Meetup Details (Now with Free Stuff)

Brian Lam — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:03:02 EDT

Hey, more good news on the snowboarding reader meetup beta. The day: April 5th. The place: Alpine Meadows. The Time: 9AM, upstairs in the main lodge cafeteria or something Nokia is coming with a fleet of N95s we can use, and Vudu and JBL are donating a prizes to give away, as are a few others who aren't locked down yet. If you want to come, please drop me an email. I'll show you my non-360 where I act my age and smash my hip on the hard pack. Making raspberries on your muffin top, it's an Art.

Spring Snowboarding Reader Meetup, April 5th

Brian Lam — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:52:15 EDT

Good news: A couple of handfuls of people said they could make the spring ski/snowboard/gadget reader meetup. I think we'll do Saturday, April 5th, on some yet to be decided North Lake Tahoe resort. Better news? Nokia is going to bring a bunch of N95s along so we can do some livebroadcasting and stuff.

Personally, the main point of this is to hang out and hit the slopes, so I won't be fiddling with mine too much, but I will be taking some photos. And maybe some videos, if I can rig a helmet mount. (1-step: Duct Tape?) P.S. That's Chris at the top of Homewood's Quail Face moments before he fell into a lake. Anyone else feel like they can make the day? Please email me, and I'll add you to a distro with more details. This is going to be fun.