ride

Use your iPhone to find or track bike routes

Summer is in full bloom and the Tour de France is in full swing, which makes July a great month for biking. I try to get on my bike once a week during the warmer New England months and have long pined for a Garmin GPS unit to track my ride. How long is my usual loop on the road when the trails are still too soft and wet for mountain biking? Do my times improve over the course of a summer? And more importantly, how do I keep getting turned around in the woods--where am I taking a wrong turn?

Unfortunately, I have felt the answers to those questions weren't worth the hundreds of dollars required for a pricey Garmin GPS. Thankfully, I recently discovered a free iPhone app, iMapMyRide, which provides basic GPS information. The free version is supported by ads and devours battery life, but you can't beat the data for the cost. And on the MapMyRide site, you can find other bikers' routes near where you live.

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Three carpooling apps to cut commuting costs

Now that hybrid vehicles lost their single-occupancy privileges in California carpool lanes, ride sharing could start to sound a lot more appealing to commuters. To make it easier to fill empty seats and get back into HOV lanes, commuters can download free mobile apps that help match drivers with riders.

Carpooling apps take different approaches to finding rides. They range from casual hand-raising trips to the airport to carefully guarded destinations and requests with details divulged if and when a match is found. Others, like ZimRide, use a network-based approach that restricts carpools to people within the same university or … Read more

SkyScreamer: Extreme swings thrill and terrify

I would like to install a swing set in my backyard. And I want it to be the SkyScreamer. At 236-feet in height, it may run afoul of my local zoning laws, but I don't care. I want to feel the 43 mph wind in my face as I rocket through the air.

Most extreme amusement park rides wrap you up in a cocoon of carts with cushioned safety accessories for an encapsulated experience. The just-opened SkyScreamer at Six Flags St. Louis strips a lot of that away and just dangles you out there with the clouds and birds. It's like a ski lift with a lot more adrenaline.

This is what you have been training for since those early days on the playground with your momma pushing you on a swing. It makes the swing ride at the state fair blush and tuck itself back into its trailer. It would have completely changed the feel of Hitchcock's "Vertigo," had it been around in 1958.

SkyScreamer's manufacturer, Australia-based Funtime Group, already claims the title for the world's tallest tower swing ride, the 384-foot StarFlyer in Vienna, Austria. The Six Flags version may be shorter, but it is still high enough up to scare the pants off of you. Just remember, you must be at least 48-inches tall to ride.

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Getaround offers $25-per-hour Tesla rentals

If you're in the market for a cheap thrill, add Getaround to your list. The start-up car-sharing program lets members rent a fusion red Tesla Roadster Sport for only $25 an hour.

Getaround is a new peer-to-peer car rental start-up that lets people offer their own vehicles for rent, including luxury exotics. Insurance is provided by the San Francisco-based company, and renters are responsible for gas. Its business model is similar to Google-backed RelayRides, but the company requires members to use Facebook Connect for sign-up and rental.

To rent a car, members use Getaround's Web site or its … Read more

Hands-on with Ford's Sync AppLink and Pandora

Last week, Ford vehicles gained the ability to voice control apps on a paired smartphone through AppLink, part of a 4.0 update to its SYNC mobile connectivity package. This week, we found ourselves once again behind the wheel of the 2011 Ford Fiesta, the first Ford vehicle to gain the AppLink software, so we decided to stretch its new digital legs with the Pandora Internet radio app, the first application to tout AppLink compatibility.

Before we could start barking voice command orders to our paired phone, we had to first update the vehicle's firmware through Ford's Sync My Ride Web site … Read more

Google-backed RelayRides launches in Bay Area

Flush with cash from an Google Ventures investment, RelayRides recently launched a peer-to-peer car-sharing service in the San Francisco Bay Area that can turn every idle car into a rental.

Renting out your car to total strangers may sound like a risky venture, but it's a way to earn money from an otherwise underused car while helping out carless neighbors. Car owners set their own hourly rate and keep 65 percent of the total rental fee.

RelayRide estimates that an economy car available 20 hours per week can earn owners $4,600 per year. But how much you earn … Read more

5 car video game crossovers we want to see

In light of the Jeep Wrangler making an appearance in the new Call of Duty: Black Ops, and the associated Wrangler Black Ops edition offered by Jeep, we came up with five other video game car crossovers we would like to see. We looked at the top games either available now or coming soon on GameSpot, and picked five likely candidates for a crossover deal.

 Game  Car Fallout: New Vegas Ford Shelby GT500 If we're roaming the post-apocalyptic wastelands around New Vegas, we want to do it Mad Max-style. The Shelby GT500 has the mean looks and … Read more

Hyundai Equus gets the Dub treatment at SEMA

Hyundai hit the 2008 SEMA Show hard with an ultraluxe selection of its then-new Genesis Sedan. In 2009, it was the Genesis Coupe's time to shine and the automaker made the sports car available to almost any tuner who wanted one--keeping the best, of course, at its own booth. At the 2010 SEMA Show, Hyundai continues its aftermarket blitz with the new flagship Equus, giving one example to the guys at Dub for their trademark treatment of big wheels, big style, and big sound. Another Equus benefits from Hyundai's longstanding relationship with Rhys Millen Racing, getting a … Read more

The 404 693: Where we have no idea how Tony Hawk got here (podcast)

Professional skateboarder and entrepreneur Tony Hawk is back on CNET's The 404 Podcast to show off his newest video game Tony Hawk: Shred, a biography written with his sister, the Tony Hawk Foundation Stand Up for Skateparks events, and much more!

It's been almost a year since Tony Hawk first came on The 404 . Obviously a lot has happened since then, and Tony updates us with a legendary story about the aftermath of the pelvic injury he suffered earlier this summer while headlining the Action Sports Weekend at Disneyland.

Getting up after falling off the skateboard has always been an important lesson to Tony, and he talks about that central theme a lot in his new book, "How Did I Get Here: The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO." Written with his sister, Pat Hawk, the book details his rise to success in the skate industry, and Tony is certainly a pioneer in terms of bringing skateboarding to new media.

The original success of the Tony Hawk: Pro Skater brand obviously paved the way for skate gaming, and Tony's back again with a new game called Tony Hawk: Shred. Shred takes a new angle on the franchise and aims for the younger market.

It features similar motion-sensing board control as Ride but transformes the experience with impossible skate and snowboarding tricks, building jumps, and cameos from pros like Louie Vito, Geoff Rowley, Corey Duffel, and more. And like all the Tony Hawk video games, the soundtrack features a variety of genres and artists, including Rival Schools, Jimmy Eat World, OK Go, and more. Tony Hawk: Shred comes out next Tuesday, October 26, for Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3.

After the break, Tony describes the importance of giving back to the skating community and his two charity events called Stand Up for Skateparks. The huge parties galvanize BMX riders, skaters, celebrities, and fans alike in an effort to raise money for high-quality public skateparks in low-income areas throughout the country.

Tony stresses the importance of not only making sure kids are safe in the parks, but also that the parks maintain a level of Tony Hawk quality. The next party is happening in Las Vegas on November 6 and will feature a performance by DJ Z-Trip--tickets are still available here!

There's plenty more to talk about with Tony, including some of his favorite skate videos, tips for future skate entrepreneurs, and the truth behind his involvement in the original "Back to the Future" movie!

Episode 693 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more