skiing

VANCOUVER, B.C.--There's been a lot of attention in Vancouver about a certain Snow Leopard, but this one comes from a lot farther away than Cupertino, Calif.

Ghanan skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, who happens to have the same nickname as Mac OS X 10.6, has won attention as the only representative from the African nation at these Winter Games. The Snow Leopard is slated to race on Saturday in the men's slalom race at Whistler.

Part of his nickname comes from the fact that he supports the Snow Leopard Trust, an organization devoted to protecting the endangered … Read more

The name is a fortunate accident, but the fun of skiing with a group of open-source business executives is no accident at all.

The Open Source Goat Rodeo 2010 took place in Utah, February 4 through 6, and included great skiing, wonderful food, and exceptional people--including the first ever appearance by former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos.

As I do every year, I've created a video to highlight the activities and give a taste for the event. It's not a closed event: I hope you'll join us in 2011.

I probably should identify everyone by the color of … Read more

From the makers of the Digital Underwater Camera Mask comes a new gizmo that lets adrenaline junkies capture their skiing adventures. Liquid Image will be showing off its new 335 Snow Camera Goggle at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

The shooter is part of the new Summit Series of ski masks with integrated cameras. The hands-free snapper has a 5-megapixel image sensor that's also capable of recording 720x480-pixel videos with audio. Controls are laid out on the right side of the snow goggles and are large to facilitate users wearing gloves. The eyewear has 16MB of internal … Read more

We're back! Jeff and Wilson are joined in the studio today with "Kenri," and Justin chimes in from San Francisco via phone. It's back to our usual shenanigans again, and we recount our holiday break. Plus, we have an apology to make to James Cameron.

Jeff tells us about his near-death experience on the ski slopes. Listen to how a patch of ice almost did away with our favorite CNET emcee. Wilson recounts his Christmas vacation to visit his dear ole Ma. Finally, Justin tells us about how he's currently sunbathing in California, while we all freeze to death here in NYC.

With the exception of "Kenri," we all caught James Cameron's "Avatar," and boy was it mind-blowing! The film is just incredible to watch, and we're pleasantly surprised to see it bring in more than $1 billion at the box office worldwide. Wilson is not sure though that the movie is any good in 2D. The clips and trailers still look silly, so we're still recommending people catch it in IMAX 3D or Real3D. (Editors' note: please catch "Up in the Air." Two words: Vera Farmiga.)

Tomorrow is the first day of CNET's annual International CES coverage. There won't be a show tomorrow because we'll be en route to Las Vegas. We'll be hosting a live show Wednesday at 5 p.m., Thursday at 4 p.m., and Friday at 4 p.m. PST. We have some surprises up our sleeves, but honestly, we're just trying not to kill ourselves while partying it up in Vegas. If you're there, come by the CNET booth in the North Hall at the Convention Center.

Researchers from Slovenia are developing a skiing robot that can not only carve up the snow; it can slalom around racing gates.

Bojan Nemec of the Jozef Stefan Institute recently told an audience at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems that the robot is designed to ski downhill autonomously using ordinary skis. It can avoid obstacles and identify the gates to plan its path.

Shown in the 2008 video below, the robot can slowly maneuver its way around the gates without toppling over, though a separate blooper reel depicts it wiping out.

The machine only has … Read more

Today's episode is all about technology that is so ridiculous, it calls for someone to exclaim "kill me." That, or it could actually kill you. Man, that's depressing. We lighten things up with the surfing equivalent of Rollerblades. Come to think of it, that might not be all that safe either.

Ice Breaker wards off deadly icicles

New report: Cell phones may actually cause brain cancer

Attitude Chair rocks with six legs

New Justin Timberlake fragrance looks like an MP3 player

It’s about time Chronotech’s Bluevoice combines wristwatch, headset (thanks Cameron!)

What a concept! Progress Bar Clock: Day loading, please wait

Pretty (teen goth girl bedroom edition) Poesy Illuminated Bed by Philippe Boulet

Life size shadow decal of Edward Cullen–sigh

Tool Time New sport: Stand-up paddle skiing… Read more

I wasn't able to blog yesterday, as the Open Source Goat Rodeo kicked off its 2009 edition at Snowbird with amazing snow, bright sunshine, and wonderful people (some of whom can shred snow as if they never actually go to work...Lars/John/Paolo/Bryce, I'm thinking of you!):

The day ended in Salt Lake City with a Mormon Mousse Pie (Don't ask), consisting of white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate mousse fillings, white chocolate shavings, and a dark chocolate crust that I improvised early Friday morning.

One great part of the first day for me, … Read more

Aqua Moto Racing is an attractive, addictive, and highly replayable 3D Jet Ski racing game--and one of the best games of its kind available on the iPhone and iPod Touch. You control your Jet Ski with simple, intuitive controls: you tilt your device right or left to turn (the farther you tilt, the tighter the turn), and you touch the left side of the screen to brake and the right side to "boost." This temporary speed increase uses the "boost" meter, which you recharge by passing buoys closely and performing stunts off of ramps. Performing tricks … Read more

Every week, I try to pick a game and some other useful utility for my iPhone apps post, but this week I can't help but write about two games. What can I say? They keep coming out with great games! The two games are from completely different genres so if you like games at all, I'm guessing at least one of them will find their way onto your iPhone.

This week's apps include a well-designed Jet Ski racing game and a unique word game that's challenging and makes you laugh while you play.

WordFu (99 cents, … Read more