Icon FJ & CJ: Classic Trucks Reborn

They don’t build them like they used to.  Whether it’s a fridge or a truck, modern goods just aren’t built to the same standards of quality and durability as they used to.  Trucks today can hardly be called trucks.  Most have leather interiors with navigation systems and smooth suspensions that are more aimed at driving to soccer practice than up a mountain.  Although most people don’t need locking differentials or 12 inches of travel for most of their driving needs, it’s nice to know that some companies are still making trucks that are just plain trucks.

Icon, based in Los Angeles has taken two classic 4×4s and transformed them into modern off road machines.  The Toyota FJ and the Jeep CJ are two iconic 4×4s that were always built as true trucks that could go anywhere and would withstand years of abuse and wear.  Many people restore classic FJs and CJs but at Icon, they have taken things to a whole new level.  Instead of taking old FJs and CJs and restoring old frames and parts, they create brand new replicas based on the original platforms and outfit them with the highest quality modern materials and parts.  The result is a brand new truck that looks like a classic FJ or CJ.  These amazing trucks do come at a price though…..although they are all fully customizable with varying prices, most Icons sell for north of $100,000.  For most enthusiasts, the price is too high but for those who can afford a six figure truck, there is no better choice than an Icon.

Head to http://icon4×4.com for more info about these unique trucks.

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New And Improved GearBurger.com – Sign Up To Get Custom Gear Alerts

Last summer I wrote about the launch of gearburger.com, which aggregated the multitude of daily gear sale sites.  This month they updated their service, making it even easier to monitor gear sales on the web.

Gear Burger, started 18 months ago by Chad Rosen and Rob Webb, monitors the inventory sets of web based outdoor gear retailers and sends price reduction alerts to users based on their brand and category preferences.  So if you tell Gear Burger that you like Patagonia and North Face ski gear, bags and casual clothing, Gear Burger will send you an alerts when the prices are reduced on these types of items.  Both avid snowboarders and web startup veterans, Chad and Rob started Gear Burger because they were frequently frustrated when they learned that they had missed a deal on snowboarding gear on the web.   Gear Burger currently monitors 2,000 brands and +20,000 products across the inventory sets of +25 outdoor retailer sites including REI.com, Patagonia.com, Backcountry.com.  The types of gear monitored by the site include skiing, snowboarding, road and mountain biking, running, hiking, camping, racks, bags and packs, paddling and more.

Can’t wait till that Patagonia Jacket you’ve been wanting goes on sale?  Don’t waste time searching the internet looking for sales, head on over to gearburger.com and let them do the work for you.

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Hipmunk: A New Travel Site That Aims to Make Flight Searching Easier

Traveling is fun, searching for flights is not.  There are a handful of sites out there that attempt to aggregate the dozens of flight booking engines, but none of them are great in my opinion.  Kayak.com and Bookingbuddy.com are just a couple such sites but the way they display available flights is not too intuitive.  Hipmunk aims to make searching for flights easier by narrowing down the criteria you care about and displaying results in a clever format that is easy on the eyes.  There are definitely some early bugs and some improvements that could be made, but the site is new and they are just starting to get funding and get some momentum going.  Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman decided to go back to Y Combinator with this start-up along with a small angel investor, so although the funding is small, it will be interesting to see if this site can gain some traction in this competitive market.  Plus, you gotta love their mascot!

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Marine Layer: The Opening Of Their First Retail Store & Some Sweet New Products

The last time I talked about the guys over at Marine Layer, they were opening up a pop up shop in San Francisco to sling some of their new shirt designs.  Fast forward 3 months and their pop up shop is now turning into a full time retail shop complete with an expanded product line.  As I write this, they are hard at work sanding floors and re-wiring the shop to get it ready for the grand opening sometime in mid August.  Check their blog for the latest info along with an amusing video of them trying to figure out how to operate a floor sander.  The new store will be located at the same address as their pop up shop, 2209 Chestnut St. San Francisco, CA.

In order to fill the new digs, Marine Layer is expanding their product line.  Along with some new t-shirt and polo designs, they have unveiled their new hoodie, The Afternoon Hoodie.  In typical Marine Layer fashion, the hoodie is made from their super soft custom fabric with touches like re-inforced seams and my favorite, a hidden pocket inside the pouch pocket.  To top it off they took out the draw string in the hood because as they put it…..”you’re not a cat burglar”.

So if you live in San Francisco, stay tuned for their retail shop grand opening sometime this month and if not, head on over to their website and snag one of their new hoodies.

http://www.marinelayer.com/

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Shark Week Is Back! August 1st on Discovery!

Not much more needs to be said other than happy shark week!  I’m not sure what it is about the annual shark week on The Discovery Channel, but it’s pretty entertaining.  Sharks are pretty mysterious and scary creatures so a week dedicated to learning and watching them always sparks my interest.  Although, the more I learn about them, the more I think about them when I am paddling around in the waters off Northern California…..

Da… dun….

Da-dun…

Dun-dun Dun-dun Dun-dun Dun-dun Dun-dun

Check The Discovery Channel website for a full schedule of shows starting on Sunday August 1st at 9PM.

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What I Would Buy If I Had An Extra $250,000 Lying Around……And I Lived In Europe

I often like to play the game of “what if” when it comes to cars.  What would I buy if I had a cool quarter of a million dollars lying around?  Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin……..it would be quite a nice dilemma to have.  Recently Porsche decided to create a very rare and special 911 and offer it exclusively to our friends across the Atlantic.  The 911 Sport Classic is based on the Carrera S, but done in a very cool Grey color with some throw back Fuchs wheels, a duck-tail spoiler and some other very sexy upgrades.  Although you can buy a much faster and more performance oriented car for this price, this Porsche is about exclusivity and style.  They only made 250 of these Sport Classics and all were spoken for very quickly after they came on the market.  It doesn’t hurt to dream right?

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Harbor Master: Take The Helm In This Super Addicting iPhone/iPad Game

I don’t usually download games for my iPhone, but after hearing about Harbor Master from a friend, I decided to to give it a whirl.  The concept is super simple but it sucks you right in and keeps you entertained as you try to navigate ships into and out of a Harbor.  The longer the game goes, the more ships it sends into the Harbor at once.  Keep unloading the boats and sending them back out of the Harbor until things get too crazy and the boats crash.  The free version comes with just one board and although you can be plenty entertained with this one Harbor, chances are you will want to test the other 5 out in the paid version.  Plus, if you spring for the paid version, you get to battle pirates as well.  So put on your captains hat and grab the wheel to see if you’ve got what it takes to become Harbor Master!

Harbor Master: Imangi Studios

Get Harbor Master on iTunes

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Just Chili – California Hot Sauce!

There are lots of hot sauces out there and although i’m no connoisseur, I do like to discover new ones.  My go-to’s are Tapatio and Cholula but last weekend I came across a bottle of sauce at a Tahoe restaurant that looked just like Sriracha, but it was called Just Chili – California Hot Sauce.  It has the consistency of Sriracha and tasted pretty similar but it’s made in San Diego so I like to support the local brands.  I’m not sure if it’s available in stores, but you can order two 18oz bottles for $9.95 plus shipping.  To order you’ve got to do it the old school way and pick up the phone but it’s worth it.  Check out their site at: http://www.justchili.biz/

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Macbook Bro: Give your Mac Some Personality

Want to set your Macbook apart from all those other silver faceless Macs at your local coffee shop?  Slap a mustache on it or even a new hairdo courtesy of the guys at Stick With Me, Baby!  Yup, not only can you now put a mustache on your car courtesy of Carstache, you can now pimp your Mac out with some facial hair of  it’s own.  Choose from a variety of clever styles including “the creepy uncle” all for around $10 at Stick with me,baby!

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Chromeo Releases New Single: Album Dropping In August

Get ready for a Chromeo filled summer as the duo hits the road on a big tour with their third album set to drop August 17th.  The album which is sounding like it will be just as slick and amazing as the first two will be called Business Casual.  It looks like Chromeo has joined the big leagues now, signing on with Atlantic Records for this one.  Last week they released one of the singles off of it called “Don’t Turn The Lights On”.  If this isn’t the definition of smooth, I don’t know what is.  Check their summer tour schedule to see if they are heading to a venue near you.  See you at Outside Lands in SF!

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