Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Roll Credits

Looking to go beyond iMovie on your iPad? Consider Avid Studio for iPad. Yup, the software behind some of Hollywood’s biggest films has now been condensed and touch-optimized for the tablet experience, and it costs just $5. Capture media through the iPad Camera Connection Kit or access stored media, and arrange everything quickly in a convenient, intuitive Storyboard mode. A precision frame-by-frame Timeline editor and a slew of studio-quality transitions, 3D animations and effects are also built right in to help turn your home movies into familial blockbusters. The app can also share directly with YouTube and Facebook (amongst others), and when you’re ready to go pro, export directly to Avid Studio (PC only). It may not be a $50,000 workstation, but for just five bucks, this is one mighty powerful app.

Buy Now: $5

Special K

Don’t let the bright colors — a signature Pentax touch — fool you. Behind the bold design by Marc Newson, the Pentax K-01 ($749+), pronounced “kay-zero-one”, has the intentions of a serious enthusiast’s camera. Within the machined aluminum frame, the K-01 houses a 16 megapixel APS-C with sensor-shift stabilization, compatibility with nearly all Pentax lenses including a new ultra-thin 40mm f2.8 XS pancake lens, 920k dot rear LCD, 6 fps burst-mode, ISO range of 100-25600, built-in pop-up flash, and full 1080p 30fps (60fps at 720p) video capture round out the K-01′s features.

More photos after the jump.

Learn More: Here

Her Majesty’s woolen

Now that the holidays are long over and Apple products are filling pockets and bags by the tree-full, it’s time to worry about protecting them. We particularly like the Rickshaw Bagworks Performance Tweed laptop sleeve ($50). As always, Rickshaw manufactures to-order and their products are customizable, but we are sold on the classic Performance Tweed. The idea began with a custom satchel designed for San Francisco’s annual “Tweed Run” (an organized excuse for people to bike in their favorite herringbone attire). Mark Dwight and his team fell in love with the look, but spotted problems with the wool’s durability.

In accordance with their three F’s – form, function and footprint – the San Francisco-based company spent over a year developing a unique modern-meets-traditional fabric. It has classic looks, but its functionality is a far cry from the Her Majesty’s woolen textiles that inspired it. Performance Tweed is 100% recycled, stain-resistant, woven in the USA, and is backed with a luxurious plush lining. We also like the Moleskine Folio ($50) in the same Performance Tweed, which bridges protection for a journal, pens, notebook, smartphone, business cards, cash, or whatever else you need on the go.

Buy Now: $50

Photos by Matthew Claudel

West Meets East

After 25 years as one of the world’s leading gin brands, Bombay Sapphire has finally introduced a new extension to the line, dubbed Bombay Sapphire East ($32) (42% ABV). Adding “East” to the name may seem a bit redundant given the Bombay branding, but the spirit has always been officially classified as a London Dry gin and produced in England. The “East” in this case instead refers directly to the new, Asia-inspired flavors added to the spirit, which include Thai lemongrass and Vietnamese black peppercorns. Unlike more common gin production methods where botanicals are steeped in a neutral spirit before distillation, these additional tweaks are vapor distilled via a botanical basket hung in the still just like the other 10 flavor profiles found in regular Sapphire, resulting in the dampened juniper profile the brand is known for.

Given the slight changes to the recipe, the result isn’t all that far off from the original, but the amped up citrus palette and spice kick are definitely noticeable, in someways putting the overall soft balance of the spirit a tad off kilter. This shift can be used to a skilled mixers advantage, however, to embolden complimentary flavors in classic gin-based cocktails like the Negroni or Gimlet.

We don’t see East usurping it’s older brother as the anchor of the bar any time soon, but it’s definitely worth keeping around for those special moments, when ordinary just won’t cut it. Let’s hope Bombay knows exactly what the Chinese character means on the bottle.

Buy Now: $32

Project by Project

23 posts in, we’re long overdue on giving our Project Kickstarter series an official kick off. Since publishing our first article on a Kickstarter project, back in the summer of 2010, we’ve watched in awe as the site quickly matured into a powerful platform, capable of transforming the dreams of passionate creators into legitimate products and viable businesses. The result has forever widened the road for ideas in search of a path to fruition and re-empowered the parties who should have never taken a back seat in the first place — innovators and consumers.

Helping creative projects receive the attention they deserve has always been a part of our mission, but taking the extra step to pitch in our own funds to back particularly awesome ideas has been the greatest reward of all. Now, as the series continues, even beyond Kickstarter to other incubators like Quirky and Ulele or philanthropic endeavors like Snoball, we’re looking forward to leading the charge for countless other inspiring projects to come by putting our money where our mouth is. We’ll always be on the lookout, but if you’ve got tips or ideas on new projects feel free to drop us a line at sayhello @ gearpatrol.com. We’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime, here’s a look back at the projects we’ve showcased so far:

Canon, Cantons and Continentals

Sunday, 12:24pm | A hundred miles. It doesn’t sound like that much. Maybe a long round-trip commute or a weekend ride up to the grandparents. But take that same distance, move it 3,800 miles, and my, how things can change.

If you’ve ever looked into great driving roads than you’ve undoubtedly heard that Europe is home to a lion’s share of them. Grandstands like the San Bernardino Pass, Stelvio Pass, and the Atlantic Road. Blame it on the Europeans painstaking attention to road construction. Blame it on the fringe benefits of Socialism. Either way, the result is a driver’s delight.

Home to a few of these incredible tours is Switzerland, a country who applies the same, renown precision approach to roads as they do watchmaking. Take some time to explore (or Google Earth) Switzerland and you’ll find swaths of asphalt and concrete winding their way through mixes of impossibly steep alpine terrain, agrestic villages and countoured farmland — each chicane, bank and straightaway hewn to inspire spirited driving. Just be sure to stick to speed limits though; Switzerland’s A-roads, highways for us Yanks, are strewn with enough speed cameras to make leadfooters feel like paparazzi targets.

If you’ve been following us (or Bentley) on Twitter you may already know that we recently spent time in the alpines of Switzerland for an agenda of high-altitude driving, skiing and general rabble rousing (more on that soon). Though our trip was a far cry from the perilous trade pilgrimages that marked Switzerland’s 19th century, we liked to imagine that the 150 inches of snowfall during our stay combined with white-knuckle driving made for our own chocolate-box adventure. And in particular, one soaring drive at the conclusion of our trip, which is where this story begins.

Photos by Eric Yang

An accessory for your accessories

One of the drawbacks to being a modern, on-the-go guy is carrying around all that gear and gadgets. Streamlining your accessories into one portable pack is the JanSport Pleasanton ($250), a waxed cotton twill and leather bag with dedicated compartments for all your stuff. Stow your laptop in the 15-inch quick-access sleeve and your iPad or e-reader in the Pleasanton’s interior slip pocket. Three zippered stash pockets make easy storage for your keys, wallet, iPod or other, and the front cord management pocket keeps all your devices tangle-free.

The rugged make and stylish look are equally fit for urban commutes, weekend excursions or your Sherpa side business, and the padded back panel and ergonomic, padded straps ensure you’ll haul your gear in comfort.

Buy Now: $250

Grips with both hands on the wheel

Drive confidently swerves around pigeonholes. Pink scripted credits, seemingly plucked from an 80s billboard, burn over opening shots of the LA skyline, right before plunging into a tense getaway that would make Michael Mann grin from ear to ear. The protagonist — whose proper name is never revealed throughout the entire flick — barely speaks and enjoys donning a disco-inspired scorpion jacket while brutally dispatching anyone (Sopranos-style) who stands in his way. Even the ruthlessly pragmatic mob boss, Bernie Rose, is masterfully played by famed comedian, Albert Brookes.

None of these elements make a lick of sense in a typical crime-thriller, but director Nicolas Winding Refn confidently pours it all into his own batch of über-cool concentrate, backed by an electrified pop soundtrack that any card-holding hipster has had on repeat since seeing it in theaters. It deserved more than just cult status supremacy in our books, but a royal snubbing by the Academy officially certified it’s fate. Here’s hoping that, like Tu Pac, Drive gains more fans in death than it ever had in life.

Buy Now: $20

China May Never Match America’s Creative Muscle
Fast Company

Falling Mad Men
Esquire

ACL Field Trip: Mr Porters Office
A Continuous Lean

Con Artist Starred in Sting That Cost Google Millions
WSJ

Standout Films at Sundance 2012
Cool Hunting

Day 31: Invest in Leather
Valet

A Visit with the Worst College Basketball Team in America
Grantland

The Longform Guide to Saturday Night Live
Slate

Heat your meals, charge your phone

They say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks — but the same axiom apparently isn’t true for the wood burning camp stove — the oldest camping gear dog of all. Like any other timber burnin’ stove, the BioLite CampStove is great for cooking, since there’s no risk of fire-starting chemicals flavoring your grub. Lugging fuel isn’t an issue either, as long as pellets, sticks, pine cones, or other random flammable biomass are lying about. Unlike every other stove out there, however, the Biolite can convert heat energy from the fire into electric power for charging gadgets via USB. How much power is generated isn’t directly shared, but BioLite says charge rates are similar to a laptop USB port. The complete kit also weighs a feathery 2 lbs and can pack down to 8.25 x 5″ (which is roughly the size of a Nalgene), making it suitable even for ultralight backpacking.

All of this innovation will surprisingly come at a reasonable price point of $129 when it goes on sale later this spring. Eager buyers can reserve the first series off the factory floor today, though, via the link below. Who thinks your decision to buy that kumbaya app was dumb now?

Special thanks to the team over at The Gear Junkie for bringing this to our attention.

Buy Now: $129 (Available Spring)

Blessed by the God of the Sea

In the 1960s, scuba diving’s popularity was booming, thanks almost entirely to one man: Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It was Cousteau who, along with Emile Gagnan invented the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) known as the Aqua-Lung. It was also Cousteau, whose French-accented voiceovers and globetrotting adventures on his TV series fascinated households worldwide. And as if he wasn’t busy enough, Cousteau was also the president of the American diving equipment company, U.S. Divers Company, which was providing reliable, affordable underwater gear to amateur underwater explorers. So when U.S. Divers selected a DOXA dive watch to bear its logo, it was like a blessing from Neptune himself.

By 1967, DOXA was a tired brand whose glory days were seemingly behind it. But they saw in the bold sport of diving an opportunity to create a new kind of watch, one designed for the sport diver, not the mine-clearing, Black Ops, Special Forces frogmen who were wearing stark Rolexes and Omegas. So DOXA designer, Urs Eschele, started with a blank sheet of paper and a list of specifications from some of Cousteau’s minions. The result was a watch that didn’t look like anything else and could have only been the result of a purely purpose-designed mandate. U.S. Divers Co. was so pleased with the SUB 300 (the “T” didn’t come until later) that it bought the rights to be sole distributor of the watch in the United States and put its familiar “Aqua-Lung” logo right on the dial. The watch was a huge success and countless divers wore it as a sort of badge of honor. If you wore a DOXA SUB in the 1960s, you were a diver.

Continues after the jump.

Photos by Gishani for Gear Patrol