Category: Summer Fun

Who, besides vegans and the lactose intolerant, doesn't love ice cream? Nobody. (Even the dairy-averse have found alternatives for this universally adored frozen treat.) Although precursors to what we know as ice cream have existed for ages, Harold McGee -- food science master and author of the must-have 'On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen' -- notes in his book that "the ...

Where many men have disappointed their girlfriends by offering casual, lackluster proposals, Digg's Matt Van Horn secured a definite "yes" from his girlfriend, Lauren, on Saturday by streaming his surprise proposal online so that their friends and family could watch. Fearing that Lauren would expect the proposal if he took her to their favorite spot overlooking San Francisco, Van Horn ...

Twitter's new recruiting video may not make you feel like working, but, if you're in your 20s, are sort of nerdy and remember the time you snuck into the indie-cinema to see 'Rushmore,' you will feel a nostalgic twinge. In the video (after the break), Twitter headquarters are transformed into something of a yearbook, with various teams of employees posing for the film as you would a picture. ...

Officials in one Long Island town are cracking down on rogue swimming pool owners by using Google's satellite imaging technology. According to an Associated Press report in The Wall Street Journal, Riverhead, New York's chief building inspector, LeRoy Barnes, Jr., is using Google Earth to locate swimming pools that haven't been registered for a city permit. So far, Barnes and his staff have ...

Your faithful writer, bolstered by assurance in the strides we're making with shark-detecting technologies, was planning another trip to the beach this weekend. But it suddenly dawned on him that this August 1st will see the 2010 premiere of Shark Week! For shark-phobic rubbernecks, Shark Week is the ultimate car crash, keeping us glued to the television for tales (and tails) of torment and ...

Share Golfers are notorious for dropping thousands of dollars on swing coaches to lower their scores, but a new camcorder claims to render those costly lessons unnecessary by making you the coach. According to DVICE, the V-Swing is a hands-free camcorder that attaches to a golf bag and records your swing as close as six feet from the tee. The $350 device has a wide-angle lens mounted on a long, ...

When the days are long and the weather is warm, there's nothing like spending some time down by the lake, river or ocean. We're not expert anglers, but, as it has many other hobbies, technology has made fishing easier and more accessible. In fact, if you're willing to spend the cash, you can catch some fish without any expert knowledge or fly-fishing blood in your veins. For the first-time ...

Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' saw its 35th anniversary last month, and your writer reignited an irrational, but very real, childhood galeophobia by re-watching the entire toothy franchise just before a July 4th trip to the beach. It didn't help matters that the original Jaws (yes, we know, fictional) attacks occurred around Independence Day on Amity Island, and that the real-life Coast Guard issued ...

Share Apparently, enjoying a fresh slice of watermelon isn't a strictly American experience; just check out this Japanese-made watermelon cooler. According to Crunch Gear, it also has the ability to warm your melon (for whatever reason), or anything else you put under its plastic dome. For about $230, you can wheel your watermelon right up to the beach and bask in your lack of frugality. Now, ...

Designer Fabian Brunsing is worried about commerce encroaching on public space. His 'Pay & Sit: The Private Bench' installation in Berlin is exactly what it sounds like. A series of retractable metal spikes embedded in the planks stick up from the seat of the bench; a fee of about $0.70 (0.5€) deposited into the attached coin box will cause the spikes to recede. While we couldn't ...

Gardening is usually backbreaking work. Planting, weeding and harvesting require physical exertion and near constant squatting or bending over. Thanks to the strangely named Wunda Products, there may be hope for the chronically lazy who also dream of having their own homegrown produce. The Wunda Weeder consists of a simple metal frame with a platform for a face-down, reclining person, a headrest ...

If you're like many young students graduating from high school or college, you're probably planning a little time off -- perhaps a trip abroad in that great American tradition of backpacking. But stuffing whatever you happen to have lying around your room into a bag is a terrible idea for such a journey. You'll want to be properly prepared, and, if you're anything like us, that means making sure ...

Share Summer is a time for outdoor parties, wherever possible -- be it the beach, rooftop, courtyard or front stoop. And with traditional boomboxes having gone the way of the dodo, you'll need something else to blast your digital music. We've rounded up some of our favorite portable speaker options on the market. All are iPod and iPhone compatible (with shielded speakers to prevent ...

Some of the Switched team take to two wheels for the daily commute, and, although the streets of New York are hardly the safest place to be biking, we're usually more concerned about bike theft than we are swerving taxi drivers. Most of us use the low-tech approach of riding a cheap-o road bike, and lugging around a heavy chain to lock it up, but we're now considering the Halo bike lock concept. ...

You can tell somebody is into exercise for the right reason (namely, to stay healthy, and not to get "totally ripped"), when they're willing to look completely goofy while doing it. "After all," says the true health nut, "the more comfortable I am, the further I can run/bike/speed-walk!" Well, sir, meet your new best friend: the Uplink. Designed by Adam Hammerman, this solar-powered personal ...