I don’t care that Ken Block’s new Subaru-based Trax STI could be the fastest snow vehicle in the world. I’ll be there with my red Zissou hat.

By “there” I mean that I would be driving snowboarders up and down Lake Tahoe’s hills. And by “driving snowboarders up and down” I mean racing up to the mountain top and back to the mountain base. And with “mountain base” I really mean bar.

I guess I won’t be driving the Trax — with its 400hp engine, cat tracks and four-snowboarder sleigh — a lot, after all. [Autoblog via Techeblog]

Now, bear in mind this is a concept, but the goal behind it is pretty much laid bare for all to see in the design. Fast. Low to the ground. Crotch rocket for the Arctic scene.

It also kind of looks like you’re riding a big green sperm, but I assume that was a design choice meant to convey a sense of masculinity or something. [Design Blog]

“IceBreaker is so efficient, that only one heat cable is needed to melt the ice in and on your gutter. We emphasise a single cable because a couple other gutter guards that claim to be heated, use two or three cables to achieve what IceBreaker can do with just one cable.”

Personally, I’ve never had to clean my house’s gutter. But it’s interesting to see that the Icebreaker will also filter out leaves, pine needles and roof grit during the rest of the year.

While it’s still warm out, home owners can get all DIY with the IceBreaker for $US5.50 per foot. [Gutterglove]

As one might expect, the packaging features a snow leopard, staring out at the user with the same white hot intensity of, say, Steve Jobs in his Apple lair as he examines the latest prototype build of an Apple Tablet that may or may not exist.

There’s also the slogan, reading: “The world’s most advanced operating system. Perfectly optimised.”

You know what else would be perfect? If, in the inevitable “I’m a Mac” ad that comes out to market this OS, Hodgman wrestles a real snow leopard. That scene, sadly, is not represented on the Portuguese Mac OS X Snow Leopard packaging. There’s still hope for the U.S. release. [MacRumors]

The whole thing is purely conceptual for now; it involves certain bacteria and ice nucleation and a lot of other science-y sounding words and phrases I don’t understand. What I do understand is the phrase “It will snow ice cream,” and what I wish I didn’t understand is “The technology is a long ways off.” Don’t be fooled by the existence of an actual Cloud Project van—it’s purely for illustrative purposes, and only functions as a regular ice cream truck/science information centre.

Next up: Spaghetti. With a chance of meatballs. Get it? [The Cloud Project via Likecool

The Olymp is an off-season trainer that you strap into your boots and work your carving muscles with a turn simulator. It sure doesn’t look as fun as normal skiing, what with you being stuck in one place, but it definitely will work the muscles you need to keep strong. If they had this in my gym, I’d definitely use it. [Ski Trainer via Born Rich]

In the melting ice, amidst the thawing dog crap, Whitehorse, Yukon resident Andrew noticed an oddly-familiar rectangular item: An iPod classic. He brought it home and found, to his surprise, that it was fully functional.

Frozen in the “bottom layer” of ice (Christ, how many layers do you think there are?) since, he estimates, early winter, the iPod was frozen solid and not in the best of shape. But after a few minutes of charging, the iPod booted right up and even displayed the correct date, proving once and for all that the iPod classic is to date the only Yukon-approved PMP on the market. [Robulack via TUAW]

Imagine lumbering, blurry-eyed and beat-down to the bus stop on a Monday morning. Just then you notice that the billboard at the stop is snowing—alerting you to optimal skiing conditions at the nearby resort.

Designed as a promotional tool for Tryvann Winter Park, a ski resort just 15 minutes outside of Oslo, these snowing billboards alert commuters that conditions are optimal for hitting the slopes. Whenever it begins snowing on the mountain, an SMS message is sent to the billboards instructing them to start their thing. A second message is sent when the snow stops. Needless to say, the temptation to ditch work would be unbearable. [Toxel]

The Price: $US160

The Verdict: The wireless Audex system which controls your iPod works like any other iPod RF remote. There’s an RF receiver dock adaptor and a wireless remote for controls. The system is advertised to work with 3rd Gen iPods or newer and from our testing we found the iPod touch and iPhone can not properly be controlled.

The iPod is meant to be housed in a padded pouch inside the backpack which features a headphone extension cable that is rerouted through the backpack and down the right shoulder strap where a female headphone jack is provided. For the remote Burton has made a rubber housing located on the left should strap which makes the buttons accessible at all times. The wireless controller is removable and works as it should, providing the basic play/pause, skip forward/back, and volume up/down.

This backpack has some pretty impressive storage for its size and with only two large sections which incorporate many unique storage compartments allow for nice organisation of your laptop, gadgets and small gear. When packed to the brim the bag can be a little bulky and stiff but the heavily padded back and shoulder straps allow for a somewhat comfortable fit. This backpack is not intended to be worn while snowboarding and frankly because of the shape and lack of an extra cross strap we wouldn’t recommend it. It seems more fitting that the backpack be used around town or on short trips when you want to easily control your iPod’s music and need to carry your laptop and other gear.
[Burton]

Using the same logic that makes a pair of skis better at high-speeds than a snowboard, because the skis always have two edges gripping the snow during turns, Pyott’s Twin Parabolic Ski concept basically provides each ski with an extra edge. By jointing two longer and narrower skis under each foot, the design allows for more grip at high-speeds since there are more applied edges griping the snow.

Overall the experimental concept seems like a significant way to make downhill racing faster and more dangerous on a pair of skis. The idea of using adjustable joints to make the set of blades under each foot flexible is pretty interesting, and I can’t help but wonder if the same concept can be applied to a snowboard in some way. [Yanko Design via DVICE]