extreme – Backerjack

Tiny Graava action cam decides which scenes make the cut

With the formidable quality of video that can be captured by smartphones, there’s got to be something special offered by a camcorder to arouse interest. GoPro figured out that small size, ruggedness, a wide angle. It’s attracted a number of competitors, including Contour, Drift Innovation, Sony, C&A Marketing (using the Polaroid Cube brand) and, more recently, TomTom (yes, the GPS company) with a 4K camera called the Bandit.

Graava enters this crowded field with a small, polished gemstone-like camcorder that affixed to a range of bikes and apparel with the right mounts. Lacking an LCD as many of these products do, it has a grid of LEDs on its side that indicate the product’s status, and has an enclosed HDMI connector and microSD slot for expansion It can also be charged wirelessly using the Qi standard. What sets Graava apart is that it has the ability to analyze the video it captures and pick out the most interesting parts depending on how long the resulting video is. And when it’s not capturing extreme surfing, it can be used to capture the gentle sounds of a napping infant as a baby monitor.

Thrill seekers can’t get enough of skydiving, bungee jumping and wingsuit flying. Now, they can up the ante with the WingBoard. This product combines wake boarding with sky diving. The user stands atop the WingBoard which is attached to a plane. YES, a plane. Okay, one of those little planes, but still. It has wheels on the bottom for take off and, in the sky, the rider holds onto a rope much like when water skiing. One will cost extreme backers basically $600 for only the kit and manual to create a 1/16 scale version of the product. WingBoard hopes to raise $32,000 on Kickstarter to continue developing their product.

Thus far, the creators of WingBoard are still in the very early stages of development. They’re slowly scaling their product up to ensure safety. Speaking of which, it’s unclear what happens to the rider if they let go of the rope or lose their balance. Those water skiing can just float around in the water, but do WingBoarders just fall to the ground? Or do they perhaps wear a parachute? Either way this sport seems like it could require exceptional safety controls with wind and cold altitudes making it downright unpleasant. It will be interesting to see if this product ever fully develops with the approval of all the necessary acronymed organizations.