This is a little old, and a little odd. There are already a few social apps and web sites out there for sharing skate spots and footage, and a couple for playing S.K.A.T.E., But the Nike SB App rolls them all into one and then some, giving new meaning to the term “tech skater.” Nyuk nyuk nyuk… The tagline is “Connect. Progress. Respect.” The app lets you play the game of S.K.A.T.E. worldwide, connect with other users, and accept challenges:

Step up to new challenges issued by Nike SB and our pro team to help you keep progressing. Share your footage and have the chance to get noticed by Nike SB, our team, and many more!

Then there’s something called a “trick tree”

Lose yourself in skateboarding’s endless creative process with our extensive Trick Tree, further inspiring you to learn and expand your skills. Watch the pros demonstrate with new filming and viewing techniques, and help expand the Trick Tree with your own footage.

The whole thing sounds marginally acceptable until you get to the point where you get to earn virtual badges, which is a little bit too much in the Dora the Explorer vein for me. The video promo features a remix of a Cocteau Twins song, so I’m not sure who this is aimed at, but it’s slick. That’s for sure. If you’re on an iOS device you can download it free from the App store. Imagine showing some kid in the 70’s how one day, other kids would be skateboarding, watching videos and entering contests with their phones. Actually, I think they showed this in the claymation scene of Skateboard Madness…

Rebelscum.com reports from the Agenda trade show that Santa Cruz is releasing some licensed Star Wars skateboards. It looks like some of them come packaged like little action figures. Santa Cruz will put out a skateboard with anything and everything on it. As weak as the idea of a Star Wars skateboard is, I really like the replica action figure packaging. That’s pretty good attention to detail. Check it out after the jump, as well as a Skate and Annoy exclusive insider pic of the limited edition, super technical slalom deck that will likely cost an arm and a leg.

This incredible Lego set (71006 – The Simpsons House) comes out in Februrary. Sure, it’s got Bart Simpson on a skateboard and a quarter pipe, but really this is just an excuse to post about Lego again. I just picked up the Everstorm robotic set, err.. for my kids. Haven’t had time to start it up yet. This Simpsons set looks pretty damned cool though, although Bart has droopy eyes for some reason. As expensive as it is ($199), I’m glad this isn’t some crappy Kre-o set. Those bricks are substandard grade ABS plastic with lousy manufacturing tolerances. Lego bricks “stick” for years while you’re lucky if a Kre-o bricks stays in place after a week. More photos at Gizmodo or on the Lego Facebook page. As of this time, there’s no mention of it on Lego.com. I can’t believe they don’t have a “news” section on their web site. I’m starting the timer now… one of the promo photos features Bart skitching behind the family car, and all that without a helmet too. Cue public outrage… now.

I wasn’t sure what this was supposed to be, possibly some sort of a sickly mole or something. But from behind it looks like a rabbit. I thought it was old at first, but it turns out it came out in 2011 as a kids meal toy at Burger King in conduction wight the movie Hop, so this is E.B..

Zac Efron skateboarding in a grocery store because he is just that desperate for more media attention. From the looks of his footwear, he must be on break from shooting a mummy movie. That’s a repro of a vintage skateboard that could probably be identified by one very bored S&A reader. US Weekly photo by Splash News.

– Thanks to Mrs. Kilwag for the tip.

This fake Kryptonics complete is even less well known than the first Kryptonics bootleg that I posted on S&A.  I had to check AOS  to find out that the original graphic came from a 1989 team deck, called ‘Footprint’. Also, I have never seen bootlegs with this shape and coloured grip. Kryptonics started to make crappy boards near the end of the 90s (I think around ’97), but this is definitely a bootleg, since the seller confirmed that he got it when he was a kid in the 80’s. Price: £0,99 on Gumtree!

Thanks to Nicola Rushent for the pictures.

At some point a few years back I had to switch email clients, and protocols from SMTP to IMAP, as my OS evolved, I can no longer open the old archived Eudora Email, plus it got corrupted anyway. I did find some scans of a Skate Straight zines in the attachments folder, which I’m sure were meant for the Zine Gallery. I’d like to be able to credit the collector when I do post them, so let me know if it was you, or if you know who put this out. Looks like it was out of Dayton, Ohio. I know this is a long shot, but stranger things have happened. One of the creators posted 9 out of 10 issues in the BMX Society forum but you have to pay for an account that will let you respond or download attachments. I wonder how that is working out for them. Probably keeps most of the riffraff out.

Lots of days off over the holidays, lots of days spent entering in old reviews from the static HTML pages, and doing a bit of coding to present them nicely. Still a bit of tidying up to do, but you know the saying here in the S&A tech department. You don’t? Well here’s how it goes: Good enough for now! Re-uploading images and rereading some of these reviews made me chuckle. The review that came up last in the skateboarding section was from back in 2006! I think that’s right about the time I started blogging. Static HTML… what a drag! I thought about ditching the old ones completely but I decided to leave them in, they are sometimes sort of interesting from a historical standpoint. Some of the oldest reviews go back to when I was not getting much traffic on the site. Some date back to 1997! Timely? Hardly, but there’s something like 250+ reviews, so how else am i going to get people to send me new stuff? Needless to say, there are probably a lot of dead links for bands and websites that don’t exist anymore. I’ve got old ass static HTML features that I’m going to port over too, even more hilarious and very isolated, as if I’m writing for 10 people or so that I already knew, which I was… Seeing that old review for a Merde Skateboards board was jarring because Merde folded unceremoniously last year… or was it two years ago? I discovered that I had a Toy Machine Billy Marks Fiber Prime deck review ready to go that Danimal wrote. I had his text and some pictures, and the skeletal structure of the HTML directory ready, just never got around to putting it together. During the photo session for the review (really trying to make sure Swank got got his money’s worth) Dan was doing some lien to tails and consistently hitting his back wheels on the coping. Yikes. Amazingly, Billy Marks is still on the team some 6 years later. I hope you enjoy reading a never before published review of something you can no longer buy. Thanks to Tod Swank for hooking us up. Our Swank re-interview is another one I need to port over to WordPress. I’ll let you know when I do.

I swear that’s not the plan for 2014, it’s just a coincidence. Spotted at a Vans store in the mall. The Vans, shoe shaped skateboard, complete with top and bottom graphics, including waffle sole.