Check out rare photos of killer whales surfing in New Zealand at GrindTV!

Just finished building and launching a project that I worked on with Bob Tait of 910ZEN.com (and the acoustic surf rock band "Bag of Toys"). Ian Balding is a North Carolina surfboard shaper that builds custom surfboards and stand up paddle boards made out of wood. Check 'em out... They're beautiful!

Click here to visit Ian Balding Custom Surfboards

From now until the end of October, Surfrider is offering special benefits to new members including a 20% discount at Swell.com, a recycled tote-bag, a one year subscription to TransWorld Surf, Surfrider membership stickers, and six issues of Surfrider's newsletter "Making Waves". Get all these goodies and more by signing up at the IronSurfer Membership sign up page now! Most importantly, you're helping to protect our oceans by becoming a Surfrider member.

I know this isn't really surfing related but I just had to post these. I ran across this Associated Press photo of a baby sperm whale just a few hours old swimming along side its mother and the rest of its pod.

Isn't that cool!? I had this image on my mind this morning while I was surfing. It blows me away that we share the ocean with animals such as these. Here's a video of what I believe are to be the same pod of whales:

I've been going back and forth on deciding to get an iPhone for quite awhile now. I think it's a cool gadget but I keep having that nagging feeling of "Do I really need it?" running through my mind. Recently, a friend of mine sent me a link to Apple's "iPhone in Business" section featuring Surfline. Having access to Surfline's surf reports on a mobile device would be pretty damn cool. Like I said, this is pretty much the deciding factor for me. I'm sold on the Surf Report application for the iPhone. I'll be picking up an iPhone soon and will keep you posted on my experiences with the phone itself as well as the app. Stay tuned...!

Isn't it time you were rewarded for being active on a Social Network? Now you will be and Surf Buds is pleased to provide this benefit to its members! By simply contributing to the site in various ways like uploading photos, inviting friends, or writing in your surf blog, you earn Reward Points that can be redeemed for electronic gift certificates to Amazon.com or even for cash contributions to the Surfrider Foundation. Login to your account or join now to learn more about Surf Buds Rewards.

Surf Buds, the social network for surfers, launched version 2.0 of its web site just after midnight on new year's day, 2009. The new site is a fresh start and will require members to create a new account in order to experience several new and powerful features:

• Photo Albums - Members are provided with 1 gigabyte of disk space on the Surf Buds server to create their own albums for displaying photographs;
• Surf Blogs - Members can now share their thoughts and ideas or simply rant and rave on their very own Surf Buds web blog;
• Improved Interactivity - Connecting with friends is easier than before with profile commenting, messaging, and real-time network activity updates.

In addition to these new features are two "under the cover" upgrades. Surf Buds is now hosted with Dreamhost and powered by the Social Engine platform. These upgrades improve the way Surf Buds performs and make the user experience more fun and engaging.

Surf Buds is your surf site and your surfing community. Have a happy new year and enjoy the new site!

The original version of Surf Buds has been taken offline in order to make a much needed upgrade to the application. When January 1, 2009 rolls around (perhaps sooner!), surfers from around the world will be given a powerful tool to connect with friends and express their individuality. Sit tight and keep an eye out for the official launch announcement of Surf Buds 2.0!