By Ted Bendixson

I'm a self-professed technology nut. You wouldn't know it under the layers upon layers of fresh looking gear I sport, I've put in some serious hours building iPhone apps and nerding out hardcore with computer code. Naturally, I can't help but get really thrilled when I come upon a tech startup in the snow sports scene that's truly making a difference in the every day shred life. Dew Motion, the company behind the Dew Motion iStick Wireless Armband, is definitely doing that.

The Dew Motion iStick Wireless Armband is the solution to an age old problem I've had since I started snowboarding with music. It's a wireless controller for your iPhone or iPod that wraps around your wrist. You control your music by toggling the joystick. If you press the top of the joystick, your music pauses. If you toggle the joystick up or down, you control the volume. Go left or right, and you're changing tracks wirelessly like a boss.

Here are some really cool things I've noticed about using the iStick:

1. I can actually change my songs while riding! I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure I could switch to the next track mid-air too.

2. It's really easy to have a quick conversation with your bros before hitting the jumps. You press the button to pause it, say hi, and then resume.

3. You will drain less of your iPhone / iPod battery because you aren't using the LCD screen.

4. Stealth mode. You can control your music under your jacket sleeve with your gloves on.

With all due respect to Steve Jobs and his team, iPods, iPhones, and iPod Touch devices just weren't designed with snowboarding in mind. They were designed with everyone in mind. Most people aren't wearing thick gloves while driving to work or studying, but us snowboarders and skiers wear gloves all the time. We need a way to control our music without taking our gloves off.

It gets even more challenging with all the new touchscreen devices. You have to navigate your way through all of these fancy pants menus just to change the song or pause the music, and you can't do any of it unless you're looking directly at the screen. What a drag when all you want to do is pause your music, say hi to your bro, and then resume your music so you can keep hitting jumps.

Slate Magazine ran a really awesome piece on this not too long ago. The author argued that touchscreen interfaces are a step backward because they remove the one thing that makes controlling our devices easy -the tactile feedback. Your boring old car stereo is actually better designed than your iPhone because you don't need to look at your stereo to change the station or increase the volume. You just reach out your hand and adjust some knob.

What the car stereo knob has done for driving, the iStick Wireless Armband is doing for snowboarding and skiing. It provides the tactile feedback we've been looking for. The picture you see above is that of a bright red armband that goes around your wrist. But I've got a little secret for you. The iStick totally kills it in stealth mode. I place the iStick around my left wrist, and I hide it under my jacket while I'm snowboarding. Because the control knob is so tall, I can find it in less than a second by simply placing my right hand over my wrist and feeling for it.

This is what I've wanted for a long long time. Now that I've got the iStick, I don't have to pull my iPod Touch out of my pocket and navigate through a bunch of menus just to stop or start the music. If you think about it, there are all kinds of interruptions in a single day of shred. You want to tell your friend he just stomped something rad. You want to chat up the hottie in the chair next to you. The iStick removes a lot of the awkwardness from these moments, making your day on the slopes run a lot more smoothly (oh and don't worry about accidentally triggering the iStick while you're doing extreme things. It never happens).

Have other people tried to solve this problem? Sure they have, but I believe they've met with limited success. I don't think it makes sense to put music controls on your helmet. It's difficult to reach, and you can't really see what's going on. The helmet controls I've used so far only control the volume, and the buttons don't stick out like the button on the iStick. I'm sure someone could make a better helmet-based control system, but I just haven't seen one yet.

Burton has done some cool stuff with their wireless music controlling gloves. I applaud them for tightly integrating their technology with the iPhone so you can have a phone conversation t hrough your gloves. However, the sad fact remains that gloves eventually wear out. With the iStick, you get a product you're going to use for years and years as you go through multiple pairs of gloves. It's not just limited to one application. I can easily see myself using this in the summertime too.

The sheer genius of the iStick is that it is a return to the tried and true physical interfaces we grew up with. Touchscreens are good for some things. They're perfect for sending emails and playing Angry Birds. But when you just want to change the track or say hi to your bro, it's nice to have a physical knob you can press. It's even better when that little toggle is carefully hidden under your jacket.

Now I feel like T1000 when I'm out shredding. I've got all this technology hidden under my jacket, but you wouldn't know it. My question for Dew Motion is this. When will the iStick control sharks with laser beams attached to their heads? I mean, really, is it so hard to get some frickin' sharks with some frickin' laser beams mounted on their heads? Do that, and I'm sure you'll get your one million dollars.

P.S. The owner of Dew Motion contacted me about the iStick, and although he has no plans for it to control sharks with laser beams on their heads, other uses for the iStick are in the works. Some day in the near future, you will be able to use the iStick, or an iStick-like device, to control your camera and other electronic gizmos you carry with you on the slopes. He told me that because the iStick is modular, you can easily upgrade it with extra wireless receivers. I'm not so sure about those sharks anymore. Controlling my GoPro from a hidden panel under my jacket seems rad enough for me.

DEW Motion Line Skis Giveaway

From now until January 3rd, enter to win a pair of Line Influence 105 Skis.

Check out Dew Motion's facebook page to enter the contest.

Learn more about the Dew Motion iStick