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  • Smart Shoes

    When news of the new computer powered Adidas shoe broke about a year ago, there was some discussion on the radio. One person opined that many of the early sales would be to shoe collectors. Yes, there are people who buy shoes, not to wear, but solely to add to their collection! Apparently, it's a big hobby. There are even magazines and museums devoted to shoe collecting. So, many of these new-fangled, high-tech shoes will end up not actually being used, but put into display cases in the homes of shoe collectors. It just goes to show that people will collect anything. Cheers! Hans PS. Good article!

  • #2
    Smart Shoes

    Just imagine when the chip breaks down, does this mean you have to sit by the roadside waiting for recovery to a shoe repair shop? Just like the car!! How about connecting them to the police network in order for them to monitor your whereabouts? Connect them to your mobile phone and get instant Global position! Does this mean that shoes now get soles and souls!! This could run an run ....(ho ho) Great article as always.

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    • #3
      Smart Shoes

      Hee heeee! Great commentary! I've never understood why I need to spend $200 on a pair of runners. It's all a highly effective upsell by the major shoe manufacturers. The only thing that surprises me is that they haven't tried to change the name. Something like "Mobility Movers" or "Earth Interface Machines" would do, except that it needs to be catchy. Is it just me, or is a shoe the worst possible place to put some electronics? They get hot, dirty, wet, there's high vibration levels, the shoe needs to be flexible, it's an electronics horror show! I know that an all electronic package can be hardened and sealed, but the reliability will be suspect anyway. We've all seen the condition that shoes can degrade to. They get dirty, torn, the soles are worn way down, and let's not dwell on the smell. What condition do you think the electronics are going to be in? Working? Nope!

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      • #4
        Smart Shoes

        They can leave out all the special features. I'd be happy if I could just find a pair that fit my narrow feet.

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        • #5
          Smart Shoes

          Brian wrote: "I've never understood why I need to spend $200 on a pair of runners." Different sports have different footwear. Think of football, hockey, golf, curling, and bowling to name a few. Each has a different type of shoe that's completely unsuitable for any of those other activities. Is $200 too much for a shoe? If you take a sport seriously, probably not. From my own personal experience as a bowler, I know that you can fall headlong down the alley if your shoes aren't in the right condition. If a really good pair of $200 shoes lasts a good long time, that might not be too unreasonable. (But $200 for bowling shoes might be just a bit on the steep side. This fall, I'll probably spend around $100 on my next pair.) Brian wrote: "Is it just me, or is a shoe the worst possible place to put some electronics?" As I mentioned before, a lot of these fancy schmancy electronic shoes will go to collectors, and will never see a drop of sweat. Cheers! Hans

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          • #6
            Smart Shoes

            There are even magazines and museums devoted to shoe collecting.
            Absolutely right about the shoe museums. Right in our hometown -- an easy walk from me -- is the Bata Shoe Museum, which boasts of having 10,000 shoes. I've walked past it a number of times, but I've never gone in because, well, maybe it's just me, but I've never seen shoes as anything other than something to wear on my feet and then throw out when I wear them out. But, to each his or her own. P.S.: Thanks re the "Good article"

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            • #7
              Smart Shoes

              Just imagine when the chip breaks down, does this mean you have to sit by the roadside waiting for recovery to a shoe repair shop?
              Yes, you might have to wait by the roadside, but any good programmer would know to try untying and retying his or her shoes first to see if that fixes the problem. Of course, you would then have to wait for your footwear to re-boot.

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              • #8
                Smart Shoes

                Try New Balance - they make many shoes in narrow width. The easiest way to find them is to go to the New Balance Web Express site: http://www.nbwebexpress.com/default.htm and search by type of shoe, size and width. Not all of their shoes come in narrow, but dozens of them do.

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                • #9
                  Smart Shoes

                  I can't understand why you're not rich, either. I also can't understand why I can't rate this article as both 'excellent' and 'useless'.

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                  • #10
                    Smart Shoes

                    I also can't understand why I can't rate this article as both "excellent" and "useless".
                    Yeah, my understanding is that there is one rating system -- with a single set of options -- that is used on all MC Press articles, but my columns are not like any other MC Press articles. I think that you can just take it as a given that my columns are useless and use the "Not Helpful" option to mean "bad" rather than "useless," since everyone is going to assume (correctly) that my columns are considered to be useless any way. Under that scheme, you can use the options to, in effect, say "useless" AND "excellent," "good," "OK," or "not helpful [bad]." But that's just my opinion.

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                    • #11
                      Smart Shoes

                      ** This thread discusses the Content article: Smart Shoes **
                      0

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                      • #12
                        Smart Shoes

                        I too was once a believer that expensive shoes were a fashion statement. As I grew old and started getting weight that my feet could feel, my ankles started hurting and I went ahead and spend some money on shoes. Still, it was no more than $30 on an Everlast shoe in Wall-Mart. Then there was an occasion where I had to wear good active wear to make a fashion statement as part of my job as consultant. I was not fitting in with formal clothing. I found a pair of Spalding Wide Size made hell of a difference to my entire feet, all the way upto my knees. I now wear Nike Air and they are helping me reduce my weight as it is easier for me to walk more. With all this love of Nike I will never ever wear Nike Ipod, a set of shoe that control your iPod while you are jogging. Now that is too much even for a fan like my buddy Mike Wilson aka Nike Mike who would wear Nike shoes, pants, shirts, cap, and even Nike wrist watch!!!

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