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Puma is recruiting beta testers for its self-lacing sneakers
When Engadget took an exclusive look at the Puma Fi self-lacing shoes earlier this year, the company teased an upcoming beta program for those who want to try their luck. Well, the time has come. Between now and April 28th, you can apply for the Puma Fi beta testing program via the PUMATRAC app (available on iOS and Android) or Puma's online form. The catch is you need to be residing in one of the following 11 regions: US, UK, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain, India and Turkey.
Puma's self-lacing shoes were made for track athletes
Nike has some competition. Though the company has gotten a lot of attention for its Back to the Future-inspired HyperAdapt sneakers, it's not the only brand working on self-lacing shoes. Almost a year ago, Puma showed off its own self-lacing sneakers, called the Autodiscs, and seeded them to the likes of Usain Bolt and Rickie Fowler. Since then the company has had little to say about these rare shoes, but I recently had the chance to get an exclusive look at them and even try them on, courtesy of our friends over at Hong Kong-based Internet of Things accelerator Brinc.
Crocs 'midair shoe store' is staffed by drones
My friends and family don't let me wear Crocs. But still, I'm in the middle of Tokyo to see Crocs send a drone flying to pick up a (hypothetical) customers' shoes. It's all to do with promoting the shoemaker's new range of lightweight Norlin footwear -- they're not the Crocs you're thinking of -- and it involves a custom-built drone delivering the correct style and size to the customer. On top of that, it's all automated, so it's like a giant Crocs-themed vending machine... albeit with drones.
Adidas Social Media Barricade shoe concept moves tweets to the track (video)
Adidas is known for making connected shoes -- but never quite as linked-up as a Nash Money concept making its appearance late into the London Olympics. The Social Media Barricade weaves the guts of a phone and a basic two-line LCD into a running shoe, letting the footwear take Twitter updates very literally on the run through a public account. Even the signature Adidas stripes change their hue through remote control. Before anyone gets visions of athletes checking congratulatory tweets after the 100-meter sprint, just remember that it's an idea rather than a production blueprint: although Adidas is quick to call the Social Media Barricade the "future of athlete connectivity," the only athletes putting eyes on a pair right now are those swinging by the Olympics' media lounge for interviews. Knowing this, we can still imagine some future shoes padding runners' egos at the finish line during the 2016 Rio games.
Blizzard: Use StarCraft 2 trainers 'at your own risk'
Big Blizzard is always watching! Earlier this week, Cheat Happens reported one of its users was banned in StarCraft 2 after utilizing trainers in single player. Blizzard apparently had suspended his account for 14 days over "exploitative activity." The idea is that even though these trainers are being used in single player and against AI opponents, the effects of earning achievements alters the "prestige" of a player's online persona, a supposed Blizzard rep responded via an alleged email. We contacted Blizzard ourselves for a bit of clarification on the matter and were given a statement, which you can read past the break.
Dolphin uses iPad to learn to identify objects
Cats love iPads, dogs love iPads, and dolphins... love iPads? That's the word from a site called SpeakDolphin.com [PDF, here's the text], where researchers say they're using the iPad's touchscreen to offer up visual stimuli for dolphins to touch and interact with. A touchscreen for dolphins needs to have a few certain criteria, including being waterproof-able, sensitivity, and visual clarity, and apparently the iPad fits the bill, as you can see in the picture. So what kinds of apps does a dolphin use? Turns out they're addicted to Plants vs. Zombies HD, too. No, just kidding -- they use just an image that contains pictures of various items that exist around the dolphin in real life. The trainer points to an object in real life, and then asks the dolphin to point to that same object on the screen, laying the very first groundwork for lingual interaction. Interesting stuff. We haven't heard of dolphins using Apple's magical device before, obviously, but what's constantly surprising is that the iPad is slowly replacing all sorts of other technology, and being used in many ways that Apple's engineers couldn't even imagine. [via BoingBoing]
iPhone and Exercise: What apps do you like?
For the most part, I've been disappointed with iPhone fitness applications. I'm not talking about Nike+ but rather the third party apps found in the Health & Fitness section of the App Store. Apps that track your routes tend to be battery-killers (not really their fault, more due to the way the SDK insists they work). The ones that create exercise playlists depend on time-exhausting Mac-based solutions that have to analyze your iTunes tracks for their beats-per-minutes, creating a heavy investment with a minimal payoff. Genius on the iPhone does a decent job, without that time commitment. I don't quite get the food and exercise logging apps -- I find that it's simpler to do all that on my primary Mac, using a physical notebook (you know: paper, pen, old tech) when I'm on the go. As for the stretching and exercise guides, I find them awkward. I'd rather use a DVD or a Wii-based game (I adore Gold Gym's Cardio Boxing, for example) where I don't have to keep referring to a 4-inch screen all the time and the sound is clear, and the instructions are easier to follow. So what am I missing here? What are the really good iPhone-based fitness apps? I feel like all the ones I've tried just keep missing the point: to make exercise better or funner(™ Apple). Yes, they make exercise more portable, but do they provide a better win over Nike+, a bike computer or a garmin? Please do chime in in the comments. Let me know what iPhone Apps I have been missing, and which ones will improve my exercise experience, whether in the home or on the jogging path. Surely, there have to be some winners out there, and I'd love to hear about which apps are working for you, and why.
Notes for AoC's 23rd of July patch: extra-short edition
We've had a long run of meaty patches for Age of Conan, and whether or not they addressed the most important issues on players' minds, the patch notes were always long and full of fixes. This week's update is in stark contrast to these past patches, as there are only two entries that sum up the changes: Resolved several memory leaks. Reset all characters feat training status. The first entry here speaks for itself. The feat training status reset refers to the cost of resetting your feats at a trainer -- due to recent class changes, Funcom has wiped the slate clean for feat respecs so that everyone can alter their build relatively cheaply. Both of the changes in today's update had already been mentioned in a recent developer post on the forums -- the other changes highlighted in this post will likely be making it in for next week.
