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Adidas now lets you print your iPhone photos on your shoes
Adidas earlier this year announced its plans to offer a new miZX Flux service that allow users to print their photos on their shoes. That service has now gone live and is available to customers in the US. The service uses an iOS (or Android) app to select the shoe size and process other details about the order. Users can import a photo from their camera roll of take one on the fly. The photo can then be cropped and scaled to fit the shoe. Once created, you can share your design on social networks or saved to a "shoebox" in the app. Adidas also provides printing guidelines, such as no text-heavy images, to optimize the looks of the final product. It also checks each order to ensure no copyrighted material is used on the shoes. Custom printed shoe prices start at $110 and are available now in the US. It also will be available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Adidas finally launches its shoe-customizing app in the US
It was about six months ago that Adidas introduced the Photo Print ZX Flux, a line of sneakers which can be easily customized by way of a mobile application. But while shoe lovers in Europe have had the chance to make their own ZX Flux since August, the same couldn't be said about people here in the US. Starting today, however, those of you Stateside will now have the opportunity to create a pair for yourself, using the same iOS and Android apps that European folks have had access to for months. It's quite simple, really. Say you have an image of a delicious burger on your smartphone, such as the one above, then you upload it to the application, tweak it slightly if you need to and, just like that, you can have a pair on the way to your door. Adidas is pricing the customizable sneakers at $110 -- orders are expected to take 4-6 weeks to complete.
Adidas miCoach teams up with MyFitnessPal, combines fitness and nutrition tracking
Balls, shoes, watches... Adidas miCoach line of smart things has been expanding to track your activity, no matter what you're into. Until recently, the fitness platform was a closed one, meaning all that precious data was siloed from non-Adidas software. Now, the company has partnered with MyFitnessPal so that your digital coach can know what you're eating in addition to how hard you have (or haven't) been working out. Users can choose to automatically sync their data with MyFitnessPal, which, according to Adidas, will let folks "gain new insights that will enable them to balance nutrition and exercise." Exactly what insights it'll provide remain unsaid, but at the very least you'll be able to compare your caloric intake and expenditures in one place -- self-imposed guilt trips have never been easier.
Adidas is opening its miCoach platform to developers so more apps can integrate your training data
If it's not the lure of delicious new gadgets, it's stone cold bribery. Either way, the reasons to stay slumped on the couch are evaporating quicker than the sweat off a runner's head. Adidas looks set to slay some more, too, as we've learned the sports giant is opening up its miCoach fitness-logging platform to third-parties. The as-yet announced set of developer tools could see your miCoach workouts incorporated into a whole new range of new apps. Nike did something similar a fair while ago with its Nike+ platform, something that helped apps like Lose It and MapMyFitness make use of the all that hard-earned NikeFuel. But, if you're a three stripes kinda gal/guy, then the idea of miCoach spreading its wings to find its way into, say, a life-logging app, or wellbeing tracker is probably just as appealing. Of course, there's still some new compatible hardware on its way, if you're still craving a bit of (calorie free) self indulgence.
One for the future: playing with the new Adidas miCoach Smart Ball
I still remember my old, favorite football like it was yesterday. It wasn't made by Nike, Adidas or even Diadora, but it lasted me for about seven years, from when I was 7 until about 14 or so. And even though, toward the end of its life, it started to look as if it had been living in a waste dumpster, never, ever did it let me down. Despite the battle scars collected over the years, like the faux-leather gradually falling off or needing to get pumped up every time before a game, that cheap, low-tech ball always did what it was supposed to: Be, well, a ball you could have fun with. In recent years, however, things have changed quite drastically. As technology evolves, sports balls continue to get smarter and smarter, with a great amount of research and development money being spent by manufacturers. Here's where Adidas' recently announced miCoach Smart Ball comes in.
Adidas' miCoach Fit Smart uses your wrist to measure health data
Less than two weeks after making an unofficial appearance, today Adidas is formally introducing its new wearable, the miCoach Fit Smart. Revealed in San Francisco, during the Wearable Technologies Conference 2014, this wristband is capable of measuring your burned calories, heart rate, distance covered, pace and more fitness stats. Better yet, it wants to look good while doing so. It's going to be available in black and white, featuring a strap made of soft-touch silicone (similar to Nike's FuelBand SE) and a small strip of LEDs which can change color depending on the intensity of a workout. While the Fit Smart isn't Adidas' first entry into the wearable fray, one that's now more crowded than ever, the sports gear company says it is approaching things differently with its new product. It wants to appeal not only to die-hard runners, like with the Android-based Smart Run watch, but also to those people who would like to start running and working out on a more consistent basis.
Meet Adidas' new smartband: the miCoach Fit Smart
It looks like Adidas is ready to launch a new fitness tracker called the miCoach Fit Smart, judging by leaks at the FCC, LegalForce and retailer Keller Sports. Product shots from the latter show a hybrid of Nike's FuelBand and Adidas' own miCoach Smart Run, with an LED dot display like the FuelBand rather than the Smart Run's color LCD display. However, the Fit Smart does retain a more watch-like profile with a new, quick-locking band of some kind. It'll clearly monitor your heart rate as well, perhaps via infrared with the green sensor pictured on the back of the device. The FCC page shows that it'll pack Bluetooth 4.0 LE, aka Bluetooth Smart, to communicate with your mobile device.
Adidas, Nintendo join forces for Pikachu World Cup jerseys
You can't just make Pikachu your World Cup mascot and not put him on a bunch of merchandise. Adidas is well aware, as evidenced by the above glimpse (provided by Inside Games) at replica jerseys, which fans can purchase for 7,400 yen ($73) to support Japan's team in the coming tournament. According to Siliconera's translation, the visual concept for the jersey relates to Adidas Japan's Enjin (Ring) Project, the name of which references the circle made by players huddling together. If you can imagine a team wearing this, hunched over with arms above each other's backs ... yup, the red stroke across the shoulderblades would form a ring. It's almost like somebody planned this or something! If you're still lost on how Pikachu relates to soccer in the first place, Siliconera adds that the choice is meant to get more Japanese fans invested in their World Cup team, with an emphasis on drawing in younger fans. That makes sense - what appeals to younger kids more than Pikachu? More than candy and recess, anyway. [Image: Adidas]
Improve your skills with Adidas' miCoach Smart Ball
In an effort to expand its miCoach line of sporting gear, Adidas has now launched a smart ball for football (aka soccer) players. With an array of motion sensors featured inside, this new intelligent, kickable sphere can track a ton of data and send it right to your iOS device -- Adidas hopes it will all be useful to help you improve certain skills during training. The freshly announced miCoach Smart Ball, which has been in development for more than a year, uses your iPhone (or iPod touch and iPad) to show you exactly where and how hard it is being struck. In addition to that, you can use the miCoach system to see the visual trajectory of the ball, as well as the exact impact points.
Adidas is taking sneaker customization to a whole new level
Adidas is in the process of revamping mi Adidas, its feature that lets people customize shoes with various elements -- you can mix and match colors and even have your name embroidered on them. To make things better (or worse, depending on who you ask), Adidas will soon also allow you to create sneakers using any image you want as your print -- because why not, right? Unfortunately, you won't be able to do this with all Adidas Originals, as the sporting gear company is limiting the customization feature to the ZX Flux model. Adidas says the ZX Flux is the perfect shoe for this, citing the recent success of the Photo Print Prism model as evidence and as a driving force behind the idea. You can customize your own pair starting in August, which is when the iOS and Android apps are due to launch.
Adidas confirms offline Spotify playback coming to its SmartRun Android watch
Yesterday we reported on a new collaboration between Spotify and Adidas that would allow runners to cook up a personalized playlist and fresh route for their next run. That's great, if you run with your phone, but we mused that Adidas already has a device that could handle that task -- the Android-powered SmartRun. Turns out, Adidas is one step ahead, and confirmed to us today that offline Spotify playback will be coming to the SmartRun later this year (towards Christmastime). So, a plus for Spotify subscribers, who get one more place to enjoy their music, and a definite boost for SmartRun owners, if for no other reason than the knowledge that it's a product Adidas is clearly keen to expand the functionality of. Too much to dare that even more features could be in the pipeline?
Adidas teams with Spotify to soundtrack your run, hook you up with a new route
Spotify knows a thing of two about playlists we guess. As for Adidas? It's responsible for more gallons of sweat than most. So, in something of an inspired combination, the two forces have linked-up to create a web-tool for runners. Hit up this link, and you'll be prompted for your location, a hint of your musical taste, and just how physical you want to get. Feed that info into the machine, and you'll be rewarded with a route to run in your locale (that matches your chosen distance) and a playlist based on your reference track AND desired level of physical pump. The heavy lifting for the route selection is actually powered by Runkeeper. Given there's a music-and-mapping device with Adidas' name on it, we can see potential for greater integration (offline music on the watch? A feature for loading the map? Too much to ask?). That'd definitely give not just us, but the competition, a run for its money.
Japan chooses Pikachu for 2014 World Cup mascot
Pikachu, I choose you! ... said Japanese National soccer team uniform designer, Adidas. Soccerly reports that everyone's favorite electric mouse and several of his poke-pals will be the official mascots for Japan's soccer team as they head to the World Cup in Brazil. Nintendo sure has been branching out from video games a lot recently. First there was the Mario golf bag, then the partnership with Pennzoil at SXSW, and now this. But hey, we aren't going to argue with Pikachu dressed in a soccer uniform. Just look at how cute he is! D'awwww. [Image: Nintendo]
Adidas Smart Run users can now export GPS data, while firmware update improves battery life and media player
When we reviewed Adidas' Smart Run training watch, we were very fond of it. That said, we had three major niggles: the poor battery life, the low volume of the media player and the inability to export your map/run data from either the watch itself, or the companion miCoach website. Today, we can strike all three off our gripe list. Exporting of GPS data from miCoach went live today (you can now import a GPX file to your training log of choice), while the latest firmware update improves the Smart Run's battery life considerably, activates the previously inaccessible Marathon Mode and jacks up the volume limit to personal best-inducing levels. What's more, Simon Drabble, Adidas' director for miCoach told Engadget there's even more to come: Today, we allow for the simple export of a .gpx file where a workout is recorded with GPS. The next step will be to allow platform to platform connectivity for data to be ported from miCoach to other existing communities and vice versa. Ultimately, it is no secret that we are targeting an open API in the not too distant future. So, if you were stuck to the couch with purchasing indecision, perhaps these tweaks will be enough to get you up on the starting blocks?
Adidas miCoach Smart Run review: the almost-perfect training partner
When we first heard about the Adidas Smart Run, we were more than a little eager to try it out. If you're both a techie and a runner, then the boatload of sensors (GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, heart-rate monitor, accelerometer) and feature list (Android, real-time coaching, custom workouts) should have you pretty excited, too. Why? Well, until now sports gadgets fell into three distinct categories. There were the wearable fitness trackers -- the FuelBands, Jawbones and Fitbits of the world. Then, there were the watches that measure your heart rate and use GPS to track distance (think Garmin, Polar, et cetera). Lastly, there's everything else that a runner might want to see them through the session: MP3 players, motivational apps (Zombies, Run!), foot-pod and so on. The prospect of having all this in one manageable device? What's not to like? The Adidas miCoach Smart Run -- to use its full name -- arrives at an interesting time, too. Firstly, it was announced on the coattails of two other high-profile Android-based watches (the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Sony SmartWatch 2). Secondly, it made it to market shortly before Nike's new FuelBand SE sports tracker. The Smart Run may have an impressive spec sheet, and equally robust $399 price tag, but does it show the competition how a timepiece is done in 2013? Or is it just an exercise in box-ticking? We spent more than a few hours (and miles) with it to find out.
Adidas announces new smartwatch for runners, available on November 1st for $399
Just a day after Nike launched the Fuelband SE, Adidas' head of interactive, Paul Gaudio, has just announced a new smartwatch at GigaOm's Mobilized conference in San Francisco. Primarily aimed at runners, he said that it'll have GPS and will not only measure speed and distance but also provide personal training coaching based on your heart rate thanks to the built-in heart rate sensor. This won't only show up on the screen, but there'll be audio coaching via Bluetooth headphones as well. Unlike other smartwatches, Gaudio says the watch can act as a standalone device and will have a media player onboard so you can use it to listen to music. We don't really know too much else about the watch, but we're assuming it's an extension of Adidas' existing miCoach fitness brand. We'll be sure to update this post once we find out more details. It'll launch on November 1st for $399, or £350 in the UK. Update: Looks like Adidas' new device is called the miCoach SMART RUN. Curious folks can check out the press release after the break for more details.
Adidas bringing miCoach fitness app exclusively to Nokia's Lumia phones
Wish that your beloved sportswear brand would bring its connected fitness app to your preferred smartphone platform? If your mind instantly substituted "Adidas" for the former and "Nokia" for the latter, then boom! You're in luck. Adi Dassler's firm is bringing its miCoach fitness app as an exclusive to Nokia's Windows Phone 8 devices. The app, already available on iOS and Android, lets you control playlists, use Bluetooth SMART (where available) for heart-rate monitoring and will even offer voice coaching from LA Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez. Now all we need is to scrape together the cash for a pair of adizeros and we're good to go.
Adidas miCoach X_Cell hits FCC, looks ready to track your sporting life
Judging by a recent FCC application, Adidas is about to add a new player to its miCoach lineup: the X_Cell performance monitor. According to the manual, the wee device can either be worn on your clothing or strapped to your chest for use in sports like football, soccer and tennis. So attached, it'll store seven hours or more of your sprinting speeds, dodging and cutting forces, jump forces, workout times and heart rates. You can then connect via Bluetooth to the miCoach iOS app to monitor your progress or brag about it on Facebook or Twitter. Adidas has yet to announce it, so there's no word on cost or an arrival date -- but when it does come, coasting through practice might be a thing of the past. To see a flip-side image, hit the break.
Adidas labs unveils 99-gram adizero soccer boot and smart ball to help raise your game
Adidas isn't shy about embracing technology. In fact, sometimes it takes that a little further than you might expect. Today, however, it's very much about genuine performance enhancement as we were invited down to a not-so-secret location in central London to look at its latest innovations in (to use the local parlance) football. Think you've got Premier League potential? Even if you don't, Adidas thinks its got a few tricks that might help you at least get a few steps nearer, so to speak. Jog past the break to find out what it's been working on.
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.
