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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.
SMC ships trio of draft-spec 802.11n networking gear
It looks the barrage of draft-spec 802.11n gear being released isn't slowing down anytime soon, and helping the yet-to-be-ratified protocol gain more ground is SMC. Making good on its promise to ship draft-N gear, the networking company has reportedly launched the Barricade N, which utilizes "multi-antenna MIMO support" to connect at rates of "up to 300Mbps," sports a four-port Ethernet switch, and can automatically prioritize duties such as music / video streaming to keep things skip-free. Complementing the new router are pre-N versions of the company's EZ Connect CardBus and PCI wireless adapters, which will give your lappie or desktop the ability to take advantage of the ultra-speedy 802.11n standard. All three devices are purportedly available right now, with the Barricade N selling for $120, the PCMCIA adapter demanding $80, and the PCI card costing $90.
