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The sneakers inspired by Apollo 11 and the Moon landing
NASA's Apollo 11 has had an outsize influence on our culture since July 20th, 1969. That's the day the spaceflight mission successfully completed its lunar landing, paving the way for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to become the first humans to ever set foot on the Moon. To this day, Apollo 11 remains one of the biggest achievements in the history of space exploration. It's only fitting, then, that those first steps Armstrong and Aldrin took have also made their mark on sneaker culture. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 this week, we're showing you some of the best shoes that have drawn inspiration from the mission and its Moon landing. Brands such as Adidas, Nike, New Balance and Vans have all created designs paying homage to this historical feat, in official and unofficial ways. While there are sneakers that NASA has collaborated on, others simply look like they were meant to be Moon boots. Let's take a look and appreciate them one by one.
Jordan's latest sneaker drop is in 'Fortnite'
Fortnite has played host to a dazzling number of themed events, featuring collaborations with some of entertainment's biggest franchises including Avengers: Endgame and John Wick. However, for its latest crossover, Epic Games is teaming up with one of the world's biggest sportswear brands, Jordan, ahead of the NBA Finals on May 30th.
Nike uses AR to help you find the right fit for your sneakers
Nike has been experimenting heavily with augmented reality for a few years now, and the company is continuing to work on new experiences powered by the technology. The sportswear giant is now introducing Nike Fit, a feature that uses a combination of computer vision, scientific data, artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms to scan your feet and find the right shoe fit for you. And you can do it all in augmented reality, using the Nike app on your smartphone. Nike says that, according to industry research, over 60 percent of people wear the wrong size shoes. With Nike Fit, the company is hoping to solve that problem.
Nike's latest Snapchat Lens shows support for USWNT
With the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup drawing closer, fans of the US Soccer Women's National Team have one more way to show their support. The creatives at Nike have put together an AR Lens that slaps a team jersey on you, and of course links to Nike.com for a quick purchase. The USWNT soccer Lens will only be available tomorrow, May 9th, and the timing is close enough that users can snag a jersey in time for the team's "Send-Off Series" of matches begin on the 12th against South Africa, followed by Belgium and Mexico. Meanwhile, Snapchat is trying to deal with its identity crisis, but Lenses people like and using its login to power a popular new quiz app could help change the story.
Nike designer Tinker Hatfield makes the case for self-lacing shoes
Tinker Hatfield made people jump off their seat at a SXSW 2019 panel. Literally. The legendary Nike designer, who's behind the Air Max and most iconic Air Jordans, took off the sneakers he wore to the stage and gave them away to one lucky person in the crowd. Then, to top it all off, Hatfield put on a pair of yet-to-be-released Nike Reacts -- no big deal. But he didn't come to Austin just to hype up sneakerheads. During his session, Hatfield of course talked about the Nike Mag, HyperAdapt and Adapt BB, the three self-lacing shoes he has designed for the sportswear giant.
Nike embraces esports with 'League of Legends' sponsorship deal
What was once a rumor is now official: Nike is moving into esports. The apparel giant has signed a four-year deal with the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) in China, a massive competition with 16 professional teams. Nike will supply every squad with sneakers, casual clothing and eventually professional jerseys. In a tweet, the LPL confirmed that Nike-produced garments will be available to purchase at the Mid-Season Invitational in May. The first Nike-produced jerseys will then be revealed during the all-important League of Legends World Championship in Paris later this year.
After Math: Mobile World Mayhem
Mobile World Congress is kicking off this weekend in Barcelona, Spain and Engadget's crack team of reporters will be coming to you live from the show floor! But the trade show isn't the only thing making mobile news this week: Chevy's finally adding a "Find my Car" feature to its app, Intel's pumping the brakes on rumors of its 5G modem availability, and Facebook is (unsurprisingly) once again in trouble for scraping sensitive data from its mobile users. In less disturbing news, BMW and Daimler are looking to invest a billion dollars into a different sort of "mobile" project.
Snapchat is in the middle of an identity crisis
There was a time a year or so ago when, if a friend wanted to send me a meme or a funny selfie, it would be on Snapchat. But I don't remember the last time that happened; at some point Instagram became our go-to messaging app. And apparently I'm not alone: Snapchat lost as many as 3 million daily users in 2018. Meanwhile, Instagram has grown so fast over the past two years that its Stories feature alone is much bigger than Snapchat, with more than 500 million daily users. This has arguably come at Snapchat's expense. But it's not as if Snap isn't looking to turn things around. The company wants to reinvent itself by trying a bunch of different things, like augmented reality shopping, being more open and teaming up with brands such as Nike on AR workshops.
Nike's self-lacing Adapt BB shoes aren't playing well with Android phones
How do you know you're living in the future? When your shoes have technical problems. Owners on Google Play and CNET report that Nike's Android companion app for the self-lacing Adapt BB has some teething troubles, most notably a buggy firmware update process. In some cases, the updates have bricked people's shoes -- yes, that's something we just said. You can still wear the shoes and force-restart them, but that's not really something you should worry about with a $350 pair of kicks.
Inside Nike's DIY studio for Snapchat selfie Lenses
Snapchat's Lens Studio, which lets anyone create their own augmented reality filters, has been a big hit for the company. There are now more than 300,000 Lenses created by independent users, and those have been viewed over 35 billion times. Still, Snapchat wants Lens Studio to get even bigger, and what better way to help it do that than by teaming up with one of the biggest brands in the world: Nike. At NBA All-Star Weekend 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nike and Snapchat built a do-it-yourself studio for people to create AR Lenses on the fly.
Unboxing Nike's self-lacing Adapt BB sneakers is like opening a smartphone
It was exactly a month ago that Nike took the wraps off of Adapt BB, its latest pair of shoes with power laces, and now the company is finally ready to bring them to the masses. The Adapt BB will launch globally on February 17th, although some lucky people have already been able to get them through Nike's SNKRS app. Unlike the HyperAdapt 1.0 from 2017, which were more of a concept project, the Adapt BBs are intended to be performance shoes for basketball players. They're also smarter than the HyperAdapts, thanks to a mobile app that pairs with the shoes via Bluetooth and lets users adjust how the laces fit. You can also use the Adapt application, available for iOS and Android, to change the two LED colors on the shoes.
Nike turns its SNKRS app into a pop-up shop for sneakerheads
With Super Bowl 53 getting ready to kick off in Atlanta, brands are seeing dollar signs. And you know Nike, given its status as a sportswear giant, has to go all out for the event. That's why the company opened a pop-up shop in Atlanta, designed to cater exclusively to users of its SNKRS app. The temporary store, which will be open through the end of March, is the sportswear giant's latest effort to seamlessly merge its digital and physical shopping experiences.
A closer look at Nike's Adapt BB auto-lacing basketball shoes
Back in December of last year, Nike revealed during its quarterly earnings call that it was getting ready to introduce a $350 self-lacing basketball shoe. Ever since, sneakerheads have been highly anticipating the successor to the 2016 HyperAdapt 1.0, Nike's first consumer-grade sneaker with power laces. And now it's finally here. Enter the Adapt BB, an auto-lacing, app-controlled basketball shoe that's packing a ton of technology inside it. The highlight here, as you might expect, is a smart motor that automatically adjusts the lacing system to fit perfectly around your foot as soon as you put the shoe on.
Nike's Adapt BB is an app-controlled, self-lacing basketball shoe
We knew they were coming, but Nike has officially introduced its first self-lacing basketball shoes, the Adapt BB. These new sneakers are designed to provide a "truly customized fit for every basketball player," according to the company, thanks to a power-lacing system called FitAdapt that can be adjusted manually or with a smartphone app. The sportswear giant says that over the course of a basketball game, a player's foot can expand almost a half-size, which can affect their comfort level and ultimately have an impact on their movement and performance on the court. That's the problem Nike is looking to solve with Adapt BB.
Nike teases self-lacing shoes you can control from your phone
Ahead of the launch of its first self-lacing basketball shoes this week, Nike just posted a major tease to get people hyped. And while we can't see what the sneakers actually look like, it does appear you'll be able to adjust their power laces using your smartphone, based on a video featuring various NBA athletes trying them out. This would be a notable change compared to the HyperAdapt 1.0 from 2016, which had no wireless connectivity and, instead, came with physical power buttons that let you lace up the shoes. Another big difference is that the upcoming self-lacing sneakers are only expected to cost $350, much less than the $720 of the original HyperAdapts. That's all we know so far, but we'll find out everything about "the future of the game" of basketball tomorrow, so stay tuned to our site for more coverage from Nike's event.
Nike's first self-lacing basketball shoes go on sale in 2019 for $350
If you've always wanted to play basketball in a pair of self-lacing shoes like Marty McFly's Nike Mags, you will get your chance next year. On the company's quarterly earnings call executives revealed plans for an "Adaptive" performance basketball shoe in 2019 that will cost around $350. Two years ago we got our first look at the HyperAdapt self-fitting technology in a $720 low-cut training shoe, but this technology will be cheaper and probably lighter, and obviously more athletically-inclined than the 2015 Nike Mag (shown above).
The drop
When Nike launched its Air Jordan XI "Concord," in 2011, there were incidents of violence reported at several shopping malls in the US. Back then, most shoe stores sold pairs on a first-come, first-served basis, which led to physical fights between people who were trying to line up outside their local shop. A lot has changed. Over the past few years, sportswear giants like Nike and Adidas have turned to technology to make sneaker shopping safer, particularly for highly coveted models. And there's no better example of this digital-first strategy than the drop of the long-awaited 2018 edition of the Concord XIs, which re-released on December 8th without any chaos, thanks in large part to mobile apps like Nike's SNKRS.
Nike uses AR to tease its biggest Jordan launch of the year
If it wasn't already clear that Nike sees augmented reality as a big deal for footwear, it is now. The company is using AR inside its SNKRS app to offer a peek at its biggest shoe release of the year, the Air Jordan 11 Concord, days before you can buy it on December 8th. The immersive feature is no longer there just to help in "the hunt" or serve as an "unlock trigger," a spokesperson tells Engadget. Rather, it's there to "enhance the shopping experience" in your feed.
Nike’s new PlayStation sneakers pay homage to Sony’s classic console
The first week of December couldn't get much better for PlayStation fans. On top of the launch of Sony's miniature PS Classic on December 3rd, Nike also has something in store for them in the next few days. On December 1st, the sportswear giant will launch the second edition of its PlayStation-themed signature basketball shoes, designed for NBA superstar Paul George. Like the original shoes from earlier this year, the new PG 2.5 x PlayStation are inspired by Sony's gaming console, but this pair takes all of its cues from the original PlayStation rather than the PS4.
Nike's latest PlayStation shoe celebrates a classic look
After turning gamers into hypebeasts with a PlayStation-themed Nike release earlier this year, Paul George debuted a console-themed version of his PG 2.5 sneaker in a game tonight against the Golden State Warriors. Appropriately timed near the release of the PlayStation Classic mini-console, this PG 2.5 X PlayStation pair pays homage to the original system with its original gray color plus a PS logo on the tongue of the left shoe. Alone, it doesn't quite match the cool factor of the DualShock-like PG2 PlayStation's light-up tongue, (these still light up) but it will still have the consistent flair even after its batteries wear out. Other PlayStation Nikes have focused on the Air Force 1, which saw a QuickStrike release last year at E3 (we doubt that will happen in 2019 for obvious reasons) after limited releases in 2006 and 2009. If you'd like to get a pair of these, keep an eye on Nike's SNKRS app and "select" retailers December 1st.
