Maybe Apple wants to corner the market on clothing that talking with your other electronics. Shoelaces that send you a Push Notification that they have come untied. Hats that inform you that it has started to rain if it feels consolidated moisture after it confirms with a weather DB by your GPS location has a chance for rain. Ties that let you know you got mustard on them and change colours to camouflage the unfortunate stain. Underwear garments that monitor your body daily and give you a graph of your health over time, even suggesting increases or decreases in certain foods and supplements.
Such a shoe could include an LED light and an audible device that would be used to indicate when the shoe is worn out.
So put an LED, a speaker, a battery and chip with some logic and sensors to use one single time?
May it beeps once when the shoes are first "worn out" then the following week it beeps every morning and after that, every step you take, fart sounds eminate from the audible device. Finally, a useful application for all the fart apps!
With the sensor, the iPod./MP3 player senses your cadence then matches songs with the same bpm to keep you on track.
I'm sorry, but why in the world would Apple be doing this?
Yeah, this is just bizarre for Apple to be working on. I'd rather they make sun glasses with a built-in media player than tell me when my shoes are worn.
What ever happened with Apple's rumored design work with VW?
It looks like Apple is targeting cell phones other than the iPhone with this patent application.
Or is it possible that their existing bluetooth stereo headset (at the time) worked so poorly with the iPhone's music player that they needed another approach to (and more income opportunities for) being able to listen to music in between bluetooth connected iPhone calls?
Seriously, though, with the recent influx of laws governing what you can do with your phone while driving, including restrictions on having both ears covered or plugged, I doubt this device will be usable where it may be most needed.
A shuffle integrated into a pair of headphones wouldn't be a bad idea.
Okay... while most are thinking about the shoe sensor since it is clearly the more shall we say 'unique' of the two ideas... My first though was about the cellular headset doing double duty as an mp3 player.
Apple states
Quote:
Therefore, such headsets may be idle most of the time that they are being worn. The new hardware would solve this issue by adding functionality
Somehow Apple thinks it's a PROBLEM that the headset goes unused for long periods of time but I'm not convinced. I'm far from an expert when it comes to people habits with regard to charging their devices but... If my wife is any indication then it goes something like this, the cell phone gets charged on a fairly regular basis while the wireless BT handsfree devices can go a week or more before it requires charging. She's not a heavy user of the headset BTW.
Now if you start using the BT headset 'all the time' then you'd likely be charging that sucker incessantly since the batteries in most of those tiny device just aren't big enough to offer the ability to run for very long periods of uninterrupted use.
Yes, battery tech is getting better all the time and energy efficiency is being bettered all the time so maybe it'll be a non-issue in the future, but today there's a really good reason why people don't use BT enabled headsets for playing music.
A shuffle integrated into a pair of headphones wouldn't be a bad idea.
There are cordless headphones with shuffle dock connectors already, with the added bonus that if and when your headphones deteriorate or get ruined by water/dirt etc, you can simply move the shuffle to another cordless headphone. Or if your needs change, like your using the shuffle with your portable stereo instead of the headphones, you don't need to buy another device.
Sounds like Apple might produce these combination Shuffle/Headphones/Bluetooth, seems there is a market for it.
The bonus of course is if you get a phone call, the music stops playing and resumes after the call is finished.
Apple sells lousy quality headphones though so I expect this to transfer over to the new device. But then Apple has the option of first sale, people in the stores and all.
I was kind of hoping that optical output would make it's way to the higher end iPod products, running optical to my 7.1 from my MBP produces superior sound quality, you can't easily ween yourself off of it.
A phone headset with two earplugs and a band connecting them would probably be unpopular - too silly/geeky looking and nobody wants to listen to music in one ear. Nice idea, but it doesn't fly design esthetics wise.
Maybe it's to prevent Steve's wife from going "Imelda Marcos" on him?
Dang! I keep forgetting the probable age of the audience here.
Imelda Marcos was once the dictatorial "First Lady" of the Philippines, who had a MAJOR shoe fetish. She was known to have owned several thousand pairs of expensive shoes.
Like she would ever NEED a shoe wear sensor. [sigh]
I guess jokes aren't really jokes at all if you gots to stop and explain 'em.
(She also spent a day on my CH-46 during a typhoon relief mission in the summer of 1972, but that's another story entirely. For her, it was just another cheesy photo op. For "her people", it was just another day of trying to stay alive.)
Dang! I keep forgetting the probable age of the audience here.
Imelda Marcos was once the dictatorial "First Lady" of the Philippines, who had a MAJOR shoe fetish. She was known to have owned several thousand pairs of expensive shoes.
Like she would ever NEED a shoe wear sensor. [sigh]
)
I know a guy who met her. He said that he shook her hand and, even though he didn't mean to, he looked down at her shoes. Ya just GOTTA, don't you?
Comments
Maybe Apple wants to corner the market on clothing that talking with your other electronics. Shoelaces that send you a Push Notification that they have come untied. Hats that inform you that it has started to rain if it feels consolidated moisture after it confirms with a weather DB by your GPS location has a chance for rain. Ties that let you know you got mustard on them and change colours to camouflage the unfortunate stain. Underwear garments that monitor your body daily and give you a graph of your health over time, even suggesting increases or decreases in certain foods and supplements.
Such a shoe could include an LED light and an audible device that would be used to indicate when the shoe is worn out.
So put an LED, a speaker, a battery and chip with some logic and sensors to use one single time?
May it beeps once when the shoes are first "worn out" then the following week it beeps every morning and after that, every step you take, fart sounds eminate from the audible device. Finally, a useful application for all the fart apps!
With the sensor, the iPod./MP3 player senses your cadence then matches songs with the same bpm to keep you on track.
Althouhgh -> Marathon winner disqualified for wearing iPod
(Shuffle with BT antenna + earphones w/clicker and mic)
Essentially giving non-iPhone owners the clicker-based phone/music interface of the iphone.
Maybe Apple is considering integrating the iPhone with a shoe? I mean, how cool would it be to have a shoe phone.
How very James Bond of you.
Nagromme’s right shoe has reached 50% wear. [ Add Comment ]
How awesome would that be?I?
I also want the gigantic dingo ears that would be needed to comfortably wear that headset in the pic.
How very James Bond of you.
Smart!
I'm sorry, but why in the world would Apple be doing this?
Yeah, this is just bizarre for Apple to be working on. I'd rather they make sun glasses with a built-in media player than tell me when my shoes are worn.
What ever happened with Apple's rumored design work with VW?
Or is it possible that their existing bluetooth stereo headset (at the time) worked so poorly with the iPhone's music player that they needed another approach to (and more income opportunities for) being able to listen to music in between bluetooth connected iPhone calls?
Seriously, though, with the recent influx of laws governing what you can do with your phone while driving, including restrictions on having both ears covered or plugged, I doubt this device will be usable where it may be most needed.
A shuffle integrated into a pair of headphones wouldn't be a bad idea.
Okay... while most are thinking about the shoe sensor since it is clearly the more shall we say 'unique' of the two ideas... My first though was about the cellular headset doing double duty as an mp3 player.
Apple states
Therefore, such headsets may be idle most of the time that they are being worn. The new hardware would solve this issue by adding functionality
Somehow Apple thinks it's a PROBLEM that the headset goes unused for long periods of time but I'm not convinced. I'm far from an expert when it comes to people habits with regard to charging their devices but... If my wife is any indication then it goes something like this, the cell phone gets charged on a fairly regular basis while the wireless BT handsfree devices can go a week or more before it requires charging. She's not a heavy user of the headset BTW.
Now if you start using the BT headset 'all the time' then you'd likely be charging that sucker incessantly since the batteries in most of those tiny device just aren't big enough to offer the ability to run for very long periods of uninterrupted use.
Yes, battery tech is getting better all the time and energy efficiency is being bettered all the time so maybe it'll be a non-issue in the future, but today there's a really good reason why people don't use BT enabled headsets for playing music.
A shuffle integrated into a pair of headphones wouldn't be a bad idea.
There are cordless headphones with shuffle dock connectors already, with the added bonus that if and when your headphones deteriorate or get ruined by water/dirt etc, you can simply move the shuffle to another cordless headphone. Or if your needs change, like your using the shuffle with your portable stereo instead of the headphones, you don't need to buy another device.
Sounds like Apple might produce these combination Shuffle/Headphones/Bluetooth, seems there is a market for it.
The bonus of course is if you get a phone call, the music stops playing and resumes after the call is finished.
Apple sells lousy quality headphones though so I expect this to transfer over to the new device. But then Apple has the option of first sale, people in the stores and all.
I was kind of hoping that optical output would make it's way to the higher end iPod products, running optical to my 7.1 from my MBP produces superior sound quality, you can't easily ween yourself off of it.
Maybe Apple is considering integrating the iPhone with a shoe? I mean, how cool would it be to have a shoe phone.
"Agent 86 calling Agent 99!"
How very James Bond of you.
No. Much more like Maxwell Smart.
Maybe it's to prevent Steve's wife from going "Imelda Marcos" on him?
Dang! I keep forgetting the probable age of the audience here.
Imelda Marcos was once the dictatorial "First Lady" of the Philippines, who had a MAJOR shoe fetish. She was known to have owned several thousand pairs of expensive shoes.
Like she would ever NEED a shoe wear sensor. [sigh]
I guess jokes aren't really jokes at all if you gots to stop and explain 'em.
(She also spent a day on my CH-46 during a typhoon relief mission in the summer of 1972, but that's another story entirely. For her, it was just another cheesy photo op. For "her people", it was just another day of trying to stay alive.)
Dang! I keep forgetting the probable age of the audience here.
Imelda Marcos was once the dictatorial "First Lady" of the Philippines, who had a MAJOR shoe fetish. She was known to have owned several thousand pairs of expensive shoes.
Like she would ever NEED a shoe wear sensor. [sigh]
)
I know a guy who met her. He said that he shook her hand and, even though he didn't mean to, he looked down at her shoes. Ya just GOTTA, don't you?
A few of us were working on the issue of how to tell when a shoe needs replacing at OneEyeDeer
I reckon our ideas are better than apple's, but i may be biased...
http://www.oneeyedeer.com/issue/how-...rs-are-no-good
I'm sorry, but why in the world would Apple be doing this?
Jobs was watching an old Get Smart episode and started thinking about phones and shoes?
[I see a few other posters were already thinking along these lines. Sorry about that, Chief.]