Apple's "smart shoes" notify users when they need replacing

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 71
    What about 'smart porn', notifies you when you're done.
  • Reply 42 of 71
    Who knows... Some of these proto-oddities eventually lead to meaningful applications.
  • Reply 43 of 71
    ulfoafulfoaf Posts: 175member
    I have smartknees and smartankles. They tell me when my shoes need replacing!
  • Reply 44 of 71
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I'm surprised no one has yet made a Sneakernet joke.
  • Reply 45 of 71
    xgmanxgman Posts: 159member
    This is the most embarrassingly stupid idea I have heard of in years. I'm even embarrassed that I read and commented on it. :no:
  • Reply 46 of 71

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Hardyman View Post



    Wait, this is the same story from several years ago. http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/03/apple-wins-smart-shoe-earphones-with-mic-ipod-touch-patents.html


    Yeah anyone care to explain? Maybe there was a change to the patent..?

  • Reply 47 of 71


    Originally Posted by xgman View Post

    This is the most embarrassingly stupid idea I have heard of in years.


     


    So an idea is stupid if you don't understand its use?

  • Reply 48 of 71
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member


    If they (or anyone) can make a sensor that detects when the other shoe will drop, then they've got something.

  • Reply 49 of 71
    Looks like Sham-slung will be getting into the shoe-biz next year…
  • Reply 50 of 71
    xgman wrote: »
    This is the most embarrassingly stupid idea I have heard of in years. I'm even embarrassed that I read and commented on it. :no:

    Now you know how your mom feels…
  • Reply 51 of 71

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


    If they (or anyone) can make a sensor that detects when the other shoe will drop, then they've got something.



    10 internetz!

  • Reply 52 of 71
    Oh boy this is stupid a Nike+ type shoe makes more sence.
  • Reply 53 of 71
    Like, usual, it is likely that Apple is far ahead of most of our thinking. I can think of several good reasons...professional or amateur long distance runners who would replace shoes more often than the rest of us, kids with disabilities that need shoes to be more supportive for specific purposes, and for people who stay on their feet in factories or hospitals etc. There are so many foot, ankle, knee, and back problems caused by unsupportive or worn out shoes...it may have some potential.
  • Reply 54 of 71

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    So an idea is stupid if you don't understand its use?



     


    Well - let's put it this way!


     


    If you need to be told when to change your shoes then ... (use your imagination)


    Additionally, you might ask what's next? ... inderware?

  • Reply 55 of 71
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    nathillien wrote: »
    Well - let's put it this way!

    If you need to be told when to change your shoes then ... (use your imagination)
    Additionally, you might ask what's next? ... inderware?

    "It's not like we were all smart enough to see a revolution coming. Back then, I thought there might be a revolution in opening your garage door, balancing your checkbook, keeping your recipes, that sort of thing. There are a million people who study markets and analyze economic trends, people who are more brilliant that I am, people who worked for companies like Digital Equipment and IBM and Hewlett-Packard. None of them foresaw what was going to happen,
    either."
    -- Steve Wozniak

    No one comprehended what personal computers would have become decades later so why assume something so limited and superficial in your argument?

    As for your argument how does a marathoner know that their shoes are still good enough for another marathon? Do they just buy a new pair for each one? Don't you think sensors in what we wear could lead to new ideas and markets? A nurse is smart enough to take my pulse with her finger but they still use equipment for accurate readings. Why is this so different? Are you assuming that the sensors would be to tell you when your shoes look too fugly to wear out in public?
  • Reply 56 of 71
    jlanddjlandd Posts: 873member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MrDave View Post



    I think the concept is great. How about for my tooth brush or a pacemaker battery or any other device that needs to be replaced when worn out!


     


    It would be great if smoke detectors could chirp when the battery was low...

  • Reply 57 of 71

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    No one comprehended what personal computers would have become decades later so why assume something so limited and superficial in your argument?




    No one? That's arguable. I bet there were people who could predict what PC would be able to do, roughly. Of course some would went overboard and some "under" with their prediction. I'm not even sure if PC are right analogy here. Anyways...


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    As for your argument how does a marathoner know that their shoes are still good enough for another marathon? Do they just buy a new pair for each one? Don't you think sensors in what we wear could lead to new ideas and markets?




    It MIGHT be even cheaper solution to buy a new one for each marathon, relatively to a purchase of the smart shoe - especially if Apple is involved LOL.

    Well, anything COULD lead to anything else. Would it? That's is another question.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    A nurse is smart enough to take my pulse with her finger but they still use equipment for accurate readings. Why is this so different? Are you assuming that the sensors would be to tell you when your shoes look too fugly to wear out in public?




    The right analogy here would be; having an implant which reads our pulse real-time and all the time and alerts us when something is wrong.


    A nurse using equipment instead of a finger would be analogy for a device (not part of the shoe) that could check a normal shoe and tell us about its condition. That in fact would be much better solution than having a device (sensor ...) in every single shoe - but someone needs to think about the profit, I guess.

  • Reply 58 of 71
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:




    "It's not like we were all smart enough to see a revolution coming. Back then, I thought there might be a revolution in opening your garage door, balancing your checkbook, keeping your recipes, that sort of thing. There are a million people who study markets and analyze economic trends, people who are more brilliant that I am, people who worked for companies like Digital Equipment and IBM and Hewlett-Packard. None of them foresaw what was going to happen,

    either."

    -- Steve Wozniak



     


    Maybe no one in power at DEC, IBM or HP foresaw personal computers.    (Well, actually HP made some long before Apple, but they were intended for office use.)


     


    However, others did.  Guys like Alan Kay, who predicted easy to use tablets back in 1968...


     


    image


     


    Everyone had ideas back then.  Who knows, without MS or Apple to hold us back with basically the same type of legacy software for decades, perhaps we'd be even further down some other cool path.


     


    After all, you just had to look at sci-fi shows to know that people were dreaming of a fantastic future with computers (or computer access) everywhere, even at home.


     


    And anyone who had a subscription to BYTE or Kilobaud or Dr Dobb's Journal, knew about Xerox's work at PARC.  These ideas were going to be commercialized sooner or later.

  • Reply 59 of 71
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    kdarling wrote: »
    However, others did.

    No. I carefully choose the words have become. One can imagine one aspect of something and be right. Others can imagine several aspects and be right, but no one could have predicted all the aspects at the right time frame to predict what has become of the industry. It's impossible. When were Tri-gate transistors first conceived? What about hafnium-based high-k dielectrics? We can all say that data will get faster, CE will get smaller and lighter, and cost for a given performance will get cheaper but you can't predict how that will all happen. Science Fiction allows our imaginations to conceive of ideas but they do not make them possible by that same virtue.
  • Reply 60 of 71
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    No. I carefully choose the words have become


     


    And I appreciate that care.


     


    That's why I didn't quote or respond to your post, but to Wozniak's comments.

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