Google and Adidas Unveil a ‘Talking Shoe’ at SXSW


Ready for your shoes to judge your lazy butt? Google has you covered. The company, along with Adidas, unveiled “The Talking Shoe” at SXSW this week. It tracks your speed and performance — and more disconcerting, gives you aural props or smack on how you’re doing, from a microcontroller-connected speaker on the shoe. The sneaks also use Bluetooth to sync up with a smartphone and, in a refreshingly conversational tone, will give you words of encouragement, or advice to slow down and grab a snack.

Of course, you’ll be able to share what your kicks say and what you’re doing on the social web. Google told Engadget that it doesn’t plan to actually sell the sneakers, although it is considering making the technology open source.

The shoe is another piece of wearable tech from the makers of Google Glass, and is part of Google’s “Art, Copy & Code” initiative, which reimagines advertising. The initiative has already resulted in “Smileage,” a mobile app from Volkswagen that makes driving social (below.)

Continue reading at AdAge.com

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