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A comment on Nike’s auto-laced future.

Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by sdrothrock on Saturday January 19, 2019 @02:47AM (#18945879)
It's interesting to me that this gets lampooned, but the autolacing shoes in Back to the Future[1] (and the release of actual shoes a few years back[2]) was greeted with awe and cheers. Different crowds, maybe?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Wa5L-fkkM

[2] https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/05/nike-mag-first-look/

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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by TeMPOraL on Saturday January 19, 2019 @04:17AM (#18946131)
Autolacing in Back to the Future didn't require you to download vendor's app and connect to an account on vendor's service over the Internet.

That would be my one and only criticism of this implementation. Beyond that, it's pure awesomeness, and I want a pair.

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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by Xylakant on Saturday January 19, 2019 @06:54AM (#18946552)
These shoes don’t either. They can be operated manually, as the article states. They have a built-in Sensor and auto-lace when you put them on. You just cannot have some of the nice things that the app brings: multiple different profiles, ...
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by Sir_Substance on Saturday January 19, 2019 @10:12AM (#18947407)
If the article is accurate, the first time you use them you /must/ use the app to configure them and /must/ log into your flipping shoe account of all things to do so.

An engineer that didn't have a marketing department breathing down his back to drive "engagement" would just have the LEDs on the side also be buttons and tell the user to hold them for 10 seconds to put them in a configuration mode, but hey, if they did that nike couldn't force you to give up your email to use your shoes and then use it to send you spam...

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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by emdowling on Saturday January 19, 2019 @12:52PM (#18948181)
If you don’t like it, buy another pair of shoes! There are literally thousands of alternatives out there. No one is forcing you to buy this pair.
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by BossingAround on Saturday January 19, 2019 @01:13PM (#18948296)
I don't like these types of a comment. You can criticize implementation of a technology even if:

a) You don't have a better solution, or

b) You have a choice to go elsewhere

If Nike made you go through their own network (a sort of a DRM if you will) to operate their shoes, that's something to be criticized, because it serves absolutely no other function than to lock you into their ecosystem and give them data on you. Anti-consumer practices should always be criticized.

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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by icebraining on Saturday January 19, 2019 @01:10PM (#18948280)
If you don't like Sir_Substance's comment, read another! There are literally thousands of alternative comments out there.
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by stinos on Saturday January 19, 2019 @02:50PM (#18948823)
Difference being there really are literelly thousands of alternative comments, whereas there are definitely not thousands of alternative electronic autolacing systems :)
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by std_throwawayay on Saturday January 19, 2019 @05:14AM (#18946287)
It lacks blockchain technology. Given the development cycles in play for such consumer products the blockchain support will probably come two weeks after bitcoin disintegrated.
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by StavrosK on Saturday January 19, 2019 @05:48AM (#18946368)
Also it didn't make the shoe useless when the battery went bad.
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by Wowfunhappy on Saturday January 19, 2019 @03:17PM (#18948936)
If the battery is high quality and a single charging cycle lasts a week, as claimed, I imagine the battery would last well past the usable life of the shoe.
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by agumonkey on Saturday January 19, 2019 @07:23AM (#18946669)
no laces but strings attached
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by unfunco on Saturday January 19, 2019 @07:45AM (#18946745)
This would be an excellent retort from a privacy-focused footwear company, do we have those yet?
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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by michelb on Saturday January 19, 2019 @04:20AM (#18946140)
Difference between fiction and reality I guess. In the movie you don't have to think about how it works (magic), but in reality, yes sure, it will need a battery I guess. Which is yet another thing you need to charge. There are lacing profiles which you control in an app, adding complexity to something that should 'just work'. Why can't the shoe adapt to the swelling of your feet? Perhaps v2 will do that. I personally would love that for my hiking shoes.

Maybe if they allowed you to have two settings that you can control from the boot, it would be different.

So I guess some criticism stems from that Nike made something that should be simple and intuitive, into something that requires your attention and needs configuration.

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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by yason on Saturday January 19, 2019 @10:42AM (#18947545)
it will need a battery I guess. Which is yet another thing you need to charge.

It can charge the battery by generating electricity off the forces exerted by the wearer's movement.

Why can't the shoe adapt to the swelling of your feet?

If the software did control the amount of pressure the laces transfer to the foot instead of the length of the laces the shoe would adapt to feet of any size.

Just add a few more sensors and write more software.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by coldtea on Saturday January 19, 2019 @09:52AM (#18947308)
One was a novelty one-off product to celebrate the anniversary of a beloved old movie.

The other is a BS problem in search of a solution.

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Re:Nike’s auto-laced future by howlingfantods on Saturday January 19, 2019 @05:21AM (#18946303)
That was primarily because of the nostalgic and hypebeast factor. The nostalgia from the people who loved the original movies. And the hypebeast from the resale market which loved that it was a highly limited run (89 pairs). These new shoes have neither.
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