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Nike’s running sensor, a detachable piece of tech that connected to a companion iOS app, is the closest that Apple’s associated itself to foot metrics so far, but folded inside the company’s patent applications for today is this left-field addition, a shoe wear-out sensor. We assume the idea is geared towards runners — presumably these brogue outlines we’re looking at above are just red herrings.

The application draws together two possible outcomes: one with an thin sensor layer built your footwear of choice and another which keeps the sensor in the heel. A “unitless activity number” is also mentioned, where the device (which could include accelerometers, flexibility sensors and more) could craft an “activity value” based on your movement — this would then also be used to gauge the shelf-life of your current footwear. When this pre-specified threshold is exceeded, it would then sound the alarm. According to one diagram, the process could connect with an external display, likely broadcasting its concern to your nearby iOS device. But if your running needs demand a sensor to tell you when your sneakers are cooked, there might be other things worth tracking.

Filed under: Misc, Apple

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Source: USPTO

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Extending watches with apps is one thing if you’re building for a smartphone companion with a traditional, developer-centric app model. It’s quite another when it’s a GPS watch, and athletes are building their own apps — yet that’s what Suunto has managed with a 2.0 firmware update to its Ambit outdoor watch. The revamp uses a simple web interface to let us build free sports apps based on criteria as simple as distance and speed through to more specific measurements like heart rate and pressure. Adding predictive routines and arbitrary values allows for situation-specific code we might not get elsewhere, whether it’s estimating the finish time of a marathon or guessing just how much post-run beer is possible before the guilt sets in. On top of the new software platform, the 2.0 update brings a handful of major extensions from Suunto itself, including support for ANT+ and Foot POD sensors as well as an interval timer. The apps and upgrades help justify a relatively steep $500 price for the Ambit by turning it into a Swiss Army Knife for the wrist; when features are dictated more by imagination than a developer’s whims, they might just save the cost of an early hardware replacement.

Continue reading Suunto Ambit update lets athletes build their own GPS watch apps

Filed under: GPS, Wearables

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Source: Suunto (PDF), Movescount

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Sure, Nike+ will track your gait and help you tell your friends just how that couch-to-2K training is working for ya, but wouldn’t it be nice if it your shoes were smarter? That’s partly what Murata is enabling with its Walking Measurement System, on display at CEATEC 2012. It’s a piezoelectric sensor that sits in the sole of your shoe and detects pressure at different points. The readings from this sensor, transmitted over low-power Bluetooth 4.0, could enable a number of applications including precise shoe fitting for runners, posture detection for dancers and even golf swing analysis for duffers. Murata had this built into a lovely pink Asics sneaker that was a bit too small for us to try on, but we did try squeezing another sensor that fed its data in real-time to an app running on iPhone. Cool concept? For sure, but for now it’s just that and nothing more.

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Filed under: Wearables

Murata Walking Measurement System hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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