Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Bureaucracies hide their mistakes, because people's careers are tied to those mistakes. Therefore, bureaucracies are a perfect mechanism for perpetuating mistakes."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Digital Running Shoes | ||
| Shoes with a digital readout showing performance. |
I can't believe that Nike - or somebody - doesn't make one of these right now. You can buy pedometers that hook onto your belt or even tie onto your shoe, but why not just make it part of the shoe?
| David sat on the floor with limber grace and put Laura's foot in his lap. He unlaced her shoe and glanced at its readout. "That's pretty rotten time. You must have been limping, babe." |
| Technovelgy from Islands in the Net,
by Bruce Sterling. Published by William Morrow in 1988 Additional resources -
|
If people don't balk at paying $150 for a pair of running shoes, the materials necessary to make a running meter couldn't cost more than a few dollars.
The shoe could power the display; see the entry for stillsuit, from the novel Dune, by Frank Herbert.
As it turns out, there was such a thing as a runner's shoe with a digital readout. Called the Micropacer, it was created by Adidas in 1985. A sensor in the toe of the shoe connected to a microprocessor embedded in the tongue, which calculated speed, distance and the caloric output of the person wearing the shoe. The shoe was a failure. I've read that Adidas tried again recently in Europe with a third generation of this shoe.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 4 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Islands in the Net
More Ideas
and Technology by Bruce Sterling
Tech news articles related to Islands in the Net
Tech news articles related to works by Bruce Sterling
Digital Running Shoes-related
news articles:
- Raven - VectraSense ThinkShoe With DigitalDNA
- Shiftwear Display Shoes
| Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit? |
| 'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer |
| Rigid Metallic Clothing From Science Fiction To You |
| iPhone Pocket All Sold Out! |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
