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Google Shows Off A Talking Shoe At SXSW

Binu Paul email: b.paul@mobilenapps.com

We know Google Glass will power you up with the ability to record and upload videos on the move, search the Web through speech, receive and execute onscreen directions, and send voice-controlled messages. The search giant is not done yet with the concept of wearable technology. Google has been showing off a pair of talking shoes at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin this week.

The project is part of a Google initiative known as 'Art, Copy and Code' whose tagline is 'Advertising Re-imagined' which has developed the wearable device in coordination with interactive startup YesYesNo, ad agency 72andSunny, and Adidas.

The shoe is equipped with an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a pressure sensor, and Bluetooth so that it will provide you with feedback and motivation based on your move throughout the day. Google said it does not intent to make it a consumer product.

"By connecting a pair of sneakers to the web, we're creating unique opportunities between physical objects and digital ad spaces. Every move the user makes generates data that's captured using an accelerometer, gyroscope and pressure sensors," a statement on the project's website says.

"That data then gets pushed to a web app on your mobile phone and translated in real-time into funny and motivating commentary." These commentaries are then taken to various social media, paving way for the shoe to interact with the wear's social networks.

To put its function in the simplest terms, Google shoes will tell you what you are doing and what not. It will take the information and comments onto your phone via the Bluetooth connectivity or directly to you through the speaker connected in the top tongue of the shoe.

The idea behind the project is that the shoe would function like a lot other fitness-friendly devices out there in the market to motivate users to get moving and track their progress with the help of technology. "We developed a shoe that could talk and tell you things -that could pick up enough information about your exercise, whether you're walking, running, moving fast or slow," Leif Percifield, the developer of the device was quoted as saying to Fast Company.

Check out the shoes in action:

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