Designers: Miyazawa Tetsu & Ichimura Shigenori

Via: Yanko Design

Unveiled today at the 2011 National Retail Federation’s convention in New York, the magical spinning interactive adiVerse Virtual Footwear Wall potentially puts as many as 8,000 shoes at shoppers’ fingertips in a futuristic mash-up of e-commerce and the mall.

Intel partnered with Adidas to show off what the wall might look like, and the results are pretty sweet. Designed by U.K. shop Start Creative, the wall renders products in 3-D, and allows a shopper to spin and zoom in on the shoes, and call up specs from a touch-screen display. Particularly hot models, like the company’s F50 soccer shoe, have accompanying video and relevant information (like the fact that F50-clad feet scored 44 goals in last year’s World Cup).

Supplemented by a supply of actual shoes that can serve as fit models, the display wall allows retailers to deliver massive inventory in a relatively small space. “We’ve leveled the playing field for small retailers,” says Chris Aubrey, VP, Global Retail Marketing for Germany-based Adidas. “They can now act like a big flagship store in a town like New York.” Not to mention the fact that the installation turns flat walls into prime selling space.

Aubrey says a prototype store will likely roll out in about a year in the U.K. — a country that’s nearly as enthusiastic about e-commerce as the U.S., but close enough for executives from the company’s European headquarters to keep a close eye on how the wall is working out. “Germany itself still lags a bit,” in its appetite for online shopping, Aubrey says.

Footwear sales in general are bouncing back, he says, after taking a hit during the global melt-down of 2008. “We had a very good 2010,” he says. “I think consumer confidence is back.”

VIA: Fast Company

Very nice Nike. Nike teams up with GPS navigating company Tom-Tom to bring you this GPS touch screen sportswatch.

Starting April 1st, get the extra push you need with the Nike+ SportWatch GPS powered by TomTom. Not only does it track what you do, it tracks how you do it, then makes you want to do it again and again. Here’s how:

It’s accurate.
The Nike+ SportWatch GPS combines the accuracy of GPS with the shoe-based Nike+ sensor to track time, pace, distance, calories burned, and heart rate. So you have your whole running history in the palm of your hand.

It’s award winning.
The watch just won two CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Innovation Awards in the Health and Wellness and Personal Electronics categories. Which is kind of a big deal considering that CES is the world’s largest consumer tech tradeshow.

It’s motivating.
Onscreen run reminders help get you out the door. You also get props for personal records.

It’s inspiring.
The watch connects to NikePlus.com so you can view completed runs, set new goals, and interact with a community of almost 4 million runners around the world.

NIKE+

Bocci

Forget all your Playstation 3s. Forget your Playstation 3 thin models with multiple lovely colors, forget even the earlier design by this same designer, Tai Chiem, that PSP 2 concept he whipped up last year, no! Check this thang out. It’s the Playstation 4. Tai Chiem’s Playstation 4 concept: that’s how you know it’s wild. And with clear material and minimalistic aesthetics in play, you’ve got one Tai-tastic amalgamation, to be sure.

BONUS: that other spaceshippy looking thing is his “xbox 720.” Lollers! I’m reminded of the comic on Penny Arcade where they first talk about the xbox controller being harder to hold than a grizzly bear. It’s HUGE!

SO! PS4! What’ve we got here? Bluetooth integration, plastic/glass backs and middles. LCD screen(s) on both the controller and the system itself. The same classic aesthetic bone structure for the controller that PS has always had. The same ability to turn the system on it’s side (I always thought that was a super-simple super-genius feature of the PS series.) And the continuation of the standard “CD” disk size for games.

I’m hoping for the games to come in cube form, allowing you to just scan the cube for a new game. How cool would that be? Totally cool.

Designer: Tai Chiem

VIA: YANKO DESIGN