Just a few hours after our posting about a mysterious video clip showing the Nike MAG in what looked like a testing room, the secret is officially unveiled.

It turns out Nike produced 1500 pairs of this futuristic shoe and will auctioning off all of them on eBay (nikemag.eBay.com) starting on Thursday Sept 8th at 8:30pm 150 pairs will be posted per day until Sept 18th

Nike will donate the net proceeds of the Nike MAG auction to The Michael J. Fox Foundation which aims to eradicate Parkinson’s disease. Michael J. Fox who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991, played the ‘Back to the Future’ character Marty McFly wearing in one episode the now famous MAG shoes with Nike branding on it.

The Nike MAG 2011 edition features a EL (ElectroLuminescent) Nike logo on the strap and LED elements at the heel and sole part. The light effect can be activated with a squeeze of the ‘ear’ on the high top and will glow for five hours per charge.

Looks like the future of footwear is not quite here yet as the Nike MAG is not made for the masses around the globe but only for a select few that manage to win one of the auctions.

[source: NiceKicks]

The future finally arrived – at least for the much talked about Nike sneakers Marty McFly in the cult movie ‘Back to the Future Part II‘ had on his feet.

Since that movie has been released countless innovators and hackers attempted to bring these shoes back from the future.

According to a viral video showing lines after lines of illuminated, Nike Swoosh carrying MAG sneakers in what seems like a testing room at a factory, Nike themselves worked on the future of footwear, bringing the MAG sneakers back from the future and into footwear stores nearby.

Nike, presumably working on a top secret, wearable technology shoe project for some time would redefine the future of footwear if the MAG shoe hits the pavements of cities around the globe.

There is much speculation at this point about the authenticity of the video and no other information pointing towards the availability of a MAG shoe but hey – todays technology world is partly defined by speculation and rumors.

If Nike, a top brand in the sneaker business, indeed launches the MAG Fly sneaker it would be the greatest shoe wear (r)evolution in recent history. Launching the MAG  shoe for the consumer market would place Nike on the top of footwear innovation and give a big boost towards a wearable technology enriched fashion future.

[via: Adafruit.com]

Adding audio control and cell phone navigation to gloves is not an entirely new idea, we have seen many concept designs and a few commercial ski gloves from various brands over the past few years doing that. Even gloves that make phone calls came along but none of these products made a real dent in the techno glove market.

Based on that precondition entrepreneur Willie Blount picked up the glove control idea, gave it a careful thought of what might have been the problem in the past and came up with a brilliant solution for the future: the BEARTek Bluetooth glove.

Recognizing the high cost of the electronic part in wearable electronics, a negative cost impact of a full integration of the electronic which might double the cost of a pair of gloves he designed a modular, exchangeable and upgradable solution.

BEARTek gloves themselves contain the switches, eTextile touch areas in fingers and thumb and a pocket that connects, holds and protects the expensive BlueTooth module.

The glove can be used without any electronic, just a cool designed glove or transformed into a smart glove by inserting the BT module.

Better yet, when the glove design goes out of fashion, change to a new pair of gloves, obviously from BEARTek, and connect again with your beloved electronic device. An additional benefit of such modular system: as technological developments advance faster than fashion trends, whenever there is a new wireless link available or new functions are the new ‘must haves’ just replace the module in the glove for an upgrade.

That all sounds cool but we are not there yet, BEARTek gloves are not yet ready for prime-time shopping – this project just passed the prototyping stage and is is now looking for funding to start up manufacturing. If you are interested and want to secure your first smart glove – now you have the possibility to make that happen and to get even your special design – depending on the amount of funding you provide.

Here is the link for more details about the BEARTek start-up project.

In case you wonder about the name BEARTek, it stands for: Bluetooth Enabled Audio Regulation Technology

While currently the main focus is on Audio and obviously cell phone control I can very well imagine such Bluethooth glove control could find a place among the professional, work wear sector where wearing gloves is standard procedure but still have the need to connect to electronic equipment.

Voltaic Systems, the company that started the light-weight, flexible solar power integration into bags is soon offering a tablet case for iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and other tablets hitting the market soon.

Drawing on the experience Voltaic gained over the past years about solar power on the go, the Spark Tablet Case promises 1 hour of sun equals to one hour of iPad run time, taking away the need for hunting down a wail outlet while out and about.

The Spark Tablet Case offers soft padding to protect the precious tablets, weights around 2 pounds including the on-case battery pack and solar panels and has additional pockets for other small stuff you might carry along.

To add to the environmental consciousness of using alternative energy, the shell of the case is made from recycled soda bottles.

The case comes as a black shell with alternative colors accents for the solar panel in silver, charcoal and orange. The price is not set yet and the availability is Spring 2011, so just a few weeks ahead, ready for the summer sun fun.

Most of today’s smart devices are fitted with touch screens that only work when in direct contact with the skin as they need the skins conductivity.

Unless you are willing to take off your cozy warm gloves each time you get a phone call, check your email, change your playlist, get money via an ATM, fill up your car at the self-service gas station, you need to pay attention to what glove technology you wear.

Gloves that transfer the skin conductivity through the fabric to the touch screen are a must-have nowadays or face the cold reality to take off your gloves each time you face a touch screen.

smarTouch™ gloves, the latest addition in the growing touch screen compatible glove market, offer the magical touch needed to go through the frosty days ahead and stay connected with all the smart touch devices around.

Isotoner, the brand behind the smarTouch™ gloves send us a pair to check how well they can stay up to the cold challenge.

Visual inspection: the smarTouch™ gloves are made for subzero temperatures with an outer skin made from elastic honeycomb nylon making a snug fit around the hand.

The inside is lined with ultra soft plush material, very pleasant feel to the skin and capable to keep the fingers warm for a long time. The smarTouch™ gloves are crafted beautifully, suggesting they are made to last.

Now to the most important feature: thumb and index finger tips have embroidered areas made from electrically conductive thread connecting the skin, electrically, to the touch screen surface.

Sliding, tapping and texting on a touchscreen is a breeze even with this double layer gloves over the fingers. The large conductive areas ensure a continuous connection to the skin even when the gloves are not tight fit as I could find out when asking a friend with smaller hands to test.

Besides the smart touch capability, this gloves have another valuable feature: the palms and three fingers are imprinted with a silicon mesh, giving a very good grip for the precious device in hand.

You would be surprised how easily these shiny polished plastic, metal and glass devices slip trough the fingers stuffed in soft, warm gloves. Having gloves with anti-slip surfaces at the areas where these devices rest is a priceless feature in itself.

The test verdict: beautiful, city style gloves that face-off any touch screen coming along and best of all, for $30.- a pair they provide the best insurance we can get for all the precious devices we carry along all these cold days.

Watch out for our smarTouch™ gloves Giveaway, we have three pairs for talk2myShirt readers ready to be picked up.

With the begin of the cold season many users new to the world of touch screen cellphones, Music player and iPad style tablet devices might not be aware that operating this devices is not possible with gloved hands.

Taking a call or checking up some infos on the tablet means taking off the gloves, putting them somewhere and finally to what one wants to do. Sounds quite cumbersome.

First solutions to this usability dilemma surfaced around two years ago coming from the DIY community which added some stitches with conductive yarn on the index finger. This conductive yarn makes the necessary connection between the skin and the touch screen surface.

Last winter season first companies emerged offering touch screen enabling gloves by integrating electrically conductive dots or fabric patches at the finger tip.

The Fall/Winter season 2010/11 started and a next generation of touch screen compatible gloves come to the market that give back to the touch screen the natural bio-electricity of your skin while keeping your finger cozy warm.

Agloves, a US based company makes this miracle happen by knitting gloves with silver fiber yarn which transfers the natural bio-electricity of your skin to the touch screen. Agloves  gloves do not have the restriction of having just one or two fingertips touch screen friendly but all 10 fingers.

talk2myShirt got some gloves to test the performance and after ‘playing’ around for 3 days – they work like a charm. Not one single miss of scrolling, sliding, wiping and touching.

Not one single scratch on any of the devices my friend and I used extensively during that time. The silver fibers seems to be very fine but still get the skin conductivity transferred to the screens.

The gloves stretch nicely, snuggle around your hand with a comfortable feel. Yeah, I am living actually in a place with 365 days per year of hot summer weather so I made a trip to one of our shopping malls with an ice skating rink to get into the mood of glove testing and got the attention of curious onlookers turned into test participants from the ice skating community.

Agloves are available in Unisex style in various sizes and retail for $17.99 a highly recommended investment if you want to keep warm fingers and stay away from glove on-off-on scenarios during the next few month.

In agreement with the people who touched their devices with Agloves we give all 10 fingers up for this digital-age gloves because of their simplicity, flawless performance and sensible pricing – most likely the best investment among your touch screen device accessory portfolio.

Columbia Sportswear establishes itself as the leader of a new generation of winter outdoor apparel and footwear. Last Fall/Winter season Columbia pioneered into the high-tech footwear sector with the launch of the Bugathermo boot with integrated heating system which has been sold out almost overnight.

This Fall/Winter season Columbia extended their range of heated boots ready for the chilly time ahead to keep your toes cozy warm. Cold feet not only hurt, cold feet sends a chill throughout the whole body.

The Bugathermo boots feature built-in rechargeable batteries and electronic controls that provide three temperature settings for maximum protection from the cold.

On the low setting, heating pads located under the ball of the foot deliver warmth for 8 hours and on high you can expect 3 hours of heat – or better expressed warmth. Heated clothing and footwear does not mean you get cocked inside but just give off enough additional warmth to feel comfortable.

Cold feet are painful or at the least very annoying, spoil the nice outdoor walk through the snowy winter landscape. The Bugathermo’s smart, wearable technology give a more comfortable warm feeling while working in chilly environments or enjoying the great, cold outdoors.

Illuminating clothing, footwear or other fashion accessories inspire a growing number of designer who explore the possibilities of active light elements for fashion.

Italian-born fashion designer Francesca Castagnacci used the active light element as her inspiration to design Heels that contain fiber-optic material to emit subtle, classy soft color shades, not the usual, bright flashing color spots but discrete illumination.

Luminex, one of the leading companies that create optical fibers specifically to be used for fashion applications produces long, very thin strands of pure glass or plastic, no thicker than a human hair. These optical fibers are suitable to be woven together with conventional yarn to fabric structures.

The optical fibers themselves are not light emitting but need one or more LEDs on each end of the fiber or  bundle of fibers. By using RGB (Red, Green Blue) LEDs a simple program on an IC can created almost any color shade. The LED light travels through the optical fiber which is specially treated to allow light coming out along the fibers surface.

The effect is a subtile, almost mystical illumination. These illumination fibers combine with the design skills of people like Francesca Castagnacci bring sparkle to high end fashion objects.

[source: Yatzer via Ecouterre]

This is a once in a lifetime chance to get a solar bag designed by top designers like Diane von Furstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Loomstate, Loeffler Randall, Lutz & Patmos, Rogan, Vena Cava, and Zero + Maria Cornejo worked with Sheila Kennedy to create sun power hungry bags.

Kennedy who founded the Portable Light Project, a non-profit initiative that provides solar textile kits to empower the world’s poorest people who do not have access to electricity and these top designers came together for ELLE Magazine’s ‘Green Issue’ to demonstrate how good looking solar bags can/could be made and to highlight the usefulness of solar power harvesting ‘on-the-go’ products for people in regions on our planet who have not the luxury to have a wall wart in their house or even village.

The designers where given from Kennedy the FLAP (Flexible Light and Power pack) module consisting of an 13″ x 4.75″ flexible solar panel, rechargeable batteries, an HBLED (High Brightness LED) light and a USB port.

These gorgeous looking solar bags will be auctioned off at eBay starting today, July 5th until bidding ends on July 15th. All profit will go towards the nonprofit, Portable Light Project.

It is amazing how beautifully looking solar bags top designers can make considering they had to use a standard flexible solar panel module.

[via: Treehugger]

Keeping our design simplicity line of this weeks posting, how about a color changing umbrella that brightens up the rainy days.

We featured the color changing umbrellas designed by SquidLondon earlier but the new, color splash design which is available from UrbanTrim for $38.- is definitely an eye catching, colorful break on a otherwise dull rainy day.

The umbrella starts out in black and white. As the rain starts falling on the umbrella, each drop will cause the colorful design to show through. Eventually when the whole umbrella is wet it will have morphed into the vibrant colorful version that you can see in the photo.

When the rain stops and the umbrella dries the colorful design will slowly fade back to white, ready for your next rainy adventure.

The color chaining miracle is made possible by Hydrochromic ink which reacts with water, chaining from one color stage to another. All the different colors start out as white and then showing their second personality when coming in contact with water.

High tech ink applied to a low tech product = a colorful life.