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]

When it comes to hi-tech sneakers Adidas is the #1 a number it well deserves since they introduced early 2005 the Adidas 1 high-tech sneaker with integrated running computer.

Five years later, Adidas takes on again the high tech arena combining footwear with the virtual world as interaction object with the launch AR (Augmented Reality) sneakers.

The AR sneaker range does not involve this time much of wearable technology as seen in the Adidas 1 but they open the door to the online world of gaming and social networking. A simple marker sewn into the tongue is the key to that world.

Hold the square AR marker in the tongue in front of the computers’ camera and you enter Adidas’ Flash-based app which will then superimpose a virtual world on top of the shoe that moves in real time as you move the shoe in front of the camera.

It’s a simple demonstration of how to link physical objects with the virtual world but more sophisticated interaction with Adidas sneakers is in the making as they plan to release a couple of Online games using the AR sneaker as interaction device.

Shoes as input device for computer games might not sound very logical but seemingly playful concepts like this one represent a important steeping stone when exploring more sophisticated, more ‘sensible’ solutions for the future. One has to start somewhere and playful learning paves the way for creativity and innovation.

Although the wearable technology involvement in the AR sneaker range is very little, I believe that technology enhanced clothing design should utilize the technological possibilities to establish a link between our activities ‘in the cloud’ and our real life.

This can be in a playful, purely emotional form and/or to add functional sense by linking, by integrating our outfit with the WWW-cloud.

The Adidas AR range, featuring 5 different models are available in US and various European countries retailing between $65.- and $95.- just look around in your real world neighborhood where to get a pair as you need them to enter the virtual neighborhood of Adidas.

Channel Five’s The Gadget Show presenters Suzi Perry and Jason Bradbury were each asked to create a wearable gadget of the future.

With some ideas in mind they turned to product design and innovation consultants Smallfry to help make their ideas a reality.

Suzi Perry opted to develop a pair of futuristic MP3 shoes to house the electronics within the soles of the high-heeled shoes.

My google search came up with plenty of musical shoe concepts and ideas but Perry’s shoe is somewhat outstanding.

Instead of just playing music Suzi’s pair of shoes control an MP3 player remotely using dance moves – a nice twist for an music remote control and certainly an unique feature for a shoe music player.

Controlling sound – or music – in a shoe might not look at first very ‘useful’ but it does open a creative door into the possibility to add audible features to fashion design which so far is relying fully on static, visual effects to create differentiation and character for clothing, shoes and bags.

Watch the entire Episode 9 – Future Tech show which revolves around wearable technology by following this link.

Girls of all ages are fascinated by shoes. There can never ever be enough shoes in the closet. Every occasion needs the perfect matching footwear.

What do we get if girls take electronics and upgrade their shoes? – Project Walkway where eight teenage girls learned to mix technology with fashion.

Project Walkway spanned 6 weeks starting in March and ending in a walkway show in May during the book launch of Sabine Seymour’s Fashionable Technology at Eyebeam.

Project Walkway, a collaboration between artist Norene Leddy, New York City public high school Bayard Rustin Academy for Art and Music, and Eyebeam was a creative getting together in which young women transformed existing footwear and some smart electronics into objects of desire.

The aim of the workshop was to teack prototyping skills, basic electronics and presentation skills. The girls had the opportunity to work alongside two of Eyebeam’s current Research & Development Fellows, Ayah Bdeir and Jessica Banks, highly skilled female engineers whose work as artists and designers made a perfect skill match with the workshops objective.

The extensive workshop started with an introduction about the history of shoes which have always been closely linked with identity and social status, key issues for adolescent girls, from the Chopines of 16th century Venice, to Manolo Blahnik stilettos up to Chloe, Gucci and D&G.

The Aphrodite Project from Norene Leddy served as the starting point for the shoe hacking workshop: ‘Platforms, which open the conversation to issues of sex, sex work, the role of contemporary artists in society, police protection and personal safety’.

The focus for the students was less on aesthetics but to investigate issues of personal safety and utility: what would be helpful for young women today who navigate the streets of New York City (and other major cities around the world).

The result of the platform hacking workshop is amazingly creative: light seems to be a natural attraction point for any clothing item. Where conventional fashion uses materials like metal parts, glass beads and other shiny objects to reflect light and add some glitter, wearable technology designer use LEDs to create active light effects to add sparkle to their designs. Addressing the safety aspect, small alarm modules have been incorporated into the heel giving an additional dimension of security in our not so secure cities.

Visit Project Walkway’s photostream on Flickr for more photos, Project Walkway’s blog with all the details and video links and a podcast by Science & the City.

Thanks Alana for pointing us to this project.

Footwear is getting another upgrade by offering multi dimensional interactivity to shoes for comfort and socializing in the real as well as the virtual world.

VectraSense Technologies, a spin-off company from MIT ‘the mother of Wearable Electronic’, launched the smartest shoe on the market called: ‘Verb for Shoe‘.

As a pioneer in the field of computerized footwear and creator of Verb for Shoe, Ronald Demon from VectraSense Technologies, said ‘We are not just selling some high tech gadget, but are providing an entire experience which includes technology.’

VectraSense does indeed have a lot of experience in computerized footwear as they brought the world its first computerized adjustable shoe back in 2000.

Since then VectraSense has worked out a cool looking 21st Century shoe that provides excellent wear comfort due to a computer controlled cushioning system. Two balloons in the shoe sole will inflate or deflate depending on the activity of the wearer. The on-shoe computer is constantly monitoring the activities, adjusting the cushion comfort on the fly in real time..

The interactivity of the Verb for Shoe does not stop here; it can interact with other wearer of Verb for Shoes to exchange personal data (if wanted). I can already imagine a social network community forming that is partly off-line and partly on-line active. More interactivity than social networks like Facebook or MySpace can offer.

The Verb for Shoe connects to a PC wirelessly so you can literally walk with them in the virtual world as well. Part of the experience VectraSense offers is to create an online platform where Verb for Sense wearer can link up and socialize in the virtual world as well as in the real world.

It’s an amazing shoe that is now available via Verb for Sense online store for a – hmmm – experience for money price of $ 699.99

For that money you get a combination of signature styling, craftsmanship, innovation, lushness and exclusivity of having the world’s first shoe leaving a mark (foot print) in the real as well as in the virtual world.