I have always had a bit of a thing for watches – but more specifically, smart watches. Any watch that does a bit more than telling the time has the potential to grab my attention.

Nike has a lot of experience in sport watches, and the technology they are building into their shoes is becoming cooler every day, and they all form part of Nike’s tech called “Nike+”. It all started a while back with the Nike+ shoe kit which was launched with Apple’s iPod Nano, but from there they have greatly expanded their Nike+ lineup, and it is not dependent on Apple products anymore.

(more…)

After countless hours of deliberation and eBay searches I finally found someone who was heading to the US of A to get me a Nike Fuelband. For those that have never heard of the device it’s basically an expensive pedometer. The less derisive explanation it that it’s a bracelet that measures your movement and steps and converts them into “Nike Fuel”, a totally made up but brilliant metric.

The Device

The actual hardware is an extremely attractive black rubber coated band that sits on your wrist. The actual display is a whole bunch (20 lights to track your progress and 100 white LED lights to show your fuel and the time) of LED’s that show through the rubber material. It’s a fairly subtle looking device and when not in use the LED’s can’t be seen making, it totally unobtrusive. The Fuelband comes in three sizes, women (small), men (medium) and fatty (large). In the box you’ll find two spacers allowing you to add extra length to the Fuelband if you’re finding it too tight.

(more…)

Game on, World.

Last weekend we got to go to the launch of the new Nike “Game on, World” campaign:

The “Game On, World” campaign will challenge all NIKE+ users to create and beat their personal bests. www.nike.com/gameonworld will host leader boards for the competition, and is the place where athletes come for motivation and inspiration. Throughout the summer NIKE+ will announce challenges inspired by some of the world’s greatest athletes to inspire people around the world to achieve their personal best.

Each NIKE+ experience will be ‘measured’ by a specific metric that will challenge users to create personal bests. If you’re a runner, “Game On, World” will challenge you to log more miles than ever before. If you’re a Nike+ FuelBand user the goal will be to beat your NikeFuel goal every single day. If you’re a Basketball athlete you’ll want to ‘fly’ like never before and upload your ‘Showcase’ dunk films to show the world your skills. If the obsession to reach your potential drives you to the Nike+ Training experience, the challenge will to beat the NikeFuel score in as many athlete packs as possible.

(more…)