Shoe Power

Thanks to the shoe bomber, we all now have to remove our shoes at the airport, but there may be a GOOD type of shoe power!

An engineer is developing a tiny sensor that fits inside the sole of a shoe. When the wearer takes a step, the computer chip can generate power that can run anything the person is carrying with him, such as an ipod or flashlight. This will be great for jogging at night!On the Louisiana Tech University website, Dave Guerin quotes researcher Ville Kaajakari as saying, “This technology could benefit, for example, hikers that need emergency location devices or beacons. For more general use, you can use it to power portable devices without wasteful batteries. Ultimately, we want to bring up the power levels up to a point where we could, in addition to sensors, charge or power other portable devices such as cell phones.”

But don’t just wear smart shoes, put on smart clothes made from textiles woven with wireless sensors that monitor your temperature and heart rate and feed them directly to a database, then sends you songs, words and images to calm you down if necessary.

Meanwhile, Here’s something you’ll be glad to know when you take off your shoes: Other researchers have developed floor tiles that can simulate the look, sound and feel of snow, grass or pebbles underfoot. The floor could even function as a giant touch-screen controlled by your feet. Technology Review, Kristina Grifantini quotes inventor Yon Visell as saying that the tiles could be used “either for human computer interaction or immersive virtual reality applications.”

The next time you take off your shoes to go through airport security, take some MP3 discs with you for the long, boring plane ride ahead. Because there’s a recession on, you may be cutting your vacation short, but we can help with that, because we have the most affordable fun around. For instance, you can take an exciting trip to Egypt with William Henry while you’re on your way to a more affordable trip closer to home. How to do it? Subscribe today so you can download our shows to an MP3 disc. You get all this for less than the latte you buy at the airport–less than $4 a month, so it’s a BARGAIN.

To learn more, click here here and here.

Art credit: Dreamstime.com

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