A software update breaks the expensive Nike sneakers with automatic laces



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You can adjust Nike Adapt BB sneakers through a smartphone app. Or, you should be able to.
Image: Nike

Michael Rivera, now 17, has been a sneakerhead since childhood. Her mother, who goes to Tootie, saw an opportunity: to sneak into school, she told him, and you can get a pair of sneakers.

Michael thought about it and Tootie and her husband had to keep buying him sneakers. An agreement is an agreement. With each A-fifth ballot she gave her a new pair of sneakers. "They have continued to become more expensive," she told Deadspin. This year, he wanted something very cheap: the Nike Adapt BB, a $ 350 performance basketball shoe released last week.

The hit BB pure platinum, which was the subject of a huge hype last month, costs $ 350, because it is equipped with the new technological gadget of Nike: the shoe contains a computer. It does not have laces, but it "lacethre" by tightening around the foot when the wearer enters. The wearer can adjust the sneakers on the side. A Nike-made app can also adjust the sneakers and change the colors on the side. It is superhyped and stupid, but also: Wow, it's pretty cool.

This is not the first Nike "self-lacing" shoe. The company released the Air Mags from Back to the future II in 2016, but they were an extremely limited version for charity. The same year, they also released the product Hyperadapt, available in several colors this year to 2018.

Tootie and Michael transmitted the Hyperadapt BBs. Although we can now find pairs in the secondary market for as little as $ 455, they cost $ 720 retail and were relatively limited. "But for the price, we have not taken this route," says Tootie. "Besides, we probably will not get them."

They arrived last week. Michael loved them. He had sneakers all his life, but he finally had a pair that he could put on his own. Michael has cerebral palsy and is unable to tie his sneakers himself. The BB Adapt, like the Nike FlyEase line, can be an indispensable solution for customers suffering from an illness that prevents or prevents them from tying their shoes themselves.

"We really wanted them because Michael can not tie his shoes," says Tootie. "And we thought it would be ideal. He can use the application to squeeze them around his foot to meet his needs. "

And then … they broke. Michael says that a software update basically tinkered the left shoe. "I took them out of the box and lit them and put them on," says Michael. "I downloaded the application and it worked perfectly. It worked amazing! And then … it's only when I tried to download the first software update that the left hoof stopped connecting to my phone. "

Yes, sports shoes are now provided with firmware updates. And, like any computer, they come with bugs. The problem seems to have come to the attention of the public earlier this week by Jonathan Warner, computer engineer in New York, who tweeted about the problems reported by users with the Android application of the sneaker.

Warner's sneakers have not arrived yet. When he went to the store to check the version of the Android application, he saw all the complaints. "I knew people were going to make fun of me for buying them, but I like them," Warner tells Deadspin in an email. "I always adopted niche technology early and these shoes suited me perfectly. They have a nice futuristic feel, cyberpunk, techwear and that kind really speaks to me (I was a glass explorer, so I'm no stranger to wearing something that I think is futuristic and that everyone thinks stupid). "

Several news organizations have reported problems with Android, but there is one mistake: Michael's sneakers have been updated with an iPhone. The problem does not seem to be limited to Android; this also affects the iOS of Apple. Michael said he had tried all the troubleshooting tips from the Nike app and website, but that none of them worked. His father called Nike's help desk; the company said that it had brought the problem to a higher level of technical supper and that it would recall, but has not yet done so. (It's only been a few days.)

Nike, which has not responded to Deadspin's requests for comment, has announced plans to regularly release sneaker firmware updates, touting new features it might add to the shoe and app. The sneakers would have one right out of the box. This has been the case and people have problems with it. But even if it is a series of mistakes made by users, the future of sneakers is the same: kicks that could hurt at any time?

This particular problem is not particularly serious. Although the left shoe does not work with the application, the sneakers remain job; Michael says that he can adjust the left sneaker by using the buttons on the side.

And for Warner, he says it's all part of the game. "Oh, I'm really expecting things to happen," he says. "You never trust software when you work on it. But that's part of the fun. "

h / t @ Kr3st

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