cross-posted from: https://mstdn.social/users/tekkie/statuses/112037167186333009
Image description: Installation progress bar running for software upgrade of the Under Armour running shoes
(Originally published earlier today on mstdn.social)
" having to " is a weird way of saying if you go out of your way to buy these shoes specifically designed to track how far you walk/run and your cadence. This is extremely optional and definitely won't be something your normal shoe experiences.
Why are we like this?
Based on no investigation, I would guess this is a running shoe. The app will track steps, distance, pace, mile times... all the stats joggers care about. Yes, there are apps to do all of this anyway, but I would assume with these shoes, you get much more accurate stats. There's certainly no way UA has this in every shoe, and the people paying however many hundreds of dollars for these shoes are doing it specifically because of this feature. This isn't Internet is shit, this is UA making a useful product for a smaller market base.
I'm sure this is for a cadence sensor which is really nice to have for distance running
I love when people get pissy about stuff like this. If you want it, great. If you don’t, buy other shoes or don’t use it.
What’s it going to do? Stop being a shoe if you don’t connect it to your phone?
Devices that can lock you out with their smart functionality and you don’t have a say in, I get. Things like the Roku TVs forcing new arbitration policies and ovens included with a house that have mandatory firmware updates.
But stuff like this? Who cares? It’s very useful to some people who want advanced gait tracking in the shoe, and it’s completely ignorable for everyone else.
Well there was the story of the three million toothbrushes being used in a DDOS attack but in googling for a link to the story it turned out to be a hoax, so there's at least that good news to back you up.
What kind of nerd has electronic shoes (besides marty mcfly i mean)?
Distance joggers
AKA fitness nerds
Only if you’re dumb enough to buy those shoes.
Rules:
Act like a nice human being.