The Chaser Report - Extra - Self-Lacing Smart Shoes

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

Charles brings another breakthrough in the world of technology, this time featuring a self-lacing smart shoe in his ‘Welcome to the Future' segment. Plus, Rebecca De Unamuno with all the news you can't trust. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report, Global World International News Headlines Update with Rebecca Dayunamuno. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hit out against the Chinese government today over adopted image depicting a war crime allegedly committed by an Australian soldier in Afghanistan. Mr Morrison said he was appalled by the whole situation, but that he was dealing with the crime in question. He said Australians can rest assured knowing his government is bringing the full force of the law against the whistleblower David McBride who let the public know about the child killings.

Andrew Bolt has condemned local governments urging their residents to leave fire-affected areas stating that people need to simply learn to live with bushfires. Mr Bolt urged Australians this summer to think of the economy rather than selfishly prioritising their own lives when faced with the threat of a deadly bushfire. Following the lead set by the hit Netflix drama

of the Crown, Sky News has announced it will pre-warn viewers that its stories are mostly fiction. The warning, to play before every show broadcast, will alert viewers that some elements of the stories told in the show may accidentally be true, and that viewers should use their own discretion to filter out any accidental pro-Labour Party sentiment. That's the latest Chaser news. Check outchaser.com.com.com for more updates. Now it's time for Charles, Dom and Craig, who are joined by special guest host James Schloffel. Thanks, Beck, and I'm Charles Firth, and today we've got Dom, Craig and James Schleffel from The Shovel. And it's now time for a special episode of Welcome to the Future.

Yes, this is the segment where I review really good products that look into the future. They're often Bluetooth connected, have a bit of Wi-Fi, and they're just, you know, the products that we're going to be buying. going to be buying the future, but you can buy them now. These are real products. I mean, what a great Christmas gift suggestions is going to be. And, James, just because you haven't been here for this segment before, unlike these products, this segment doesn't work. Actually, probably exactly like those products.

Exactly like the road. Charles added Bluetooth to the segment and it was still terrible. So I'm going to ask you, what company do you reckon Nike should be most scared of? Which company in the world? Adidas? Rebock? No, no, that's such 2019. Have you started making satirical

sportswear? No, no, no. This is true. This is all Come on. Well, isn't it normally Google? No, no, come on. Napalm? No, come on. Here, roll the clip. Watch out, Nike.

Digit Sol is running up right behind you with these self-lacing smart shoes. Digit Soul. Digit Soul. They're the company that Nike should be most scared of. I've always thought that tying up your shoes is a waste of time. Yes. Oh, God, yes.

You know, what was the term? This is a smart? Smart. They're called smart, self-lacing smart shoes. Self-lacing smart shoes. Now, do you think that that's a good idea? Well, I don't want to point out a floor here, but why have the laces at all? I mean, do you know what I mean?

Like, just make them slip on. I mean, yeah, I don't want to agree with you, James, but I'm currently wearing literally on my feet right now Nike shoes that don't have laces because they're kind of like slippers. Right. Well, I can say this is why you should be afraid of digit sol or my Nike should be afraid of digital because they are way ahead of you, James.

Their self-lacing shoes don't have laces either. So the self-lacing shoes don't have laces. I feel like this is not a particularly smart shoe. Well, maybe this shoe is smart, but the person that's come up with a name of it is an idiot. Yeah, no, look, no, because Nike is all about just marketing, right? It's not about shoes, it's about marketing. Right.

This is, same with Digit Sol. Like, they're not weighed down by the fact that they don't, not actually sell it in safe, leasing shoes. They're just sort of, you know, they're just in the marketing vibe. Can I ask a question, yeah, Charles, are they shoes? Well, yeah. Yes, and how do you reckon you control a shoe, you know, like, if you went to put it on your shoe, what would you want to do? Oh, I see a very clodgy and annoying app that takes ages to connect to the shoe.

Oh, you're very close. The shoes have Bluetooth so you can control the shoe from the app. Yeah, see? What possible benefit could there be? Like, what are you controlling? No, you've got to control when it's going to lay, when it's going to clam around your foot. So I put the shoe on my foot. Yes.

And then I go into my app and I go. No, I'm ready. Now, so apparently, because if you read the reviews, a lot of people go, this is really annoying, right? And so, but did your soul have been listening to their customers? Final model will have a physical button you can press to tighten and loosen the shoe without a phone and wireless charging. See? You don't even have to have a phone.

That's how smart it is. Is this because someone's got stuck in their shoes because they're patching right out on their phone? Well, this is... Now you've got to find, like, normally it's hard enough for me to find my shoes. Now I've got to find my fucking phone and the app as well. Yeah. And you've got to remember to plug them in to charge them each night. No, this great's going to have wireless charging shoes.

Yeah. Oh, God, how many things you have to put on the charge when you go to bed? I mean, Charles, just in case they can't figure out how to make the physical button work. They could try, like, putting laces on. They work quite well. Yeah. They could try putting, like, pieces of string that go, crisscross. Back and forth across the shoe is a backup mechanism.

No, that's crazy talk. That it never work. Next gen. I don't know. But, yeah, I mean, that would complicate the app, though. Yeah. Look, I think you're all being a bit unfair. Sure.

So I think we should just leave it to the Digit Soul woman to actually explain why Nike should be worried. Because, frankly, you haven't done a very good job. Let's have a listen. What sets his apart from Nike? is that they come with heating controls so you can adjust the temperature of the insol in each foot. The insol also has tracking functionality to watch your steps, airtime and gait. That data is then used to give you audio guidance during a run

or a walk. You'll get cues on posture and how fatigued you are, but we weren't able to test that functionality. Yeah. I love the honesty. That's the best marketing ever. It'll do all of this. We haven't tested it. I mean you could do it. Who knows? Okay, so, but the shoes, I'm pleased to say they did go into production. They did actually, um, sort of, you know, like they, they, they worked. I noticed you're not saying work. Well, they did actually, they existed, right?

And so you can buy them. You can buy them now. How much are they? They're 469 US. So it's probably about, what, six, six, seven hundred bucks? Yeah. But the, the overwhelming, and, um, the overwhelming review. on Amazon are that, because what it does is it sort of goes,

your gate is slightly uneven. Please correct yourself and things are that. That actually the voice that, you know, enters your brain, you know, from your shoes is just really annoying because you're running along and you've got a bloody ball. It's funny that I wouldn't have thought it would be annoying to have your shoe talk to you as you run. You should not have bought these stupid shoes.

Please correct yourself. And the other thing is the battery, like that's the funniest thing. So the batteries last about 20 minutes. So that's how long run for. You can't get home. My shoes are run out of batteries. You can't get home. Actually, I'm sold.

20 minute limit or run. I'm in. Anyway, that's it for today. Check out chaser.com. You for, I don't know, if you like really dodgy tech products. Or if you want to go to the shovel, you go to the shovel. James is already just a shoddy yourself. He's trying.

He's trying to get his shoes off. They run out of batteries. James is texting Bertruder and saying, hey, you've got a podcast, aren't you?