Without updates or ability to download after August, app will become useless.
It is hard to imagine that there was not someone inside of Nike that lost their faith in humanity when the pitch for these things was originally taking off.
I mean, there are some devices that fundamentally have to be online to be useful. You're not losing anything there.
A Roku stick requires the Roku streaming service to be functioning to be useful. If there wasn't a service with streaming media, the stick would have nothing to stream.
The problem is when you have a device that doesn't have that fundamental requirement but is then unnecessarily tied to an online service. Home automation requiring Internet connectivity, for example, when virtually no home automation actually requires access to any online services, or converting non-live-service video games to live-service video games.
A Roku stick requires the Roku streaming service to be functioning to be useful. If there wasn't a service with streaming media, the stick would have nothing to stream.
In cases like this; it's still only artificially dependant on Rokus services.
The hardware is perfectly capable of streaming from any number of services, including entirely self-hosted solutions like Emby/Jellyfin/Plex; yet the device can be remotely bricked just by nolonger providing Rokus services to it.
A Roku stick requires the Roku streaming service to be functioning to be useful. If there wasn't a service with streaming media, the stick would have nothing to stream.
Still becomes e-waste if Roku drops support for it. Granted, that's not the best example as I've got an old-ass Roku that still works, but the point stands. Same goes for Fire sticks and other devices like that.
They really should be forced to, at minimum, release unlocking tools to allow 3rd party firmware. (Think flashing OpenWRT to a Roku and using it as a travel router or something). Ideally, they'd also release a development kit to foster "after-life" uses of such devices.
Lots of companies will accept old devices back (supposedly to recycle), but there's another "R", re-use, that's also an important part of the process.
Without the app, wearers are unable to change the color of the sneaker's LED lights. The lights will either maintain the last color scheme selected via the app or, per Nike, "if you didn't install the app, light will be the default color." While owners will still be able to use on-shoe buttons to turn the shoes on or off, check its battery, adjust the lace's tightness, and save fit settings, the ability to change lighting and control the shoes via mobile phone were big selling points of the $350 kicks.
I own a pair. You do lose some functionality without the app. The ability to change the light colors, set and recall presets.
You can still tighten them without the app. And I think you can set one preset as well (not sure tbh)
They announced the sunsetting of the app like 2 months ago but the media is capitalizing on the announcement now for some reason. It sucks but it’s not the end of the world not having the app.
Not like the apk won't still be obtainable. I still have a pandora apk from around 2012 I use (ad free, cost free) that still works just fine.
The apk will likely outlast the shoes. Ever since all the shoe companies started using polyurethane soles, hydrolysis eventually just disintegrates them, even if you almost never wear them. After about 10 years they're usually not wearable any longer.
Losing the app means that people can't change the color of the light on the shoe. You can still do all the other shit manually.
That said, I feel like companies should be required to open source shit like this once they drop support for it. Otherwise stuff like this adds to the mountains of e-waste poisoning the planet.
Agreed. Companies should be required by law to release source code, build guides, documentation and service architecture for services or apps that are required by hardware they sold.
While there are bigger fish to fry at the moment, socially speaking, the problem is only going to get worse if legislators don’t step in.
Source code escrow is a thing, too. I've only seen it in the context of (as I understood it) protection against going out of business, but perhaps it could apply to discontinued products, as well?
I talked to a bunch of sneaker heads over the years and i don't think i'll ever get it. I don't like to shit on someone's hobby, but buying shitty super overpriced sneakers made by slaves is a weird ass hobby.
Especially considering most of the time they likely won’t even wear the things because of either how much they cost or because they find them to be a collectors item.
The problem is that there are usually no other alternatives, or at least not any easily accessible. Heck, these days even routers require app activation for no reason other than to be shitty.
There should be a law against this. All hardware requiring an app should also have an open API.
There isn't one app to post to Lemmy, there's a dozen. And they're open source mostly. And there's a web page. And you can self-host a fediverse node. And ActivityPub is an open standard. And and and.
Now if this was Reddit, you might be closer to the mark.
How did you post this comment? // Were you using an app?
Please refer to the context when interpreting what others say dammit. Your questions stink "ackshyually lol lmao" from a distance.
The OP is talking about sneakers unnecessarily requiring an "app"; in this context, Farts' "anything" should be interpreted as "physical goods" (like sneakers), not "internet services that may be accessed through a browser or specialised software" (like Lemmy).
having it with any ability to connect to your phone at all is dumb. Why does everything have to be connected to everything else all the time to work? Oh right...surveillance from advertising companies
So will there be a pirate app floating around for those who own these? Are there enough peeps who bought these for there to be interest in making one? Can't be tough
Back in our Business 101 class in university, we were supposed to come up with a new business idea and pitch it. We came up with a self-tying tie. Guess we weren't too far off lol
The liability for a product that tightens around a neck would make it an untouchable concept for businesses. I could imagine a dystopian future where some big brand like Dickies selling it and when it kills people they claim the fine print very clearly disallows any shirts except for patented self-tying tie constrained collar shirts.
Or there might be a future leader who is a Darth Vader wannabe and creates a system where everyone wears a self-tightening tie and he can gesture at anyone who annoys him to choke them until he stops gesturing.
Haaaaaagh, that's fuckin excellent. Now Invision a dystopian future where hackers assassinate a corrupt politician by strangulation. Fuck yeah dystopian future.
Not a complicated engineering problem to solve though. A weak enough stepper motor wont be able to strangle anything even if its controlling software is hacked and turned to 11.
Add bonus features already installed on the shoe, but need an extra subscription. Maybe clips to connect them to your bike pedals, but it costs 4.99€/month to actually use that feature. Think about all the feature subscription you could sell for a good hiking shoe.
(I really hope they won't do this, but I can see them trying it.)
They just move onto hyper-expensive cars, watches, Warhammer figurines, purses, jewelry, etc. The human instinct to flaunt and/or collect is pretty strong in certain people.
If anything the gap is bigger than ever as the top end shoes are basically performance enhancers like the nike airflys used to set most records..and their new vaporflys being banned in the Olympics.
I guess it's better than hyper expensive shoes just being a paying for a brand thing?
I thought the shoe market had nothing to do with actual usefulness, just how rare they are. It's not like most of the people buying these expensive shoes actually wear them.
In the end you can start making a shoe that almost functions like a prosthetic. We are not animals designed to always be running, but with a few tweaks you can make that closer to be true.