An important concept some companies are grasping is that if we're going to be advertised to, or advertised at, we'd prefer to see something unusual or entertaining. (Educational would be great too, but I realize that's too much to ask for.)

So I got a kick out of seeing the Nike Music Shoe video, which combines "bleeding-edge sound artist and alternative interface guru" Daito Manabe, several pairs of Nike Free sneakers tricked out with flex sensors and accelerometers, and Ableton's Max For Live software. Check out the cool results below. (SFW caveat: If you work in a conservative office environment, have your finger hovering over the volume button of your computer as you may get a little more boom-bap through your speakers than you anticipated.)

So how'd he do it? The short version is that Manabe did the software and sound programming while the hardware programming was done by Tomoaki Yanagisawa, and the full technical explanation is written up here by Peter Kirn.

thanks tony!