Puma is revisiting 1986 to bring back the smart shoe

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We’ve got smartwatches, smartphones, and even smart toasters, but have you ever heard of a smart shoe? Turns out they’ve been around for quite a while. In fact, Puma actually released a pair of smart sneakers back in the ’80s, and the company is bringing them back. Dubbed the ‘RS-Computer Shoe,‘ the intelligent footwear was ahead of its time when it arrived in 1986, and used an inbuilt computer chip to let runners track calories, distance, and time during their workout – as long as they could connect to an Apple IIE or Commodore 64. To make life easier for those of us who don’t have a Commodore in the attic, Puma has updated its retro sneaks for the modern age, equipping them with a miniature 3-axis accelerometer, USB-rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, and Bluetooth 4.0 radio transceiver that can be paired with an Android or iOS smartphone. That’s where the changes end, though, and Puma wisely hasn’t tinkered with the RS-Computer Shoe’s glorious vintage finish, which should make it easer to stick on some Madonna and pretend its 1986 all over again.

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I’m a freelance games and technology journalist currently mashing my keyboard in the name of fine institutions like Stuff, where you'll usually find me waxing lyrical about the latest mobile morsels. I've also been known to cook up some decidedly delicious reviews from time to time, and was once dubbed 'the games industry's answer to Nigella Lawson' by someone probably somewhere.