The Sports Techie Kia Hamster holiday gift and upgrade blog. What sports technology related gifts would you give the Hamster in the #kiaholiday image below that will upgrade his Sports Techie ways?
Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Kia Motors
Shoes
I will start gifting from the bottom up with new shoes because most everyone wears some type of shoe to play and train for sports. The @kia Hamster already has some type of kickin’ footwear on his paws but let’s begin the upgrade process here with the made-to-order by Nike, Lebron X ID with Flywire. http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/product/lebron-x-id-basketball-shoe/.
These custom made Nike hoop shoes are at the top end of sports technology innovation. Wearing the LeBron X+ will help to upgrade Hamster’s game by benchmarking his near NBA levels of hoops performance with on court data and off court analysis.
From Nike: “The LeBron X+ iD Men’s Basketball Shoe tracks every move of your game and syncs directly to your iPhone, letting you know exactly how high, how quick and how hard you play. With insights from one of the game’s most explosive players, it features expressive and team colors, newly engineered cushioning and signature details that celebrate the tenth anniversary of LeBron and Nike Basketball.”
Nike further states, “The LeBron X+ iD Sport Pack tracks your highest jump, average jump height and total jumps per game, along with your steps per second, quickest moments and more—and then converts your activity to NikeFuel points. All you need is the Nike+ app to instantly see and share your stats through your social networks. Join nikeplus.com to compare and compete for top weekly rankings, make your own 30-second Showcase mode highlight reel, access specialized drills to help you improve, see your game breakdowns and progress over time, and more.”
All that tech functionality in a pair of sneakers is genius. “Be Like Mike,” was a successful Nike and Michael Jordan campaign slogan, perhaps the new one for LeBron should read, “Be Better Than LeBron,” using the X+ iD shoe, my Hamster friend.
Socks
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas or Hanukkah so keeping the Hamster’s feet warm is the upgrade goal. The heatable Therm-ic X-Action Heat Gold Sock was created for just that purpose in that their technology warms your toes and keeps feet and paws from turning blue from frigid cold. Whether on a snow packed mountain, a rainy soccer field or walking down a city or country path, turn on the battery connection folded over the extended sock cuff and shazam, all your toes are heated to the desired temp and in doing so the Thermic socks are warming up users feet. The ergonomically shaped socks also offer active odor neutralization and are washable; both key features for any Sports Techie Hamster or person. http://www.thermic.com/de/sports/produkte/warm-feet.html#/sport/en/products/warm_feet.html.
Pants
Hamster’s next upgrade is a gift of the X-BIONIC Mountaineering Pants. The X-BOINIC pants consist of 84% Polyamide and 14% Elastane and are loaded with sports tech functionality like 6-dimensional elasticity, abrasion-resistant material,ISO-PAD, zipper inner pocket, 3D BionicSphere System at the tailbone, rear zippered pocket, AirConditioningSpot, and Elastic Cuff with velcro stripes. These pants are the perfect companion upgrade for the Hamsters Sports Techie adventures.
http://www.x-bionic.com/men/mountaineering-summer/412855/detail#tab1
Vest
I know Hamster will be grateful for the AIQSmart Clothing gift and in particular the Solarman wearable solar device upgrade that is integrated into the vest to recharge electronic devices. http://www.aiq.com.
AIQ develops “smart textiles” for a range of custom apparel, including a vital sign monitoring system in a t-shirt. The BioMan t-shirt has ribbed “smart sleeves” that measure the user’s heart rate, respiration rate and skin temperature. The garment can be further customized to measure skin moisture and electrophysiological signals. The CameraMan jacket has a built-in HD camera in the left breast pocket area, and the ArmorMan pullover has padding that stiffens on contact to protect the wearer.
In case the Solarman is not exactly what the Hamster wants he can always exchange the gift and upgrade to a CameraMan or ArmorMan so he can share with our community any sports related activities with content like video or pictures.
Shirt
I will give the Hamster an Under Armour gift certificate so he can save it to upgrade to the e39 compression shirt that is available for purchase in 2013. The e39 is based upon Zephyr Technologies sensors that calculate G-Force and much more. The sports technology removable “bug” sensor has a triaxial accelerometer, processor, and 2GB of storage that pick up electrical signals of heart data which enables the monitoring and measuring of heart rate and breathing. The Zephyr software records and transmits the biometric data of sports moves wirelessly to a number of tech devices such as tablets and smartphones to help identify or improve performance. The e39 has been tested on NFL players like Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons but not any Hamster’s that we know of yet. http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/e39/tags/props/sort-BS/pg-1/.
Eyewear
The Hamster will need a pair of sunglasses which are ever so important with global warming creating havoc on the atmosphere. Since it is winter sports season I will give Mr. Hamster the gift of the new “Airwaves.” Oakley, Inc. just released a revolutionary new snow goggle called Airwave. It combines the company’s best goggle technologies with a heads-up display developed by Recon Instruments, integrating MOD Live HUD technology that has GPS, Bluetooth®, and more with a host of onboard sensors to bring new possibility to the alpine experience.
With Airwave, alpine sports enthusiasts can access a full range of information transmitted directly to the eye. Snowboarders and skiers can view jump analytics, pinpoint their location on a resort map alongside navigational information, and even locate and track others in their group. Additional sensor information includes distance traveled, altitude, speed and vertical descent data. Pairing with a smartphone allows immediate viewing of incoming calls and text messages, and music playlists on a Bluetooth-enabled device can be easily accessed and controlled by the glove-friendly wireless remote that can be strapped to the user’s body or goggle depending on their preference.
Integrated within the goggle, the heads-up display uses innovative prism technology to display information perceived by the wearer to be the size of a 14-inch screen that is five feet away, so refocusing the eye is not necessary. Airwave is compatible with both Apple® and Android® operating systems. The Oakley Airwave App, available at http://www.oakley.com/airwave.
Head Gear
Finally, there is the all important Hamster head area to upgrade so his gift will be the Imec, Holst Center and Panasonic prototype wearable wireless and low power active electrode EEG headset and EKG patch. Imec performs world-leading research in nanoelectronics. A person’s heart rate and 3D-accelerometer data are stored in the system or streamed to a smartphone. The Imec development services are available in theU.S. as prototypes only.
No doubt the Hamster will appreciate that Sports Techie is looking out for his EEG electroencephalogram by giving him this the Imac headset for prevention and treatment related reasons.
Imec’s wireless low-power active electrodes EEG headset:
Sports Techie, The Hamster looks happy but it is obvious he or she does not know what they are missing by upgrading with sports technology products. The Hamster can upgrade his own #kiaholiday or someone he knows with the gift of a brand new Kia Sorento or Justice League car. Giving Sports Techie centric gifts over the holiday is a token of appreciation any Hamster friend, family member or work colleague would enjoy as an upgrade.
I would like to know what sports technology gifts you would upgrade the Kia Hamster with over the holiday season. Share your thoughts at the bottom of the blog and via your social networks. Your comment, Like, share, or retweet, would be tremendous holiday gifts you can bestow upon me so I can win the $500 Target gift card from Kia. After this holiday of gift giving and upgrades, the Kia Hamster will be in a better place and I hope the same goes for everyone. Happy Holidays to all, Sports Techie!
I will see ya when I see ya, THE Sports Techie
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