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on April 30
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectAbsolutely, just settling in now and getting over a nasty bug but there will be an update at power-laces.com this week.
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on February 21
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectHey there, thanks for writing. Of course I understand a bit of frustration as regards to product release. I still believe that I'm track for a mid to late 2012 release. Most of 2011 was spent working with an engineer in the UK, trying to shrink the mechanism as much as possible while maintaining durability. It's important to note that I've always said that the prototype I made, though it worked as a demo, wasn't fit for mass production and needed almost a complete overhaul. I admitted that the skills for that was beyond me, which was where the engineer came in. The design work was done in multiple stages, with a lot of back and forth. With his help, we came up with a solution that seemed to fit the bill. He was only a mechanical engineer though, and to really complete it I will need to finalize some subsystems with software and electrical engineers. it's pretty standard work, we won't be reinventing the wheel, so this part of the process will only take a couple of months. The software is really the heart of the project, as this device will really be made for the medical community. As such there will be systems in place for things such as gait monitoring and even physical rehab. A few of the things that have slowed me down over the past few months include my personal health and my job. I'm fine! But there have been some internal issues I've been dealing with that have lead to short jaunts of time where I can't do much of anything. And my day job has gotten more demanding of my time steadily over the last year, (and I believe might be a contributor to my health issues) which was one of the reasons I decided to quit and focus more on my project, full time. I've already bought the tickets overseas, and will be leaving in late March as soon as my contract is up with my job. These past few weeks have been spent moving nonessentials into storage and such. Australia will act as my homebase for the next few months for trips into Asia. I have family out there, along with a few people who have ideas for the cosmetic design of the product- nothing that will inpart any manufacturing delays. I suspect finding the right manufacturer will only be a matter of weeks. When it's all totaled I believe that I will meet my imposed deadline of late 2012. I appreciate everyones continued patience, and please, don't hesitate to contact me at my personal email address if you have any questions or just want to talk! BlakeBevin [AT] Gmail[DOT]com
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on February 2
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectI'll be in Melbourne, but if I make my way up there I'll definitely let you know! ;)
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on February 1
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectHey there, I've opted more for personal updates, from people messaging me through twitter or facebook as opposed to mass emailing that was sometimes caught by spam filters and such. I received provisional patent protection but the bigger news was I'll be leaving for Australia at the end of March to spend a bit of a time with some product designers to finalize some things, and then heading to Turkey and China to tour some factories for manufacturing.
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on January 12
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectHad some trouble arise with my day job, so I've turned in my notice there and have to finish out my contract. I've already bought the ticket overseas, leaving 3/9, and yesterday I just received my travelling Visas. It was about 6 weeks later than I would have preferred, but still leaves me on track.
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on November 18, 2011
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectYes, I had to reschedule the factory tours for January do to scheduling conflicts, but that has been put on the books and we'll have a manufacturer shortly after.
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on September 12, 2011
Blake Bevin
Posted project update #17Update
Thanks for everyone that sent me the link to Nike's teaser press release (which included Back to the Future merchandise and references) and their full announcement the next day: That they would auction off a limited edition run of 'Air Mags', a replica of the shoe shown in Back to the Future II.
It must be said that these shoes look almost exactly like the ones in the movie, and even light up, but they are not power lacing and are really meant to stay on a shelf or under glass. With some pairs auctioning as high as $75,000 you probably wouldn't want to wear it outside too much.
The really cool thing though is that all proceeds will go to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research. I applaud Nike and Universal for this and they're already on track to raise a lot of money. As my grandmother is a Parkinson's sufferer as well, that is a cause that is close to my heart and it's really great what they're doing.
I've also been asked how it affects my project, and to that I say, "Positively".
Before it was revealed exactly what Nike would be unveiling, the buzz was that they would be releasing some sort of power lacing product. Though that eventually turned out to be false, I wasn't worried because I believed Nike and I were focused on different segments of the market.
As I've always said, though my project was inspired by a Sci-Fi concept it's main purpose and functionality would be geared towards helping the disabled. Not just with the lacing mechanism itself, but with other features that I can't unveil just yet.
While Nike may someday release a true Air Mag that autolaces (I doubt it will be before the mid to late 2012 launch date we're aiming for) it's very unlikely that Nikes shoe will be based from the ground up for accessibility for the disabled which is what I spent the bulk of the project working on, one of the goal being true handsfree use.
More than just Power Laces, I'm building a System.
Because of that, I believe my system is unique enough to stand on it's own doing it's intended purpose.
Another positive aspect as people searching for info about Nike's shoe has lead them to my project, so I've received a lot of great support from newcomers cheering me on, and I'm looking forward to the next few months as I prepare for manufacturing.
Talk to you guys again soon!
Blake
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on September 8, 2011
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectThanks for the links! I'll be posting a response/update after Nike's announcement, but in short I believe we're targeting different markets, and Nike's product shouldn't interfere with my system that is being tailor made with accessibility for the disabled in mind.
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on September 8, 2011
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectThanks for the link! I'll post a response soon about Nike's announcement as an Update and on the blog.
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on August 4, 2011
Blake Bevin
commented on a projectHey Luigi, you never responded to the customer survey so I don't have your information on file. I will send you a private message requesting the info to get your merch to you as quickly as possible.
Blake Bevin
San Francisco, CA
Time Traveler from the year 1983.
Good to hear from you Blake
Has been a while.
when is the next report
Dave (OZ)
Hey blake, thanks for the update. Can we see any photos of new prototypes or anything? I can't wait to get these!
Happy Holidays! I just want to send you a bit of encouragement- your project will be great! I, too, would like to shoe a relative with limited motion.
Susan M.