Absolutely, just settling in now and getting over a nasty bug but there will be an update at power-laces.com this week.

Hey 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

I'll be in Melbourne, but if I make my way up there I'll definitely let you know! ;)

Hey 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.

Had 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.

Yes, 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.

Thanks 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.

Thanks for the link! I'll post a response soon about Nike's announcement as an Update and on the blog.

Hey 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.

hey Chris, I defintely sent you out a resend and it should have been there by now. Could you write me at blakebevin (At) Power-Laces.com to confirm your address? Before I send a new package out I want to make sure there's not a problem with the shipping address.

Thanks!

No problem G.L, adding your info to the resend list :)

Hey there, I think the weather has been a factor in the shipping times. Rest assured it should be there soon :)

Heya Mark, your reward will be sent as soon as I receive the T-Shirts. Thanks for you patience and support!

Yes, the prototype shown was hand-built and demonstrates the concept only. We have every intention of making sure the final version has customized fitting, with at least three easily adjustable levels of lacing firmness.

Hey Caleb, sorry about that! I'll send out a new one this week.

The shoes will have batteries and will have to be charged. Exactly how charging takes place, and other tech specs will be decided later on in the design process. We have a few ideas on the table but right now we're focusing more on the basics. We don't want to put the cart before the horse, so to speak. As the process evolves I'll have more information to post.

@Buck Apologies! Will resend in a few days.

Sorry about that Sarah, no need to send it bak. I'll ship out a new one when I'm back in the States on Tuesday.