Nextfest brings all that's new and funky in the worlds of communication, design and entertainment together under one roof, many innovations may not even be close to a "real" product yet but the show highlights what will be possible.

First up we have the Smartshoe shoe!

Ok sounds weird but Verb For Shoe are cramming technology into the very ground beneath your feet, the footwear is powered by the Magellan operating system this allows for lower power consumption while providing enough processing to run applications. So what sort of applications can you expect from the Verb for Shoe?

They are primarily a fitness shoe which tracks your movements throughout the day storing them on the onboard memory and sharing them via wireless link with your PC. You can then use this information to tailor the shoe for better comfort plus you can store contacts and other data in the shoe. We can't be sure if you can expect to see businessmen pressing their feet together across the boardroom rather than using Bluetooth but it's certainly a new take on techno clothing.

Next onto one of the more visual treats on show, Kick Ass Kung Fu uses a motion sensitive camera to detect the player and to allow you every movement to be translated as an input to the game. The player stands on a 5 meter cushioned playfield which is the sort of thing used in martial arts training, the visual interpretation allows you movements to be exaggerated so that a simple kick from a couch potato like player becomes a full round house move.

A Kick Ass system with dual screens allows you to fight from end to end of the playfield and make for a more immersive experience, all in all a big step on from a joy pad!

Our last bit from the Quente Cafe team looks at the latest Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from GM, a number of these next generation cars were displayed but the one that grabbed the teams eye was the AUTOnomy which is similar to the Hy-Wire, but far sportier. GM have gone for a single platform for all the fuel cell vehicles in an effort to keep costs down and hopefully make them a reality on our streets sooner rather than later and with the price of petrol on the up again this week it can't come too soon.

You can check out more of what Ajit and the team found at www.quentecafe.com

Published - 24/06/2005

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