When it comes to wearable computing, we mostly think of the wrist and face: Google, with its futuristic Glass eyewear, or perhaps smaller, more independent projects like the MIDI Jacket. But this week at SXSW, as part of their ‘art, copy & code’ initiative, Google has shown off computing in a new location: on a pair of talking Adidas shoes.

The idea, born out of a collaboration between artist Zach Lieberman and interactive design studio YesYesNo, was to see if an inanimate object can have a personality of its own, much like the Hello Lamp Post project we featured recently. Using an accelerometer, a gyroscope, bluetooth, and other technologies- the result is a ‘talking shoe’ that can pick up enough information about your exercise – whether you're walking, running, moving fast or slow- to adopt and force upon you (that’s right, through a built-in microphone) its very own ‘personality’.  If you start running, the shoe will adopt an athletic personality and cheer you on. But if the user becomes lazy, it will get upset with you for being too lethargic; interacting with your social networks along the way.

For better or worse, you wont be seeing these high-kicks appear in shops anytime soon. Instead, Google is simply interested in ‘showing off what’s possible with data’… and it turns out quite a lot.