Richard Leggett on New Media

A couple of weeks ago we launched several installations in Nike Town, Oxford St., London as part of Nike's Festival of Air, along with the accompanying website. It all kicked off with a fantastic launch party and there was a lot to see and do, I got to meet someone I consider an inspiration in UK hip hop and grime, Dizzy Rascal, and a good time was had all round. But down to the technology...

Two of the things we delivered using a combination of Adobe Flash and some other very custom software and hardware were: a touch sensitive holographic floating shoe (see video on site) and the first part of an interactive event, Ball on Air. With Ball on Air participants register on terminals, kick off their shoes and slip on some Nike Air 360s, then shoot a hoop in front of a high speed camera in an attempt to jump higher than NBA's LeBron James. The software then composes you and ghost you's onto a real world court and measures the height of your jump. Within a minute you appear on the big instore plasma with your name and score for all to see, and you're also on the website for when you get home.

Over the weekend that will switch to the Run on Air event where runners can challenge Paula Radcliff's (unbelievable 12.5mph over 26miles) marathon pace on treadmills, capturing the moment for you to look back at in time to come.

If you are in London this weekend, or any time within the next two weeks, head on down to Nike Town on Oxford St. to enjoy the experience, if not, feel free to catch some of the action in the video on the site. That's all for a week, time to pack my bags for FlashForward, hope to see you there if you are going.