Pizza Hut Pie Tops II up close: Pizza-ordering, TV-pausing
We tried on the latest version of Pizza Hut's marketing-stunt wearable tech. Hold onto your crusts.
So, sorry about this: Pizza Hut's sequel to last year's pizza-ordering Pie Tops are back. Now they pause TV, too. They're called Pie Tops II.
CNET got a pair to look at. Pizza Hut's only selling 50 pairs, and making 250 total. They'll be available on hbx.com around March 19 (price still unrevealed).
The Pie Box II box is like a Pizza Hut box: all folded brown cardboard. OK, here we go, let's look at pizza shoes.
Look closely: that's an IR blaster inside one of the shoe's tongues. It can be removed via Velcro on the other side for battery replacement.
There are two color choices: This is the red pair.
This is pizza, not a pair of sneakers. But the shoes order pizza. Pizza Hut's making these shoes as a marketing stunt for March Madness.
The other color is wheat: a little more subtle.
Note the pizza accents.
Pizza ordering happens on one shoe's tongue button. TV pausing happens on the other shoe's tongue button.
Pizza Hut branding on the laces.
Guess what it says on the other side?
Another logo, sewn in.
They're definitely big high-tops.
So what do they feel like? Here we go, as I put a pair on my size 11 big feet!
I have wide feet. A little tight on me, not a ton of ventilation. Also, I don't know how to tie fancy shoe laces.
Ordering pizza requires pairing with the Pizza Hut app on your phone. But TV pausing is automatic... if you have a supported cable box DVR.
That's right, you need a cable box and you also need that box to have a DVR to pause. Otherwise...no TV pausing for you. (In case you're curious, they work on Spectrum (Motorola, Moxi, Scientific Atlanta, Pace, Humax), DirectTV (Genie, HD DVR, DVR, Genie Lite), XFinity (Motorola, Pace, Scientific Atlanta, Cisco), Dish (Dish Hardware) and Fios (Arris, Motorola)
The Pizza Hut app, in case you've never seen it.
You pair your shoes to the Pizza Hut app.
Bluetooth pairing request...
Shoe pairing success!
The app customizes how many clicks to order a pizza.
And where the pizza is sent to.
Then you can track the order...
...as it gets placed and made...
...and sent...
...all because of these absurd limited-run shoes that are basically like an Amazon Dash button for your feet. Be prepared: odds are, there will be more shoe tech like this in the future. And probably just as stunty.