These high-tech ‘smart socks’ have RFID, NFC, and far too much knowledge about themselves

There really is an app for everything. This is not always a good thing, since unfortunately it includes things and activities that have no conceivable need for one.

Like sorting socks.

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I really could not believe the pitch at first when it hit my inbox. BlackSocks.com has given socks RFID chips, a scanner, and an iPhone app, all so that you can … wait for it … sort your socks.

And know the life story of your socks: How often they’ve been washed, what the “sock ID” is, which sock it should be partnered with, whether it is a left sock or a right sock, whether it is paired or … divorced, when it was made, and when you ordered it.

I am not making this up. I almost wish I was — it would make a perfect story for The Onion.

The socks themselves cost $189 for a 10-pack and the scanner, and you can order them online. The app, which you can also use to determine the blackness of your black socks, is free from Apple’s app store — it doesn’t have an Android version yet. Google groupies, make of that what you will.

Blacksocks founder Samy Liecht takes this very seriously, unveiling the socks, the app, and the scanner in a very stylish, Ikea-esque, Apple-like product demo video … which turns into inadvertent comedy when you show it to any woman (or at least the two I tried it on).

It even has a pairing functionality to mate new partners when one sock — alas — kicks the bucket earlier than first spouse.

Perhaps I am just clueless, but frankly I don’t care which of my socks is left or right or whether they get matched up or not. I can tell if my black socks are black just by looking at them, and I know that it’s time to replace them when they get holes.

Blacksocks: Because it would be a disaster if one of your socks paired up with the wrong partner.

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Here is the demo video — enjoy:

photo credit: Lotus Carroll via photo pin cc