The Nike Method putter hasn't been made available to the general public yet but it has had people buzzing for months. It's not officially supposed to be out until February 2010 but Golf.com reports that Nike Golf is going to sell a limited number of Method putters starting on November 2 at the Nike store website. The putter has polymer grooves on a steel face and a solid polymer layer dampens vibrations and has already been used by several pros. There are five versions but the limited edition putter is only available in the Blade 001 version. You give Nike the length and lie angle and they will build the putter at the Nike Fort Worth, Texas research and development plant. Each putter will be customized with your initials and shipped within three weeks making it a pretty perfect holiday present for the golf lover. The limited edition putter will be $499.The regular Method putter will be $250 when it is released next year.

Sports OPTYX by gruen, a stylish new high-tech, high-performance eyewear line born from a collaborative effort between PrescripSun™ by Carl Zeiss and Nike Vision Lens Technology, was just launched at the U.S. Open. The new line will be vailable exclusively at OPTYX by gruen, the high-end eyewear boutique founded by industry legend John Gruen with branches in New York City, the Hamptons and Greenwich, CT, whose celeb clientele includes Martin Scorsese, Kate Moss, Lauren Hutton, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna, Alec Baldwin, Steven Spielberg and Elton John.

Nike Max Optics delivers precise vision at all angles regardless of the curvature of the lens, while Nike Max Tints enhance critical visual details, providing the ideal amount of light and the optimal range of color for all sports. In order to guarantee maximum performance, athletes must have a clear view in all directions; the Nike Max Optics' patented performance designs have been crafted to allow the clearest view over the widest angle, granting precise peripheral vision, customized for major types of sporting activities, including golf, cycling, running, skiing and rowing.

You don't usually see sneakers on sale at Moss, the design heavy boutique but the Nike Sportswear 1 World is a pretty fascinating shoe. The new version of the popular Air Force 1 was created through a program in which Nike invited 18 innovators to re-imagine the shoe. Maharam, the 107-year-old American textile house created a shoe constructed of Layers, a textile created by the Maharam Design Studio in collaboration with Dutch designer Hella Jongerius. Layers is made of 100% wool felt fashioned with artisanal hand-cutting and embroidery. The result is a limited edition sneaker that radiates subtle cool. The shoe sells for $250.

Nike's latest iteration of the Mercurial soccer shoe, the Vapor SL, is a real feat of engineering, and I like the color combo, too. The SL in the name stands for "Super Lite" -- the black shoe and its hot pink swoosh only weigh 190 grams.

Some ingredient called "Tepex" is all about maximum strength with minimal weight. I researched Tepex a little bit, and without an engineering degree, reached the conclusion that if it's good enough for the aerospace industry, it's probably good enough to wear on your feet.

Crafted almost entirely from carbon fiber, the sneaker retails for $400. Because a pair of these are so hard to come by -- Nike only made 2,508 pairs -- they're only truly available on eBay, starting at around $1,000.

[Thanks, Dave!]

Nike co-founder Philip Knight and his wife Peggy have recently pledged $100 million towards the Oregon Health and Science University -- specifically its Cancer Institute, which will soon be renamed after the Knights.

The bulk of the funds will go towards hiring additional physicians and researchers, according to OHSU director Dr. Brian Druker, and $2 million of the Knights' gift is earmarked for new research labs to be named after a friend of theirs who died of breast cancer this year, Linda Conant.

You can see Dr. Drucker respond to the Knights' gift, one he says "will save lives."

Philip Knight's wealth is estimated at $10.5 billion, and he has donated similar major gifts to such institutions as the University of Oregon (his alma mater) and Stanford University.

[via The Chronicle of Philanthropy]

ninemillion.org, in partnership with Nike and Microsoft, is the UN Refugee Agency's attempt to better the education of the nine million child refugees in the world by 2010. It was through this organization that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made their significant donation to children in Iraq in June, and Nike's upcoming Human Race -- a world-wide 10K involving a million runners on August 31 -- will donate up to $1.5 million in proceeds from registration fees and donations. There's still time to sign up!

In addition to its fundraising efforts, ninemillion.org serves as a virtual bulletin board, where kids in refugee camps in Uganda or Thailand post their stories and visitors to the website can see their pictures.

Who knew athletic shoes could be so fancy and yet so comfortable. Nike has just introduced the Wingtip Pack with Dunk Lo Premium and Dunk Hi Premium. Reminiscent of patent leather tux shoes these snazzy shoes would look hot with jeans I think. For around $290 they could be yours (available at LTD online) and then the next time you are invited to a wedding and need your toe tapping to be dressed up, you can just pull these out of the closet and dance the night away in pure comfort and style.

If you are planning to pick up the new Jordan jeans and the Air Jordan XX3 sneakers, then you are probably going to want to get your hands on this too. The Nike Limited Edition Jordan commemorative basketball is made of full-grain leather and has a graphic that wraps around the ball. There are 2323 of these balls made and each one is individually numbered on the box and ball. It also comes with an embroidered sport sack with shoelace drawstring and it sells for $150.

[via Uncrate]

We've seen diamonds on sneakers before in the form of removable accessories like the Kickbars and Ends for your laces but Outkast's Big Boi is the proud owner of a pair of $50,000 Nikes with the diamonds studded on to the shoe. Big Boi, whose real name is Antwan Patton, received the shoes this week for free from Atlanta retailers Laced Up Boutique and Priyya and Chintans Diamonds. The sneakers are Air Force 1 "So Cals" which have been jazzed up with 11 carats worth of champagne diamonds around the Nike swoosh (check out the big picture in the gallery below for detail). The shoes without the fancy upgrade sell for $225.

The $50,000 shoes are available for special order and you can get a pair in time for Christmas if you order soon. It three to four weeks to complete the jewelry work.

Joystiq pointed out a very unusual auction item to us, although with the incredibly high demand for Playstation 3s it is not surprising that there are other products that want to ride its wave. A limited edition pair of PlayStation 3-themed Nike Air Max sneakers is up for auction on the shoe auction site Blue Sole. The shoes feature the PS3 tagline "play beyond" on the insole and have the console's launch date stitched on the back - perfect for commemorating a night spent waiting in line in front of your favorite electronics store. The price is up to $4,010 and the auction ends on December 4th.

Nike must be jealous that Adidas got the official sponsorship for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, not to mention that they got to design the official game ball($130), because Nike has released a limited edition soccer ball "to celebrate the spirit of the World Cup." The white leather Futsal balls are decorated with an array of symbols that represent "diversity, behavior and skills shown by players," though Nike does not mention which symbol represents which player or skill. Any guess as to what the gnarled tree represents? Or the unicorn?

Only 64 of these balls will be produced and they will only be sold until the final game on July 9th, assuming that they don't sell out before then. Price: $225.

[Thanks, Dave]

With summer growing ever closer, it is time to look into getting some new eyewear. Nike's MaxSight contact lenses, approved for sale in the US by the FDA last year, are specially tinted soft contacts that are designed to eliminate vision distortion and improve sports performance when worn during the day. In other words, they are a contact lens version of sunglasses - and one that won't fall off.

While they were originally designed to be worn by athletes, they are practical and stylish enough to be in demand with the less active consumer as well. The lenses work by filtering specific colors, as well as UV rays, from the field of vision. The two available colors have different purposes: grey-green reduces glare for sports like golfing and running, and amber lenses work best in fast-paced activities with variable light conditions, such as soccer or driving in traffic, which can definitely be considered a sport during rush hour.

The lenses are made by Bausch & Lomb and are available in both prescription and nonprescription versions. Price: $54.95.

[Via popgadget]