Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Shows Off Watch, Portable Media Player
gmt-time points to this New York Times article with a report from the in-progress Consumer Electronics Show, excerpting "Microsoft, continuing its effort to extend its reach beyond computers, today introduced designs for a new class of watch that gives more than the time and a pocket audio and video player." According to the article, several manufacturers are committed to producing both the watches (mentioned yesterday as well) and the audio/video players. I wonder if they'll play Ogg Vorbis and my DivX;) files ...
Who the hell wants a watch that crashes with the BSOD whenever I ask it to tell me the time!
Why not get a Timex Pager Watch?
I don't know either.
Microsoft has built a new national wireless data network, based on the data broadcasting ability of FM radio stations. The company says that compared with traditional paging systems, this network makes it cheaper both to broadcast data and build receivers. It said the microchips for the watch, which it designed, cost less than $10 each wholesale.
So they already made an FM network? I thought it was just a what-if scenario.
Signatures are for stupids.
... for all your pocket-sized porn needs. Seriously, what am I going to do, carry a $500 device around to show pictures of my kids on??
Apple is rumored to have something like this in the pipeline too, and Archos released a similar thing a few months ago.
Are people so hard-up for porn that they can't sit at their computer and watch it like a respectable person?
.. they had an interview with Bill and I'm sure he said the "media to go" was going to be manufactured by Intel.
The article doesn't seem to mention this but perhaps I just misheard the TV broadcast.
Ok,
,lar lar, any one name that tune? Humm.. Wistle, be creative fine, music on my watch, boring.
The Weather, umm... look at the sky, that's how I get my forcast.
Sport, well GPL's a fun game to help play against Microsoft.(I never did see the attraction in watching somone else play)
The Time, umm... I already have a watch thankyou, maybe not atomicly perfect but it'll do.
Music, lar lar lar lar, lar lar
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Set your watch back. Maybe things will surprise you more.
No, Beowulf clusters can't imagine in Soviet Russia.
You guys do realize that DivX was Microsoft's implementation of MPEG-4, and that they dropped support for it because of licensing issues.
How ironic... a snide remark about support for file types and standards simply serves to illuminate how bias and closed minded one particular Slashdot reader is.
I wonder if it'll be more than a fancy toy/gadget. To be quite honest, I'm quite satisfied with my watch showing the time (and possibly also the date). For music, and even moreso with video, I prefer a more tangible device.
Now, integrating the whole thing in a cellphone, pda or smartphone, I can go along with. In fact, I've ditched my old watch since it's easier to just keep everything in my phone - which, by the way, I can do a lot more than listening to music and watching video on. =)
Considering the runaway profitablilty of the XBOX, I am sure this will prove to be a similarly astounding foray into the world away from PC's! soon we'll have Palladium toilet paper by microsoft. Trustworthy Whiping.
-- Insert wisdom here:
When I have a cell phone that fits in my pocket, that has the time on it, surfs the web, brings me the news, does text messaging.. AND doesn't run on a OS that is well known for bugs?
Mine means my own, but how can this be if I owe for it?
A Microsoft Watch Will Provide Much More Than Time
By SAUL HANSELL
AS VEGAS, Jan. 8 -- Microsoft, continuing its effort to extend its reach beyond computers, today introduced designs for a new class of watch that gives more than the time and a pocket audio and video player.
The designs, which will be available from several manufacturers by the end of the year, were presented by Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, in a speech today that opened the annual International Consumer Electronics Show here.
But even as the company extends its reach to new devices, Microsoft's vision is closely linked to the computer. Both the watch -- which can provide weather information, text messages and other data -- and the media player are designed to be controlled through wireless connections to their owners' PC's.
In an interview today, Mr. Gates said he saw a world in which the personal computer was increasingly linked wirelessly to all manner of displays.
"You will have devices in the home of different screen sizes: wall-sized for a lot of people to watch, desk-sized for doing homework or taxes, and pocket-sized for information you have with you at all times, and watch-sized," he said. "We will make all those work together."
Mr. Gates's vision is very much a hot topic of the electronics show here, where more than 2,000 manufacturers are displaying their wares to 100,000 attendees. Much of the focus has been on wireless networking and other ways to connect digital devices like CD and DVD players, cameras and computers.
But Microsoft is trying to avoid the cutthroat business of hardware manufacturing in consumer electronics, as it has in computers, and it hopes instead to profit by licensing its software. The new products have license fees of $10 to $25 a unit, Microsoft executives said.
The media player, called Media2Go, resembles the Apple iPod, in that it has a 20-gigabyte hard drive that can hold hundreds of songs. But it also has a color screen for watching videos and looking at photographs. Microsoft showed a mockup with a 3.5-inch screen, but some manufacturers would make larger versions with 7-inch screens, it said. Samsung, iRiver, Sanyo and ViewSonic have agreed to make versions of the device, which is expected to sell for less than $500.
The device will not be able to hold movies from DVD's. But it will store and play home movies and video downloaded from the Internet. It will also be able to store copies of broadcast and cable television programs recorded by Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Rob Enderle, a research fellow with the Giga Information Group, said there was great demand for such personal video players.
"It's going to be the biggest thing in 2003," he said. "Our testing shows that it least has the market potential of Apple's iPod if not quite a bit more."
He said that Apple was thought to be working on a version of the iPod with video ability, but it lost an opportunity to be the first to market when it did not announce the product as some people expected at the Macworld conference on Tuesday.
The watch will initially be made by Fossil, Citizen and Suunto. The simplest versions will cost less than $150, but the watchmakers will also make much more expensive designs. The watch will require a subscription to a data service, which Microsoft executives said might have a fee of $5 to $12 a month or might be included in the price of some watches.
All of the watches will have a small, rectangular liquid crystal display and the ability to receive short data messages, much like a pager. This technology will allow the watch to identify where it is and what the local time is -- and the local weather forecast -- as the wearer travels.
The watch will also be able to receive the wearer's personal calendar sent from a personal computer and instant messages sent through Microsoft's messaging service.
Microsoft has built a new national wireless data network, based on the data broadcasting ability of FM radio stations. The company says that compared with traditional paging systems, this network makes it cheaper both to broadcast data and build receivers. It said the microchips for the watch, which it designed, cost less than $10 each wholesale.
Microsoft's watch design is the first instance of what it calls smart personal object technology, or SPOT, which powers devices with access to information. William H. Mitchell, the general manager of the smart personal objects unit, said such a device could be sold for less than $20.
Viva Anales!
Timothy needed a chance to post it too.
I believe that nintendo's video game watches should be cited as prior art.
The video player sounds good, but I heard mac was making an ipod with video, so the video ipod kind of wins by default. As for the watch it is totally awesome. If only it used a different messenger than MSN. Give me a watch running gaim and then it will be worth your subscription fee.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
If the MS Watch works like the MS box that I have sitting next to my linux box (so I can test web pages on IE), what the watch will do is reboot 3 or 4 times per day. Each time it will make yet another DST correction, despite the fact that DST is no longer in effect and I've checked the box saying not to do DST.
;-)
If I absentmindedly click the OK button, the watchk will be off by an hour. But mostly it'll be just another annoyance when I look at the watch to check the time, find that it has rebooted, mumble a few choice obscenities, and twiddle with it to turn the DST thingie off yet again so I can see the time.
And it'll lose 45 seconds per day.
Yeah, I know there's a linux watch available. But I can't really see running an xterm on it. The default borders and title bar would take up the whole screen, and I'd probably never find a way to turn them off.
--
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Anyway, the husband was called on to give "samples" - which you give in their little room - he downloaded dirty pictures from the internet onto his PDA.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
I don't know about anyone else, but I sure as hell aren't wearing any Microsoft product with a metal side touching my skin. My wrist would probably develop a twitch from the "corrective" shocks coming from the watch whenever I sit down at my Linux box...
I wonder if they'll play Ogg Vorbis and my DivX;) files ...
:)
HA HA! HOO HOO HOO!
<wipes eyes>
Too funny. Why don't you just ask if they can come with your favorite Linux distro preinstalled too
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
So does this mean I'll have to go outside to get the time?
how many times a day do I have to reboot the watch
to get correct time.
What security holes does it have knowing M$ history.
Does it crash when you play vedio like it does inmedia player.
Does it freeze all the time showing the hardware has issue.
"The media player, called Media2Go, resembles the Apple iPod......"...."The device will not be able to hold movies from DVD's. But it will store and play home movies and video downloaded from the Internet"
::akbar
is that a way of stopping DVD piracy? DRM? or it just cant hold all my *future* LOTR DVD's together?
well 7 inch screen to watch LOTR? geez, i cant even see the ring let alone sauron.
This and this (last item) very impressive and definately totally new and original and no-one has ever considered this before. Not these people bet it wouldn't occur to them in a millon years.
Oh and of course there are lots of mobile phone that do this already as well.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
This is a translation (without permission) from a blurb in todays Neue Zurcher Zeitung regarding introduction of a new Microsoft Powered cell phone to be introduced by Swisscom.
[...] While Orange integrated their customers into bug hunting, Swisscom is still waiting until the first software update is rolled out.
Currently engineers at Swisscom, Microsoft and HTC (the manufacturer) are trying to determine why the phone doesn't ring on incoming calls[...]
I know, that this is slightly offtopic. But would you trust such a watch to provide the correct time of day?
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
How long before the "I love you, watch" virus?
Or maybe "I very excite watch".
Perhaps "I send you this watch to ask your opinion".
Maybe they can pack an IIS implementation in there as well. Will there be "Windows Udate" for watches?
I heard this was similar to the microsoft watch, but costs one third the price. This hurdle should not be a problem for Microsoft Marketing.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Who wears a watch now that we all carry phones all the time...
Need the time -> look at GSM phone
It can also do e-mail, photos, sync to Mac OS X...
The problem is that there are enough people who are stupid enough to want a watch that _will_ crash (look at MS phones...)
Make ya puke!
PS My first post from Safari =:-D
realkiwi
You obviously don't have a grasp on what news is. Just because it's not timely doesn't mean it's not news, it just means it's old news.
It take more faith to believe in evolution than it takes to believe in God
No.
It won't.
I will stick with my Rolex/Omega's. Never crashes and just tells me the time and does not need batteries.
Why is it that a "News For Nerds" site cites articles which the Wall Street Journal printed yesterday? Shouldn't Slashdot be a bit more cutting edge?
See, the revolution is succeeding. Bill soon won't be able to get people to buy PCs running Windows, so he'll have to try to hijack the watch market next.
WP
Toronto
Stoned at Slashdot are we? Repeat yourselves when under stress? Lame story!!!!!! Short term memory is the first to go!
Why do people continue to buy Microsoft hardware? They have a long track record of introducing refined hardware that they only support for at the most a few years.
Remember the Microsoft Phone, or the Sidewinder Gamepad? Even the recent Microsoft Broadband home router is starting to have some support issues.
Although I think that Microsoft releases some interesting hardware, I certainly question spending a couple of hundred bucks on hardware from a company that won't support it.
rejected (19) accepted (0)
Is there a psychological term related to getting your stories rejected on slashdot?
... A pretty lady asked me what time on my watch.
And I said....
"It's two bluescreens past 3:00"
(with apologies to Chicago....)
www.eFax.com are spammers
And we haven't had enough DRM, watch licensing, and reboot the watch jokes yet!
--------
Free your mind.
As I mentioned in the article I posted to Slashdot yesterday, I had to trash my Seiko MessageWatch because the company decided to exit the FM data business, leaving me with an expensive piece of scrap metal. Is Bill G. giving guarantees as to how long MS is committed to broadcasting the time, weather, sports, and email?? Will watch buyers again be left holding the bag in a short period of time when MS finally decides this business model doesn't work any better for MS than it did for Seiko?? Why the *^&% should I again shell out the big bux for a watch that I am eventually going to wind up smashing with a sledgehammer like I did the MessageWatch??
Inane tripe + GPL mention==insightful!
Furthermore, check out some statistics. You're making predictions about the state of affairs in the civilized world (where the prevelance of cellphones is a possibility) but you believe that AIDS is the number one killer? What kind of stupid shit are you? Pull your head out of your sister's twat and get a bit of education before you piss me off again you dumb fucking jackass. Also, I'd like to see a study supporting your baseless claim of a tie between any type of transmission (RF,radio,microwave,whatever since you didn't specify because you're a fucking piece of shit) and cancer. You won't be able to find one because you've been far too general and you are far too stupid. I bet you're one of these motherfuckers that watched 'American Idol', weren't you? Your life is nothing. Shut the fuck up and eat shit already. You're so simple and predictable it makes me sick, faggot.
...the time is "This program has performed an illegal operation"
Support Israeli punk bands. Man Alive.
I REALLY hate to see everyone bashing Microsoft every time they attempt something new. Sure, it may possibly exend the so called "monopoly" but the thing is how may times have we seen something like this fail? Now Microsoft is trying their hand at it. Will it work? Somehow, I doubt it. The things I hate seeing brought out AGAIN:
1. Oh no now my will BSOD! BSOD's are actually getting to be less of a problem. This thing will probably not have a regular NT kernel, but probably something related to CE or more likely, something totally different. CE, for me has been very reliable (in the PocketPC form). I usually don't have a problem with CE in general. PocketPC problems are usually something wrong with the device or the vendor specific code. Usually with in a few months or so most of the bugs get worked out via flashes and they just work.
2. Oh no now I will have to reboot my 4 times a day! Even if you did, it would only take 2 seconds or less to do and I doubt you'd have to reset it 4 times a day!
3. Oh now I need a DRM compliant ! This is just bashing for sake of bashing. Yeah, DRM sucks, but in every implementation I have seen (WMP 9) it allows you to disable it! Also, you can always download Winamp 3 and use it.
Your bashing the product before you even truely see it because Microsoft is attached to it. This kind of thing is just Juvenile and
Oh and these things usually come from those who use a Microsoft mouse on thier Linux boxes. You got to admit that the come up with some great mice!
Gorkman
'He said that Apple was thought to be working on a version of the iPod with video ability, but it lost an opportunity to be the first to market when it did not announce the product as some people expected at the Macworld conference on Tuesday.'
First to market with product or just an announcement? I thought Archos got there first. This sounds like a spoiler against someone about to announce something real. Given the choice of an Archos or a Microsoft Press Release - which would you choose?
--- Yx3 = Delilah ---
What impresses me more is that Microsoft expects to be able to have a nationwide digital pager network to push information to these small devices. Unless they have some deals in place that aren't public right now, that will be no small task, even for Microsoft. (Push technology failed in the '90's -- Microsoft seems convinced that it was because information was pushed to your computer, which wasn't as conveinent as your watch...)
But even if they lose a ton of money on it, they end up with a nationwide digital broadcast network. MS and AOL/TW won't look so different, then. And AOL's content delivery network is a bunch of cable monopolies which are still kind of regulated. Microsoft will likely not actually buy any broadcasting assets, they'll make arrangements with other carriers to carry their data stream. So they won't have to directly deal with regulatory hassles. It's like the whole IBM thing all over again -- Sure, you can make the hardware (or maintain the broadcasting network), as long as we control all the bits!
On your wrist lets you know the time in less than a second and without the inconvenience of having to take your cell phone out of your pocket.. AND doesn't run on an OS that is well known for bugs.
A small company creates amazing new wristwatch that is able to connect to a network over the FM air waves. All software inside the watch is Open Sourced, and is based on the Linux kernel. Geeks over at Slashdot began drooling over such a devices, clamboring over each other in their attemts to become the first to own this new ubergeek watch. When asked why they bashed the original watch put out by Microsoft and drooled over the open source one, one breathless geek replied, "Because it was Microsoft, and this is open souce!"
Seriously, why can't any slashdotters look past the Microsoft name and realize that this is a pretty cool device. If this had been backed by any other company, everyone would be drooling over this, but instead it gets the usual kneejerk reaction.
The person modeling the watch will be Christopher Walken.
I've had this watch up my ass for 3 years while my buddy Bill here has been waiting for the right time to unveil this prototype. The amazng thing is that you can almost still see the display.
Feeding trolls is fun. I didn't read the article (big surprise, this is slashdot after all), but all the things being described in the comments (news, weather, sports scores) can be done without a transmitter in the watch. Therefore, the only radiation hitting your arm is the same shit that'd hit it if you had any other watch on.
Secondly, how many people have cancer of the ear, or cancer of the hand? That's where the cell phones usually sit when they're on and transmitting any significant amount of data. Show me some links saying that cell phones cause cancer, and maybe I'll believe you. Until then, I'll walk around with my cell phone happily. Along with 90% of the rest of the country I live in. If it really caused cancer, I think we'd notice it.
I'll ignore the AIDS comment, the other AC that replied answered that one pretty well (though in a crude way, oh well.)
...which is that MS isn't doing anything new. It never does. Pager watch? An MP3 player that also plays videos? Wake me up when Gates discovers indoor plumbing.
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.
Ok, well, my previous post got labeled "troll" because I made a remark about watches getting infected with viruses.
... a watch? I think rather than pack gadgets into everything, elegance sometimes comes from finding the right balance between simplicity and functionality.
But I guess that my joke was part of another point that I didn't really elaborate: at what point do we really need to incorporate trivial features into *every* single electronic device. I mean, do we really need stock tickers or generic weather reports in our *watches*? Why do our microwaves need an IP address?
In all seriousness, MS gets bashed for BSODs, viruses, and general instability. A great deal of that comes from trying to make one thing do EVERYthing. Why can't a watch just be
Considering the fact that these topics pretty much die off when they near the end of the page, it would be cool to have a zeitgeist/summery of the geek collective in situations like this.
To wit:
Microsoft SPOT watch: Lame design. Very limited utility. Possible mind-control plot. Stick with your already-fancy mobile phone.
See? That way, I could just nod sagely and move on to the next topic....
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
In a resource hungry world, who needs this junk? Is there anyone who, on reading this said 'Great, this is just what I need' or did you just say along with me, 'This sounds like lame crap'? I can imagine a meeting where Bill says 'I have this great idea - fridge magnets that can show you sports scores'. Everyone looks round the table at each other, toys briefly with telling the great man he's barking out his ass, then all say in unison, 'That's genius, boss!'
--- Yx3 = Delilah ---
I got an Intel MP3 player as a gift from a vendor. Like most fixed-config flash-based players, its kind of limited with only 128M of storage. But its good for running or other activities where movement inhibits use of a mechanical storage device.
Anyway, I was putting the software for it on my wife's computer since she uses it more than I do and I noticed that its EOL by Intel. You can still get the software for it, but it will be useless more than likely after either some XP service pack or some future Windows version.
This is nuts! Barring a serious breakage incident, this thing could be functional for years but its only an FM radio once the inteface software that loads files onto it isn't available.
I'm starting to get more and more dubious of any gizmo I buy that *requires* a computer. The idea that a perfectly functional object is junk because the vendor stops making interface software is pretty bad.
I'd hope that vendors would start making the devices emulate generic USB/Firewire devices (eg, storage) so that the computer link isn't dependent on the software but on OS support for the generic device type, which is likely to have a much longer life.
I've always been into cool watches. Haven't seen one that did all I need it to do (beside tell time), and this is as close as it seems to get. Seamless integration with my computer, ability to receive msgs, etc. Unfortunately, it seems to require a "subscription fee":
[quote]
The watch will initially be made by Fossil, Citizen and Suunto. The simplest versions will cost less than $150, but the watchmakers will also make much more expensive designs. The watch will require a subscription to a data service, which Microsoft executives said might have a fee of $5 to $12 a month or might be included in the price of some watches.
[/quote]
I'm as suspicious of Microsoft as the next guy, but don't be surprised if this actually takes off.
My nightmare is that by next year we will all be be wearing MS wrist watches. It will happen like this
Microsoft announced that to prevent piracy they will be assessing $100 to anyone who has a wrist even if the MS wristwatch is not intalled. The BSA has proposed challenge audits, in which all persons hanving one or more wrist must be able to document thay have paid the $100 wrist- site liscence or that they have purchased a MS wrist watch.
"it is just to easy for someone to remove the watch from the wrist and install it on another unlicensed Wrist" said a microsoft spokes person, " that is a violation of the EULA". He went onto hint that the forthcoming "palladium wristwatch that once implanted..err.. I mean worn, cannot be removed, only upgraded from a 'trusted' member of the collective."
Not even the all-powerful reality distortion field of steve Jobs could make a data-watch seem like a major research achievement, or even new, or even something you would want touching your arm. (they are as stylish and practical is a pocket protector).
It seems to me that this has got to be an all time low point for announcements of innovation in consumer electronics. Why? Maybe its because of the down turn in the tech-market means new products are not being developed. Another possibility is that microsoft's moves into hardware production(x box,phones) and Hardware specification (palladium, watches, media player, smartScreens) is having a chilling effect on the electronics industry. Recently they (allegedly) tried bankrupt a phone maker and move his technology to a competitor. Shades of Stacker and all the other software companies microsoft co-opted, ruined then bought their technology.
There is little doubt that MS stifled innovation in software. Just the fact that jobs could tweak an open source project to tripple the speed of a web browser over IE, when IE has had a clear field to innovate for five years or more, speaks volumes about the MS innovation stifle field. How could apple even dream they could technologically beat MS in the Power point market, but they did.
Does anyone else find these MS offerings utterly tepid compared to Apple innovation the day before?
Bill gates announces a recylced idea for a Nerd watch that shows sport scores, headlines. The debut the smartScreen, a 1500$ screen-only that hooks to your compute by wi-fi but cant play movies or mp3s, then they announce that anyone who already bought was is out of luck since that they will be changing the specs to use 802.11a to get better bandwidth for movies. then an oversized so-called "video" ipod that also cant show DVD movies, for more bucks than a ipod.
The only thing I thought was interesting was that they decided to switch to 802.11a for the smartScreens and not 802.11g. I dont know much about these standards except what Jobs said. 802.11a is dead, because it is not backwards compatible with 802.11b hotspots whereas 802.11g is.
How is it possible that one company can lead the entire market year after year going back all the way to the taming of dynamic memory. While the other company can lead the bussiness world and innovate nothing.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
That's a little bit of a reminder that you should replace the battery on your CMOS clock. Oh, right, Linux would magically fix all of that, right?
You sound like an idiot. I know lots of idiots who manage to make Linux a nightmare that crashes every 10 minutes, but thankfully they're aware of their ignorance and don't run online to profess their case.
Please feel free to moderate me down, BUT MODERATE THAT MORTARD TO -1 TROLL AS HE DESERVES.
It seems that such strange grammar structure is generally accepted within headlines.
"Yeah, I see. But does it also shows the current time and date?"
In order for Palladium to work, they're eventually going to have to secure the most insecure end of the system: the password.
Wouldn't it be cool if these little GPS watch gizmos could automatically log you into the Palladium version of Windows or let you access your other sensitive information at a kiosk by automatically identifying your Microsoft Passport account?
Next generation user authentication would then be a subdermal chip like Verichip. Thanks, but no thanks.
All of the watches will have a small, rectangular liquid crystal display and the ability to receive short data messages, much like a pager. This technology will allow the watch to identify where it is and what the local time is -- and the local weather forecast -- as the wearer travels.
And if they add the ability to run micro Java applications, a phone book, a microbrowser, a picture viewer and midi player, a voice memo recorder and wireless phone capabilities, they'd have invented my PCS Vision phone I already carry around with me. Sure, my cell phone isn't watch-sized, but I don't need some of its features duplicated just cause the device can be on my wrist instead of in my pocket.
Now the video iPod thing... Would be cool if it could play my DIV3/XViD collection and OGG files, but since it's obviously going to be DRM'ed up the arse, it's just another hard drive MP3 player. Yawn.
Hey Microsoft, how about taking two bad ideas and combining the two? An MP3 player on a watch... Sorry, Casio already tried that.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
The major flaw with this product is that it uses the subcarrier signal of FM stations in order to receive the network. FM frequencies are really bad in penetrating buildings and you need a strong signal in order to get reliable reception. This concept using this method of delivery has been proven in the past to be un reliable. I have been a subscriber to SkyTel's pager watch service which operates on SkyTel's 900MHz pager network. This has been ultra-reliable. Why didn't MS choose to do this using a 900 MHz pager network? The infrastructure is already there. (Dirt cheap for airtime since paging companies have been suffering from dwindling subscribers) Standard paging is optimizied for BATTERY LIFE too which is the most important thing for a watch! The FLEX protocol which is the standard in traditional paging also automatically gives you time updates as the network already has to be synced to the precise time. You get nearly atomic clock accuracy with the pager watch I have from SkyTel and the watch gets its time from the network. Battery life is 3 months or more.
Maybe slash dot posted it twice because the watch is a dupe too? timex and seiko have had pager watches and signal recieving watches out five years ago?
"Sorry I'm late, Boss -- my watch crashed again"
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
So is the watch pretty dumb, taken alone? Yes, absolutely. Is this a breakthrough? No. Do I really want Microsoft to control the move toward distributing computing around my while life in this way? No, no, no.
But do I think that this vision in general is right? Yes. I live in a house with programmable devices that include a VCR, DVD Player, thermostat and even the coffee maker now. I do want these things all integrated, and I don't want computer on my desk to be the only way into this network. In the long run, some sort of wearable option as part of this scheme is absolutely necessary. If this is part of that, and Bill says it is, I get it.
i think that we shouuld all hold out for a .net collar that can keep track of where we are and what we are listening to. one convienient package that fits snugly around you neck, that would be the way to go.
You can get personalized weather, stocks, news and more for FREE from any number of web portals.
If you have a wireless ethernet (not mobile ethernet) card in your PDA, you can use a PDA web browser to view the internet for no additional cost (other than your regular ISP costs).
And microsoft wants to make you pay $5-$12 per month to instead use a watch to do the same thing? I would consider paying that if the watch would be able to roam as widely as a good cell phone, but I cannot see why anyone would pay MS a monthly fee to use their own hardware (computer, residential wireless network or dedicated computer-to-watch wireless router) and their own paid ISP just to use a smaller, wristwatch sized PDA.
And since it's MS, we can be SURE that the standard used to transmit this simple and common weather/stocks/news information will be proprietary and restricted, so no one can offer the same service for free. I hope a company will develop their own watch with an open data standard, perhaps a XML/miniXSL-based weather/stocks/news data format. This kind of thing could be so good, and so widely accepted, as long as it doesn't have a ridiculous monthly fee.
$8.95/mo web hosting
Is anyone else thinking of a certain Ryan Phillippe movie right now?
M$ should learn how to walk. I mean seriously, they can make this watch, but they can't make a Pocket PC run stable, or fit into a POCKET!
with Microsquash it's all about the hype. Boy I'd love to smack those ugly ass glasses off Bills face, with a 2 x 4.
I had one of those pager watches Slashdot had an article about in early 2000.
All I remember from it's (short) time on my arm is that it took 3 watch batteries, which died after 30-60days requiring a new set. It was bulky, and it didnt work very well.
In fact, the only thing I did like is it would synch it's time to wherever I went to, which I really liked.
I'm afraid that the battery life in the MS watch will be dismal at best, especially processing video and audio.
I like watches that aren't obtrusive, and have a battery time of over a year using ONE thin battery.
I dunno about you guys, but I stick with my old watch.
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
ummm a screen you can carry arround wirelessly. Can you say iBook? The main difference is the iBook, can play movies and music. and it costs 300$ less than the smartScreen, (not to mention the cost of the computer). If you like it so much why dont you buy a smartScreen?
So I suppose its buttons will be named "ctrl", "alt" and "del" for the sake of ergonomics, so people will know what to do if their watches lock or freeze.
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."
If you can't beat them, embrace and extend them.
For all of you 31337 Hax0rz out there, according to National Semiconductor, the chip used in the watch (housing both the processor and the embedded radio module) has a 256-bit key laser etched into the die to make each watch unique. So good luck trying to eavesdrop on someone elses's incoming data. You'd be better off designing another receiver and decoding device. For what though...sports scores and weather reports?
Although the fat bearded man looks pretty happy to have it as well.
S wa tch.html
http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/phone/
I don't know if its out or not, but the "Swatch Talk" watch has been talked about for a couple years; I know they have a pager watch that you can buy pretty cheap...
Source
I know you were making a joke, but surprisingly my Timex/Microsoft DataLink watch has been the most reliable watch I've ever owned. For many years it kept accurate time for up to 3 weeks at a time before needing the seconds reset, and the Data Link can be used with P4 computers running at most Windows 98 [maybe ME, and 2000] as long as they are slowed down using a utility for making the processor very busy.
The only thing I get close to a BSOD is the Indiglo when I press the button, and it turns the screen a bluish green colour.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/07/robot .man/
or the fridge won't open: "Sorry, your monthly fee to M$ is late. An overdue penalty fee of $15 is required in order to re-establish the Open feature of your fridge. Please enter your credit card # and expiration date. Thank you for choosing Microsoft Westinghouse"
I can see it now.. T-Shirts that say:
Windows --> Not on my Watch.
>Why the *^&% should I again shell out the big bux for a watch that I am eventually going to wind up smashing with a sledgehammer like I did the MessageWatch??
;)
Late breaking news:
Seiko announced it was reversing its decision to leave the FM data business.
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
A watch?? That's lame...This Lady has got the real thing.
go back in the lab and build this...it's what consumers desire because it can do all this...
It will give me my email, show me sports scores, it has a compass built in, and this 'thing' which tells time...
I like music
Trouble is: it isn't new. Smart wrist watches are an old idea, as are portable multimedia player boxes.
Microsoft wouldn't be ridiculed if they came up with something genuinely new, or if they did a really good job reimplementing some known idea. But mediocre copies of other people's ideas just invite ridicule; they'll have to deal with it. Gates can at least laugh all the way to the bank: mediocre copies do sell, after all, as many other companies also show us.
blah blah blah DRM
blah blah blah EULA
blah blah blah Big Brother, not-Linux compatible, monopolistic so on and so forth
Actually, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines news as:
"A report of recent events."
So who's wrong now, Mr. high-user-ID?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
...But i think MS needs to further its efforts in the HW arena as opposed to the SW arena.
Call me crazy, but I have not found ( for the price ) a comparable optical mouse on the same level as the Intellimouse Explorer. It seems like MS may have found a niche that they can exploit...
granted I have no need for a high tech watch, other than the Billabong one I have that has tide information and is waterproof for when the surf is good.....
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
I predict this device will change the world the same way the calculator watch did.
When the calculator watch came out in 1977, it truly changed the world. No longer would people have to struggle to calculate restaraunt tips, taxes on purchased goods, and their current gas mileage. Today, you'll hardly find anyone without one.
What the hell does his/her user ID have to do with anything? So just because you joined Slashdot earlier, you are justified in being a language pedant troll?
I like the idea of a "wireless" watch -- especially on those days when I forget my cell phone/pager, or the battery wears out, or there is no coverage... But, this is nothing new, in fact you can get a watch like this already http://www.skytel.com/products/shop_timex.htm $99 for the watch and one year of unlimited service. Oh yeah... the network has already been built and paid for - you can't get much cheaper than that! Of course this is the "traditional" one-way pager, now a two way pager in a watch - that would be cool! (note, same as above - network already built....).
It's all subjective now isn't it?
It take more faith to believe in evolution than it takes to believe in God
That post is not informative?!?!!! It is a joke! FUNNY
You will put out your eye with that thing.
Who cares about the watch, give me that smart refrigerator magnet. Just think of the possibliities.
It could communicate with your SPOT Socks (SPOcks?) to determine your current weight and display it along with how much its gone up or down since the last time you were in the refrigerator.
Being our friend who takes care of us, MS will of course have added code so the magnet will tell the refrigerator to lock the door if our current weight is above the last recorded weight. Locking out growing kids will be fixed in a later release.
While I'm standing there waiting to lose weight, I can buy and sell stocks based on the reliable info displayed on the refrigerator maget, because I know microelectronics receiving data via RF work so flawlessly when glued to the back of a big magnet.
Isn't technology so liberating?
I stopped wearing my wrist watch the day I got my first cell phone. I've never felt comfortable wearing a watch like that, and with my phone in my pocket, I'll just have to pull out my phone to see what time it is. It's like a modern pocket watch.
:)
Some of the newest Ericsson and Nokia phones probably does a lot more than these new microsoft watches anyway...
But if people really like to have a PDA on their arm, why not incorporate a phone into it as well? Anyway, there wouldn't be much point in having both a cell phone and a wrist watch with build-in video/audio-player. Especially not if you had a seperat PDA as well. The technology would have to be built into one single device for it to be pratical, I think... it will probably happen some day. I wonder if it will be phone, watch or something else
I have a Seiko watch that runs MS basic, and has contact free connection to a keyboard and printer to allow programming. circa 1984, model UC-2000
I heard this was similar to the microsoft watch, but costs one third the price. This hurdle should not be a problem for Microsoft Marketing.
Right. They'll just cut off the competition's air supply....
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
"Microsoft, continuing its effort to extend its reach beyond computers...."
New press release outlines Microsoft's introduction of a line of underwear. Built in security sews the fly closed and places a device in the back of the shorts to plug any backdoor vulnerabilities while allowing Microsoft full access. Dubbed Microsoft Drawers, the first version is an 'XP' version which alludes to the former access ports for the purposes of urination being protected.
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
Well, if this runs Windows CE, don't be so sure that it won't be able to run Vorbis or DivX. PocketMVP is for Pocket PC (also Windows CE) and by concidence can play both Vorbis and DivX perfectly.
the only joke here is you, moron.
I'm surprised you had the money to buy a Datalink.
If MS's joysticks and mice are any indication (giant sized), these watches will prolly cover my whole forearm...
Oh my god with IBMs Linux wrist watch (useless but cool hack) and The Palm Os watch just on the market (simi useful hack) Microsoft yet again has to 'inovate' by copying everyone else.
This folowing up on Microsofts Pen tops (Tablet PCs) a direct rip from the failed technology of years past.
Yet they haven't fixed eather of the problems that killed the originals (poor handwriting recognition and expensive) but at least this time they suck less than the original failures than suck more.
The watchs folow this acutally finding features that you can get on cheaper watches and adding a few more.
Byond the 007ish novalty of it I doupt there will be much intrest.
Timex made a watch that stored data it was neat but it needed Windows to work and eventually the novalty wore off.
Just to expensive.
Even if thies new watches work with a wider range of systems it's still junk.
Else every Linux freak would build there own watch. Redhat for watches. etc.
I don't actually exist.