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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?
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.
.. 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.
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!
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?
What's the matter, his wife couldn't give him a "hand"?
"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
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"
No.
It won't.
I disagree. Timothy's statement (submitter's text is always in italics, the 'snide remark' was in plain font) wasn't very scathing, nor did it provide a one-sided viewpoint of Microsoft's business or products.
It was a joke. Plain and simple, it wasn't at anyone's expense, either. Like you said, they dropped support for it...which is why he mentioned it.
Just because you read something you thought was ocol on their KnowledgeBase or E2 doesn't mean you have to accuse others of being closed minded and act indignant.
--- What
... 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
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??
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!
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.
well, actually http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/09/124022 3 slashdot is...but their editors don't communicate with each other well. of course, you can't really complain that much considering that the news is reader-driven. if readers see news and don't report it, we as a community don't get news. we've got no one to blame but ourselves if our news is late.
The World's Worst Webcomic!
...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.
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.
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.
"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
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!
"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.
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.
>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();
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.
I've no desire to wear something like this, even if it were free. Weather? I've got the current temperature displayed in the upper right corner of my screen right now, next to my clock. If I'm out away from my computer, I'm out in it already, so I KNOW what the weather is like. Sports scores? I couldn't care less about any sport, especially pro sports. Setting the time? I can set it myself, thank you. And will there be a monthly fee for these worthless services? It wouldn't surprise me.
"Common Sense Ain't" -Unknown
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.