Smart Watches
After years of promises and keynotes Microsoft has finally released their first SPOT – Small Personal Object Technology – now called Smart Watches It is a wristwatch that receives data from an FM radio signal, in addition to telling you the time of day.
It is a nifty idea that’s been many years in the making. Microsoft has set up transmitters in around 100 North American cities using an FM sub-band (coverage map). You buy an MSN Direct watch and then sign-up for the service on the MSN Direct web site.
Once activated the watch will display the local time, news, weather, sport and stock information, all updated regularly.
In addition some personal information can be sent to the watch. Your Outlook Calendar, including any updates after you left your main computer, can be received on the watch. Instant Messages via MSN Messenger can also be received.
How it works
The watch is a receiver only, so it doesn’t transmit any radio signals (meaning it is OK to use on an airplane).
You configure the data services you want to see from the MSN web site, and that configuration info is transmitted to your watch only.
Most data is public and is widely broadcast with each watch knowing what data to store and what to ignore.
An example is horoscopes. You configure your watch for say, Pisces. The FM signal will transmit info on all twelve star signs for all devices to receive but your watch will only ‘hear’ the info you’ve specified and store it for display. The same filtering occurs for stock info, news etc. This makes efficient use of the bandwidth.
Some information that is broadcast is personal to you – at this stage Calendar information and MSN Messenger notes. Your calendar info is encrypted and identified to your watch only.
Furthermore the data is only sent out on transmitters in cities where you’ve told the system that you are located. For example, if you live in Los Angeles a Messenger note to you will only be sent out of the LA antennas. You can setup other cities that you are visiting and your personal info will also be sent in those locations for the days specified.
All the public data is repeated in a cycle so that new watches or ones that have been out of range will be able to ‘catch up’. You’ll notice this effect when you setup a new watch if you choose the News Alerts feature – soon after activation you’ll get series of ‘old’ alerts for things that occurred in the last day or less.
The same applies to personal data. Calendar updates or MSN ‘pings’ are sent multiple times to improve the chance of the message getting through. Since the devices can’t transmit there’s no way for the system to know if you received the personal data or not.
The watches
There’s a small range of watches available from either Fossil or Suunto. Amazon has details and a selection to buy. Naturally none of the watches could be described as dainty due to the screen size necessary. However the display is surprisingly clear.
For news there are large headlines, and you push a side button for more detail in smaller text. Some stories are not setup for this special format so you occasionally get obscure headlines.
For weather there is a clever picture and text displays for info like sunrise, sunset, forecast etc.
The time display can switch between various looks that come with the watch. In addition there’s an option to have a new face downloaded each month. Sadly the new month’s display overwrites the last one which is a pity if you really like an earlier incarnation. I liked the look of a previous month’s face but it’s no longer available at all.
How to start
You buy your MSN Direct enabled watch To save disappointment check the coverage areas before buying.
Our trial watch came with a totally dead battery, so we had to wait a frustrating few hours until it charged up. The charger has no indicator light nor does the watch, thus we had no way to be sure that the watch was being charged except to return from time to time until an indicator appeared on the watch. Even a totally drained mobile phone can show that a charge is being received, but not a Smart Watch.
Once there’s enough battery life the watch will start receiving data from the FM channel, and at first that means that the time will be set to the local area automatically. To get other services you have to activate the phone by going to the MSN direct web site. The watch will show you the web link and activation code you have to enter on the web site.
To activate the other services you go to the MSN Direct web site and login or create a MSN Passport. Then enter your credit card details, address and watch activation code. After a while the watch will confirm that it has been activated.
The watch comes with a month’s free use of the MSN Direct service though you still have to give your credit card details up front. The cost is US$9.95 per month with the first month free or US$59 a year.
What you get
The data services on the new service are limited, given Microsoft’s size and reputation they should have been able to do better than this.
The current data services include AP Business, MSNBC Business, MSNBC Stock Market News, Reuters Business, Reuters Entertainment, AP News, Front Page News, Reuters News, Washington Post, MSNBC Health, AP International, MSNBC International, Reuters International, Local News, AP Sports, Reuters Sports, MSNBC Technology, Reuters Science, Reuters Space, Reuters Technology, Space.com and MSNBC Weather.
It looks like a lot but you’re limited to only 10 of the above channels and many duplicate the same stories so the coverage is wide rather than deep.
There’s also a ‘Breaking News’ option to display an alert when there’s a major story.
Up to 15 Stock prices and indices can be stored by your watch, and as data accumulates over time a neat little graph can appear on your watch showing the most recent price movements.
When you setup the services on the web site, it transmits the configuration to your watch. Once received the watch knows what services to accept and store from among all the public information being transmitted and re-sent from time to time.
In addition to these broadcast services, there’s also private services. At this stage you can transmit your Outlook Calendar to the watch and also receive MSN Messenger messages.
Calendar
To transmit your Calendar you need a special add-in from the MSN Direct web site to install with your copy of Outlook 2000, 2002 (XP) or 2003.
Once installed the add-in will take your calendar information and send it to your watch via the MSN Direct web site and the FM radio network. The personal information is encrypted and encoded to be received only by your watch.
Any updates to your calendar are sent to the watch automatically. If you have staff or partners with access to your calendar then any changes they make will come to your watch wherever you are.
The add-on works on Outlook so you have to leave it running when you’re away from your desk in order to get any updates. MSN Direct works with Exchange Server systems but only at the client (Outlook) level not the server level. There’s no link to the mobile alerts features in recent versions of Exchange Server.
We could not get the Outlook add-in to work in our trials, being stumped by unhelpful ‘internal error’ messages and a lack of online support.
All the personal data is encrypted and should only be received by your watch. Despite all the reassurances and ignoring the wilder conspiracy theories about Microsoft, I’m not that comfortable with the idea of my personal info being transmitted over the airwaves in any form. A direct connection with a PC would be a more reassuring approach.
MSN Messenger
You can receive ‘pings’ from people via the MSN Messenger Instant Messaging service. This is an option you have to set from the MSN Direct web site, and it is set to off by default.
This service doesn’t work the Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger for the Mac. You have to download and install the latest MSN Messenger and so does anyone wanting to send a message to your watch. That means another battle of the Microsoft IM clients for Windows, an annoying topic for another time.
Multiple Cities
On the MSN Direct web site you can configure a ‘home city’ so that the system knows what transmitters to use to send your personal information and watch configuration.
In addition you can specify ‘travel cities’ – these are places that you will temporarily be in and they will also send the unique information. You have to setup ranges of dates for each city, which is a nuisance. These dates can overlap by one day; for example you can setup Los Angeles as a travel city from Monday to Wednesday and San Francisco for Wednesday to Friday. However Tuesday to Friday for Frisco would not be permitted with an error message saying travel city dates can’t overlap (pity the error message doesn’t tell you what current setting it is overlapped with). There are also options to set a travel city on a weekly or monthly basis if your schedule is that regular.
When you arrive in a new city the watch should automatically change the time to the new location.
Out of Range
What happens to the watch if you’re out of radio range, such as in the country, a city without the special radio service or beyond North America?
The watch will still work but the data won’t be updated so it’ll gradually get stale. Naturally you won’t get any calendar updates or Messenger notes.
You can manually change the time zone to display local time in your location and while the watch won’t have time settings automatically synchronized, the watch should keep accurate time for weeks if not months without external reference.
Battery Life
The first generation of SPOT watches are supposed to last two days on a single charge, however our test model lasted about 24 hours.
There’s a warning when the power supply is low and the system is designed to gradually turn off features as the available power diminishes. At its very lowest all you’ll be able to see is the time until the battery is totally exhausted.
The charger uses an inductive connection so you only have to lay the watch on top of the stand, which is easier than having to ensure it’s plugged into a socket of some sort. The charger on the Fossil model we trialed worked on the full range of voltages from 110 to 240 volt which is good for travelers.
Other uses for the SPOT technology
With all this data being sent over the airwaves, this is just the first step in making data available to devices over the FM band.
You can just imagine the possibilities. Pocket PC’s could receive data cheaply and regularly without the hassles of wireless networking; personally I’ve been eager to see a PDA with FM radio to listen to, adding data reception to that circuitry would seem trivial.
Conversely, MP3 players or portable radios could include a display of news etc.
In a car you could also have a display of up to date info (including traffic updates) in a way that could be easily and cheaply installed in any car – new or old - probably as an extension of the existing car sound system.
Instead of a watch, I can envisage a small display that can be moved around and placed as you wish with a simple clip or Velcro.
And even mobile phones could include a feature to receive and display news and other info in a way that’s far cheaper than using the mobile phone network. Sadly this idea will probably fall on deaf ears among all the mobile phone execs desperately protecting their own turf.
News displays in buses, taxis or any other place could get the latest info from this service.
With so many possible uses for the FM sub-band data transmission, why has all this energy been devoted to watches?
The answer is mainly corporate. Millions of watches are sold each year in the USA alone and is a market that Microsoft would love to spread into. Furthermore it lacks the competition, rivalry and difficulties the company is experiencing with mobile phones. In other words it’s virgin territory for Microsoft to conquer. There’s less interest in expanding the capabilities of Pocket PC’s compared to grabbing part of an entirely new market.
Brainstorming with friends (admittedly over a bottle of Aussie red wine) we came up with some interesting ideas above plus thoughts about lockets or bracelets for people who want something more fashionable than a wristwatch that looks like it’s from an old SF movie.
The only thing that will stop SPOT and FM data reception from becoming commonplace will be Microsoft’s insistence on keeping the data sources and technology too close to their corporate chest. Instead of looking at short term gains, the company could establish a nice long-term income stream from a more open and accessible service.
I spent most of 2003 listening to Microsoft talk endlessly about XML, yet when SPOT is released there’s not a word. An XML schema for sending data to SPOT devices would make it much more compelling. Microsoft would still get their money from subscriptions to the broadcast facility. Instead you’re locked into paying Microsoft for a very limited range of information (with vague promises of more). You can be fairly sure that some data suppliers will be paying Microsoft to be added to the smart device channels, so the company can make money at both ends.
History should tell Microsoft that attempts to get a stranglehold on a broad technology will fail. Sure, they succeeded with Windows but that was a historical anomaly. Sadly the company has not learnt the lesson after all these years
This is a product aimed at ‘first adopters’, people who will go for the latest gadget or technology and after the first flush of excitement I suspect many of them will be disappointed with the shallow data service.
Microsoft is capable of better, witness the wonderfully thoughtful first version of OneNote. But alas OneNote seems to be an exception rather than the first of a new generation of decent initial Microsoft products.
Presumably the service will extend to more places in the USA if it is sufficiently successful. Extending outside North America will depend on that and the availability of suitable FM frequencies in other countries.
Looks like we’re condemned to years of small incremental improvements in this product area with lots of promises for the future (assuming Microsoft doesn’t dump the entire system and customers, which is possible though unlikely). The shame is that many of the features to make the service compelling could be implemented now, if only for the corporate stubbornness, a closed-shop attitude and unwillingness to do anything but strive for the lowest common denominator.
Keep an eye on SPOT and Smart Watches - I hope to see more of them in the future, I had just hoped for a more auspicious beginning.
Bill S. Preston: You totally killed us, you evil metal dickweeds!
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