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NEWEST WATCH CATCHES UP TO TIME
By Victoria Wancel
Time telling isn’t the only thing this watch can do.
Microsoft Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) has invented wristwatches designed to receive and display continuous, up-to-date information through the use of nationwide wireless communication technology.
One can discover the weather forecast, news, sports scores, stock quotes, search the web, and receive instant messages from SPOT watches.
According to the PR Newswire Association, Inc., Bill Mitchell, founder and general manager of the SPOT initiative at Microsoft, said that the mission is to improve people’s lives by making everyday objects smarter and better at their core functions.
Donna DeStefano, Verizon technician, New York City, said she loves the idea of a watch with internet-like qualities.
“I enjoy searching the Internet and getting up-to-date information,” said DeStefano. “I could have all this all the time right at the touch of my wrist.”
Watchmaker partners, Citizen, Fossil and Suunto developed collections of fashionable watches that include SPOT.
According to Microsoft’s website, the President and CEO of Citizen Inc., Makoto Umebara said, “These watches will create a new watch industry segment, growing to be the next big trend.”
However, Laura Bair, science teacher at St. Andrew Avellino School in Flushing, NY, said the SPOT watches would not become a trend.
“Cell phones these days have the same qualities,” said Bair. “So, I believe that people will have no need for their watches to act in the same way.”
Microsoft’s DirectBand is a set of innovative technologies enabling transmission of Web-based information to smart objects. It includes a custom radio receiver, a wide area network based on FM subcarrier technology and new radio protocols created to meet the sole requirements of smart objects.
Microsoft worked with National Semiconductor Corp. for more than two years to plan and build a chipset to power wristwatches and other SPOT-based devices.
Kerry Sullivan, junior at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said she is interested in buying a SPOT watch.
“I am constantly chatting with my friends using instant messenger,” said Sullivan. “I would love to have access to instant messenger wherever I am just by using my watch.”
SPOT will enable mainstream fashion watches to become more timely, personalized and useful.
“SPOT is an important step toward a truly personal computing future in which people access important information seamlessly any time, any place and on a variety of devices,” said Mitchell according to the PR Newswire Association, Inc.
Microsoft announced SPOT watches will cost 130 dollars and up and it is conceivable that some extravagant watches could cost thousands of dollars. Also, there will be a monthly service fee varying accordingly.