Microsoft Working With Suppliers on Designs for Watch-Like Device 260
An anonymous reader writes with news that Microsoft may be working on a smartwatch. "The modern smartwatch market hardly even exists, and yet it's already starting to feel very crowded. Hot on the heels of plans (official and otherwise) from Apple and Samsung, the Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft has also been shopping around for parts to build a 'watch-style device.' While details are scarce as to what that would entail, unnamed supplier executives tell the newspaper that Microsoft has been asking for 1.5-inch touchscreens. We wouldn't count on seeing an ultra-small Surface anytime soon, however -- these executives say they've visited Microsoft's campus, but they don't know whether the Windows developer is fully committed to its wrist-worn endeavor or just experimenting. If the project exists at all, of course. Still, there's finally a glimmer of hope for anyone who's still mourning the loss of their beloved SPOT watches."
Possibly the original smartwatch? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Possibly the original smartwatch? (Score:4, Informative)
There was also the Fossil smartwatch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_Wrist_PDA [wikipedia.org]
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I had a watch circa 1995 that required an annual subscription to a broadcast data service that would send, for example, sports scores.
Like every other similar service ever offered on "smart" watches, the OEM decided to 86 the data feed after a couple of years, and I ended up throwing the thing away.
I don't remember the name of the OEM, can anybody refresh my memory?
Every New Years' Day the motherfucker would wake me up at 7 AM to remind me that it was New Years' Day.
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There was once a smartwatch called the Timex Datalink. I remember when it came out. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink [wikipedia.org] for more information.
Your limerick sucks
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There was once a smartwatch called the Timex Datalink. I remember when it came out. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink [wikipedia.org] for more information.
Your limerick sucks
There was once a smartwatch called the Timex Datalink. The OEM pulled the data before you could blink. It only had sports scores and annoying alarms. Not like these new ones with all of their charms... (Pebbles first non clock sdk will be sports related, derp).
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Yeah, I had one of them. It really kind of sucked tbh. It would sync (download only if I remember correctly) contact information from my computer (name, address, phone number), and memos, but that was about it.
Used to have a calculator on my watch. (Score:3)
Also had one with an AM/FM Radio built in. I'm their target demographic. Guess what? I DON'T WEAR A FUCKING WATCH ANYMORE.
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Yeah watches are ~$20 Billion market. Someone is buying them all.
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Yeah watches are ~$20 Billion market. Someone is buying them all.
Obviously, all those watch fanbois out there, standing in line to buy the latest thing from Timex or Casio.
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Where on earth do you live?
Almost everyone I know wears a watch, including me, and my peer group extends from age 18 up to about 55. I can't pick out one demographic among them all that doesn't wear a watch.
It's more of an outlier to not be wearing one.
Mine is a simple battery powered one with a mechanical action since I prefer a clock face over a digital one.
Sad... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sad... (Score:4, Insightful)
Not trying to step on your shoes but the world most certainly doesn't need them as a Software Company anymore. In fact we are all better off with out them. Times are changing, like it or not the world is moving towards Open Source and Microsoft is just a pimple of what it use to be, no matter what the Fanbois at Neowin tell you.
What Microsoft needs to do is reorganize and reinvent itself if it is going to survive, perhaps in the Hardware field, although even that's not looking so good; but that's due to the Software which operates on said Hardware. Office and Windows aren't going to cut it in the next few years, and it seems as if the Windows platform and other Software of theirs, has turned into surveillance platforms for Law Enforcement.
I know it's hard to take and hard to swallow, especially if you have some sort of emotional connection to them; but facts are facts. Hating on the truth isn't going to hurt my feelings or change anything, a virtual -1 or 0 has no effect on me, I have nothing to lose like they do. Change is the only place to find answers.
What demand is being satisfied? (Score:2)
I keep seeing articles popping up about 'smartwatches" from Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Apple, and even Google. What I never see is someone telling me where the demand for this market is. Smart watches, to me, don't seem to serve any particular specialized function. Battery conservation is a joke, unless the tech world has suddenly gotten squeamish about throwing a phone on a microUSB charger. Touchscreen, quick searching, quick clock access, easy navigation, easy access to ... the smartwatch offers only
Kinect Watch To Measure My Masturbation Habits (Score:5, Funny)
i hope it comes with a masturbation measuring app, so i can jerk off and count the number of reps, pressure, date, photo of the event to match up with previous attempts to judge how healthy bloodflow to my penis is.
i hope it also comes with an app for my rectum, where it can safely be inserted, take some pictures and gain some medical insights to the state of my system and safely navigate itself out, like a roomba, through my anus.
Looking forward to the first proper smartwatch (Score:2)
You'd be surprised (Score:2, Interesting)
Link to a 2003 article about MS & watches
http://www.pcworld.com/article/111035/article.html [pcworld.com]
I haven't worn a wrist watch for decades (Score:2)
I don't wear a wrist watch, and haven't for a long time. I have been working in various industries that require you to do frequent hand-washing (food industry, childcare, healthcare) and wearing a watch is not a good idea.
Instead I have used belt clip watches and pocket watches, and a stopwatch hanging round my neck.
These days a cellphone provides all the features of a watch, except for the wearing on the wrist part.
In the past some manufacturers have tried calculator watches, but the controls weren't user
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I work in a chemistry lab, so I wash my hands several times a day. I still wear a watch - it just sits higher up my arm than my wrist. So, I guess it's more accurate to call it an armwatch.
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Microsoft is scared of missing the next bubble? (Score:4, Insightful)
I am quite sure if Apple, Google and Samsung are working on developing a flying turd, Microsoft also wants one. I don't see a lot of innovative development lately. These tech giants only want to keep on par with eachother without really developing their own identity. So much for progress.
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Smartwatch? (Score:2)
I hope for their sake that the Scunthorpe problem has been resolved...
Shoes are next! (Score:4, Insightful)
Does anyone get the feeling that if Apple was rumoured to be working on a shoe phone, Microsoft would immediately start doing the same?
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Does anyone get the feeling that if Apple was rumoured to be working on a shoe phone, Microsoft would immediately start doing the same?
Damnit, now Apple is ripping off CONTROL?
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OMG, there's going to be KAOS!
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I guess thats what Google wanted to achieve with that smartshoe last time.
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Does anyone get the feeling that if Apple was rumoured to be working on a shoe phone, Microsoft would immediately start doing the same?
Or rather, you would immediately get some magazine articles _saying_ Microsoft has been doing the same.
Oh, wait. You mean you really believed Microsoft is really working on a smart watch because of this "news"?
Maybe it's just me (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft "innovation" (Score:2)
There goes Microsoft, duplicating... er... I mean "innovating" again.
Windows 9, The integration of PCs and watches (Score:3)
Windows 9, scales your 4k desktop so its effectively 320x200, and changes the user interface so the only buttons that work on your keyboard are the up/down/enter buttons.
Microsoft, of course, claims huge improvements in users ability to learn the interface because everything including typing is done by selecting options with the up/down buttons.
All the PC manufactures run by overpaid CEO's that don't know shit about technology promptly release laptops with 320x200 resolution 15" screens claiming that the PC will regain marketshare against the tablets now.
Re:A smart watch? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm wearing a very cheap digital watch right now, and you're probably going to buy two new smartphones before its battery has run out.
That's no argument for a smart watch, but it does demolish your "watches are useless" argument pretty thoroughly.
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Calculators are very useful. How many people do you know (other than engineering students) who carry a calculator in their pocket?
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He didn't say watches are useless. He said no one wears them anymore. The last time I wore a watch was sometime in the 90s. Calculators are very useful. How many people do you know (other than engineering students) who carry a calculator in their pocket?
Ah, but now you are looking at the "tool in the toolbox" theory. Don't awake the Bearded Dragon.... Seriously. Don't fuckin do it. Me.
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I want something like Google Glasses, but for human augmentation and not as a glorified ad delivery device. You wouldn't need a watch if you had such glasses.
Speaking of calculators, it should be able to recognize math stuff and help with calculations.
Basically if I write or see some simple math problems, I should be able to ask it to calculate the answer, add up a bunch numbers etc. Maybe even look up more complicated stuff on wolfram alpha.
More here: http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3478821 [slashdot.org]
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Sounds good, until you work out that you can't wear them walking through the city on a Friday night without a risk of going down for ten years for recording child porn after a scantily clad girl bends over. It will get treated just like deliberately putting a camera in a high school shower.
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"Intent" would normally apply in this scenario in my country, so I doubt that sort of thing would be a big problem to me (unless the authorities decide that I need to be eliminated for some reason).
The copyright law "harmonization" stuff the USA keeps pushing (in its various forms) is more likely to affect me, assuming the leaders of my country "bend over" (which isn't that unlikely unfortunately).
But its true the device might end up having to be crippled because of all these "legal" issues. Shame really.
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Mechanical watches (Score:3)
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Re:A smart watch? (Score:5, Funny)
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So yes people do still use them and probably even people with phones or computers. I'm sure you can get by without a
Norton AV (Score:5, Funny)
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I wear a $25 Casio metal body watch. It has worked for 3 years (with no battery change) and it is still like new.
A few have criticized me that with my age and position it is not fit for me. I said as a CS scientist, I prefer digits to bars!
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Re:A smart watch? (Score:4, Insightful)
A few have criticized me that with my age and position it is not fit for me.
Have you noted that those people should not be trusted with anything important?
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A few have criticized me that with my age and position it is not fit for me.
Have you noted that those people should not be trusted with anything important?
True. But even so those people are consumers and if they want to spend their money on expensive watches someone will be ready to sell them.
Plus it would be really funny to see those kinds of people with MS watches that cost too much and crash every couple of days when Casio guy above will always know the time.
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I wear a $25 Casio metal body watch. It has worked for 3 years (with no battery change) and it is still like new.
A few have criticized me that with my age and position it is not fit for me. I said as a CS scientist, I prefer digits to bars!
And that's where the market is.. People don't buy watches because they want to know the time, people buy them for bragging rights and because it's one of the few pieces of jewelry that men are allowed to wear in just about any situation.
I've not worm a watch for years but plenty of the people I work with do. In some cases they wear very expensive watches.
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A friend of mine must have had an insecure upbringing, because he's constantly susceptible to status symbol purchases: flashy luxury cars, high-falootin' watches, etc. He's a smart guy, but not an engineer. One time he shows me his new watch, and says, "It's made from tungsten. It's unscratchable!" I told him, that, first off, it's bluish, so it's not tungsten but probably tungsten carbide. Second, if he'll let me demonstrate, I'll scratch it with some sandpaper - since SiC is harder than tungsten carbide.
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* survived a little swim when my kayak upturned
* still worked at least 3 years later on the same battery
* had an awesome upgrade from the original in the form of multicoloured LEDs that pulsed randomly when the alarm went o
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I wear a Coleman watch with a flashlight on it. Damned thing is handy. It tells time, twice (alternate time), all the other things like timer, alarms, stopwatch... haven't used those things in a long time... but the flashlight? I use it constantly. It's $20 if you can find them at Target stores. Oh yeah, water resistant to 50 meters too. I don't want a little water getting in the way of it living or dying.
I am skeptical of smartwatches. Very skeptical. I can see a "smart watch" whose brains are actu
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My last Casio (I no longer bother with a watch) lasted several years, even with a 3-day-a-week swimming habit. I think it was $20 at the drug store. It may very well still work, but the battery is gone and I never get a good seal when I put them back together.
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The Beast has 80,000 people working for them and they encourage them to be active in social media like /. They are, however, cautioned against replying to or moderating me specifically. Downmodding me can lose you moderation privileges here if the metamods don't agree with your modding - which they usually don't when the downmods are corporate biased.
Oh man that is the most hilariously self-absorbed thing i have *ever* read on this site! :D The fact that you think microsoft would give 2 shits about the opinions in the comments on the stories on slashdot is funny enough but that you actually believe they give a shit about your comments specifically is absolute gold!
The fact is this site started out as a pro-linux and pro-OSS site - and we all know how microsoft is regarded in those circles - so any positive ms comments were met with a barrage of abuse, e
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Dude ... put down the crack pipe. I've been here much longer than you and I've never even heard of you. I guarantee that M$ has no idea who you are either. I do agree with you that there are a lot of M$ shills here, but if you think they know who you are, or care, then you are delusional.
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Reddit's not better. Try to find references for the PC meltdown on /r/Microsoft. They're trying to pretend it didn't happen, and the stories get unlinked. Let's not even talk about /r/science, where echo chamber defines science.
/. has some special properties including its write-only nature and its no-censorship stance. That you can't undo stuff here is a very special thing. The moderation may often suck but every comment and story ever posted (except for one) is still here to be read. And that one ca
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I'll agree /. isn't as much fun any more as it once was, and that in its charter its end was writ: The value of a free thing trends to zero.
But /. has some miles and years yet because of its special offer. Here you can put your opinion and it will stand for all time - whether you will it or no. It takes some grit to say stuff here. Other places you can spark your wit and if you miss it will be lost to time. Not so here. Here we are going to flip that stuff back into your face unto the end of days. I
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I'm with ya symbie poo. It's Turtles all the way down as far as I'm concerned.
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Re:A smart watch? (Score:5, Funny)
MS Watch: (in an electronic voice) Hi there, I see you are trying to tell the time. How can I help you?
1. Would you like me to display the time?
2. Is there a time you prefer?
3. Why don't you tell me the time?
Re:A smart watch? (Score:5, Interesting)
I stopped using a watch ten years ago, in favour of my phone. This winter I got myself a new wristwatch, and started wearing them again. The watch can get bumped and scratched without worry, works fine in bad weather, I never have to worry about recharging it. And, I cna check the time without having to pull out my phone, turning it on, the putting it back again.
I fully understand all the people that use a phone as their only time tevice. I did so myself for ten years and was happy with that. But after going back to a wristwatch, I do fully understand the people that prefer that too. To me it really is more convenient than the phone. I also like how it looks on me; that's pretty important too.
With that said, I don't think I'm interested in a _smart_ watch. The point of the wristwatch, to me, is the ruggedness and the simplicitly. A smartwatch seems to throw away exactly those features and become, well, a phone on the wrist. I have a phone already. Safe and secure in a pocket, not out on my wrist.
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I use a very old digital watch when I go hiking on the mountains (my phone is usually in airplane more or switched off). I put the watch in a closed pocket or strap it on the backpack (it's has a velcro strap) because I can't tolerate anything around a wrist anymore: I just lost the habit some 20 years ago. There are almost no other use cases for a watch for me, certainly not for a smart one that I won't wear.
That said, I'm sure smart watches will sell and maybe I'll make some money writing software for the
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I use a very old digital watch when I go hiking on the mountains (my phone is usually in airplane more or switched off). I put the watch in a closed pocket or strap it on the backpack (it's has a velcro strap) because I can't tolerate anything around a wrist anymore: I just lost the habit some 20 years ago. There are almost no other use cases for a watch for me, certainly not for a smart one that I won't wear.
That said, I'm sure smart watches will sell and maybe I'll make some money writing software for them if some customer pays me to do it.
I lived in South America for a brief spell of my life. When I was down there, I looped my belt through the wrist band on my watch and basically attached it to my waist in front of me. I could quite quickly and easily check the watch without having it be another place for me to become unbearably hot and sweaty with the tropical weather. It too was a velcro strap. You might want to give that a try if you find you have to use your watch frequently while hiking. It's very convenient.
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Similar attitude, different reason:
I stopped using watches maybe 15 years ago. I haven't owned a wristwatch since, and the only clocks in my house are the ones built in to something else (my phone has one, for example).
I don't miss it at all. In public, there are more than enough watches to catch my train or whatever, and for my private life, things are a lot more relaxed this way.
For that reason, I fail to see what the smart-watch hype is all about. I intentionally removed a distraction years ago, why shou
Re:A smart watch? (Score:5, Insightful)
Arguably, the problem isn't so much that 'nobody wears watches anymore'(though cellphones certainly haven't done them any favors); but nobody wears watches in the market range amenable to technology companies.
You've got your $2 digitals, unexciting but pretty solid at telling time for ages on a teeny little battery, fairly durable, and cheap enough that nobody cries if 'fairly' turns out not to be durable enough. Unless your 'smart watch' plan involves almost no money and almost no power, it'd better do something really cool if it is going to sway people away from these; because these things are cheaper and longer-running than anything 'smart' is going to be.
Then you've got the watches-as-jewelry segment, which spans a wide variety of tastes and price points; but jewelry-style luxury markets are more or less the opposite of what tech companies are good at. It will be a lot easier to sneak in here on price and care-and-feeding; but interest in 'this watch looks exactly like the other 10 million we paid foxconn to stamp out; because that's how economies of scale work, m'kay?' may be a problem.
If you had a 'smart watch' concept that was compelling enough to get the cheap seats to pay more and recharge more, or the jewelry section to embrace a disposable widget instead of some ostensibly 'timeless' fashion item, you'd have something that people would wear watches for, if necessary. That, though, is the tricky bit.
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Sometimes the appropriate place for a "smart" device is on your wrist.
Try telling a rock climber they're better off carrying a phone in their chalk bag or whatever. Or a backpacker on a week-long hike that they're better off carrying their smartphone which only holds a charge for 3 days. (As a backpacker myself, if you told me to just carry extra batteries or
Re:A smart watch? (Score:4, Interesting)
I believe the problem with the coming crop of "smart watches" is that they all need a phone to connect to. They're really more of an extra terminal to your phone rather than a standalone device.
So if you're a rock climber or hiker, all the negative aspects of bringing a phone apply to these terminals too. You really need to get an actua watch with the appropriate functions.
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Assuming that the major battery drain of a smartphone with wifi off, GPS off (until you need it) and no apps with background processes, is the display. You could keep the phone in a small pouch and get the advantages of the watch tracking things like heart rate, temp, messages, etc while extending the life of your phone.
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The market most smartwatches are aiming for is the market most watch-wearing millennials belong to: watch as practical fashion accessory. It's the same reason I still wear glasses rather than contacts or getting laser surgery: I like the way I look in glasses. I wear a hat--a Stetson, in fact--rather than a hoodie or a baseball cap for the same reason, and I have a nice, middle-of-the-road Seiko that I wear, not because it's impossible for me to find out the time any other way, but because I like the look o
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I'm seeing expensive ugly technological watches everywhere. They're called Nike Fuel and they don't even tell time!
I think a fitness watch that happens to also display your inbox could be a hit. And I think the tech has miniaturized to the point where it's feasible finally. The Pebble should be proof of that.
Re:A smart watch? (Score:4, Insightful)
Lots of people wear watches, either to tell time or for fashion, or both.
The big problem with a smart watch is that 1.5" isn't enough space to display any meaningful amount of data, and worse, the context that it's in. I can think of a few situations where reading a ticker tape on my wrist of a short email or text message might be useful, but 200x200 pixels is really only useful for animated GIFs of cats and telling the time.
Re:A smart watch? (Score:4, Insightful)
Make it pink and you'll sell millions.
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my palms had 160x160 pixels and i read ebooks on them fine. played simcity and other games.
instead of a wrist watch maybe they could aim at a 21st century pocket watch. smaller than a phone aimed to sit in palm of hand. make it small enough and you could add a wrist strap like the early wrist watches
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Yes, and they had a similar screen larger than 1.5" as well, right? I put up with that resolution with my m100, but I wouldn't wish it on someone wearing it as a wristwatch. When was the last time you said to yourself, "I wish I could read a book on my wrist!"
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when squashed on public transport for a few hours a day and not enough space to take out a large phone? as a watch a flick could change the page while still holding onto a handrest.
also a way to communicate with said device via morse would be nice. niche but nice.
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Watches are still useful. I wear a watch from time to time -- I own 4. A dive watch from St Moritz - a Momentum M50 [momentumwatch.com]; a low-key dress watch from Skagen [skagen.com]; a Breitling Old Navitimer [breitling.com]; and my grandfather's Breitling Montbrilliant [google.com] pocket watch. The latter two don't get out of the safe much any more.
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"I can't remember the last time I saw somebody wearing a watch except for some feeb trying to prove something by having a Rolex and pointing it out. If you need the time your smartphone is synched with the USNO and multiple GPS satellites that must know the time to such a degree that your distance from them alters your reference frame. What part of "people don't wear watches any more" is confusing to Microsoft? "
The part about how most people aren't you.
MOST people DO wear watches. Still. And there are good reasons: your watch doesn't lose its charge (except for maybe once a year); your watch stays on when you go to bed, you don't have to pick it up off the nightstand to see what time it is; you don't have to dig your watch out of your bag to see what time it is; most watches are accurate enough today that USNO hardly matters; etc. etc. etc.
Probably the biggest reason, though, is that this is probably not pri
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MOST people DO wear watches.
MOST usually means >50%, and I can assure you that most people don't wear watches today. A recent survey, even in the US shows that 68% people do not wear a watch. It is also likely, that there has never been at time that MOST people have worn a watch, even in the 90's. Maybe in the US, or other highly developed countries, but not 50% of all people, and definitely not today.
That said, a smart watch was a great fantasy idea of the 90's. I, personally, can't see it being feasible today except for a ver
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"MOST people DO wear watches. Still."
I counter this anecdote with my own, less than 10% wear watches during the day. Why would you? There are clocks all over the place to tell you the time (there are 4 in my office alone (desktop, desk phone, wall clock, mobile)). Pulling a phone from your pocket is just a little slower then uncovering your wrist. The only people that "use" watches, consider them to be luxury jewelry to impress others (which makes it easier to spot people you can't trust).
Nonsense. The $10 Walmart item on my wrist is purely for timekeeping. I make no attempt to impress anyone with it, I assure you. Uncovering your wrist takes time? Where do you live, Antarctica?
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I would say the majority of people I know still wear watches. They don't have battery life measured in days, they can be taken swimming or into environments that you would be scared of damaging a phone, don't need to be turned off on a plane or in a meeting and don't get confiscated at the front door of security rated buildings that don't permit phones or electronic devices inside (a problem for me), easy to check in a theatre without pissing off others etc etc. As for a smart watch, well I can't really seeing them fitting with a large audience. They are "likely" to have limited battery life, are too small for any usefull amounts of information on screen and if they have internet connectivity then it is one more item I have to hand in at building security :-(.
I understand why you would need to wear a watch if you are constantly entering a high security area for work (wouldn't a smart-watch also be confiscated this type of environment?). It also would explain why your friends and colleagues wear watches. But, this environment applies to a small minority of the population.
The majority of people I know do not wear watches on a daily basis. In fact, it isn't just a majority, it's around 99%. The only time that I see anyone wearing a watch is during a special occ
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I don't know what your job is, but I don't want it.
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Cement dust aside (maybe), I'd say "parent".
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You'd be surprised at what the kids are into these days.
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Born rich were we? Most of the rest of us have worked as underwater jam, cement, dust, grease, and crap cleaners at some time in our lives. It doesn't pay well enough to buy a new watch.
Patents??!? (Score:2)
On the Two-Way Wrist TV [dicktracymuseum.com]??!?
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Microsoft doesn't just copy Apple, they can also copy what Apple is copying.
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MS has always, apparently as a policy, simply copied the most successful company in a particular market-space. Or, alternatively, they buy the out for the IP and fire everyone. Or, as a third alternative, they "suck the oxygen out of the room" in an effort to crush and bankrupt companies who innovat
Other uses for 1.5" touchscreens? (Score:2)
Given that this whole rumor is based on Microsoft ordering 1.5" touchscreens, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that they're building a smartwatch. Since the WiiU and PS4 both have some kind of touch device in the controller, it's pretty much a given that the XBox720 (or whatever it's called) will also have one.
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With the Pebble watch finished and being shipped, I'd think it would look better on Microsoft if they came up with something different.
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Just wait until, hmm, the whole smart watch market is taking on the distinct feel of the vapour ware watch market. Rumours and innuendo from all over the place, destined to flood any real product and deflate sales by having to compete with a huge number of vapour ware watches that will maybe, might be, possibly better cheaper cooler and soon maybe, might be, possibly released. This was the grand tactic in the eighties vapour ware products to kill off products from competitors while they felt out whether it