carrigaline
11-01-2003, 05:32 AM
This is not "new" news ........but I have read about what this will do for watches and was wondering what SPOT could mean for a pocket pc. In my mind it could transform what it means to be "connected".
Someone mentioned SPOT in a post on a future vision of a pocket pc this week but no one seemed to comment on the SPOT element.....I don't know if someone has posted on this since or before.....if they have please ignore!
Here's a really old link about SPOT
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2003/jan03/01-09SPOTWatches.asp
Here's a snippet of this means for watches......wouldn't this be just as easy to put on a PPC?
"Microsoft worked with National Semiconductor to develop a chipset, which consists of an application chip and a tiny radio frequency receiver. The platform has been optimized for low power draw, miniaturization and low cost. To provide connectivity to SPOT devices, Microsoft created DirectBand, a set of radio technologies that enables the transmission of Web-based information to smart objects. DirectBand includes the custom radio receiver chip, a nationwide wide-area network based on FM subcarrier technology and new radio protocols created specifically to meet the unique communication requirements of smart objects.
Content such as news, weather and sports information is broadcast to smart devices as wireless "channels." Subscribers can customize the channels and the information within each channel so they see only the information that is important and relevant to them. They establish their preferences by interacting with a simple SPOT device Web site from their PC."
So if you had one of these small, low power radio receiving chips on your VGA Ipaq you could also receive all this info - like IM messages, news, weather, stock quotes, time linked to an atomic clock, traffic reports etc.........seems like a really great way of being connected even without using wifi - would certainly save you a lot of power in between times when you need to use wifi to reply to people/information received via this one way method.
What do you think? Would this be a service you would like on your PPC and something you would subscribe to? Looks like the watch service subscription will be reasonably priced......about $60 a year....seems like a great deal to me.
Someone mentioned SPOT in a post on a future vision of a pocket pc this week but no one seemed to comment on the SPOT element.....I don't know if someone has posted on this since or before.....if they have please ignore!
Here's a really old link about SPOT
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2003/jan03/01-09SPOTWatches.asp
Here's a snippet of this means for watches......wouldn't this be just as easy to put on a PPC?
"Microsoft worked with National Semiconductor to develop a chipset, which consists of an application chip and a tiny radio frequency receiver. The platform has been optimized for low power draw, miniaturization and low cost. To provide connectivity to SPOT devices, Microsoft created DirectBand, a set of radio technologies that enables the transmission of Web-based information to smart objects. DirectBand includes the custom radio receiver chip, a nationwide wide-area network based on FM subcarrier technology and new radio protocols created specifically to meet the unique communication requirements of smart objects.
Content such as news, weather and sports information is broadcast to smart devices as wireless "channels." Subscribers can customize the channels and the information within each channel so they see only the information that is important and relevant to them. They establish their preferences by interacting with a simple SPOT device Web site from their PC."
So if you had one of these small, low power radio receiving chips on your VGA Ipaq you could also receive all this info - like IM messages, news, weather, stock quotes, time linked to an atomic clock, traffic reports etc.........seems like a really great way of being connected even without using wifi - would certainly save you a lot of power in between times when you need to use wifi to reply to people/information received via this one way method.
What do you think? Would this be a service you would like on your PPC and something you would subscribe to? Looks like the watch service subscription will be reasonably priced......about $60 a year....seems like a great deal to me.