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Consumer research1 has revealed that people want to stay connected, and many would use webcams if they were easier to operate and provided better audio and video quality. To counter those frustrations, Microsoft Hardware and the Windows Live team have joined forces to introduce a line of LifeCams starting with the LifeCam VX-6000 and LifeCam VX-3000.These next-generation webcams provide groundbreaking video and audio quality that opens the door for richer digital communications experiences. Optimized for use with Windows Live™ Messenger, the world’s largest instant messaging network,2 LifeCams meet the growing demand for easier, more meaningful connections.
More details by following the link including a promise that “Microsoft will introduce additional LifeCam products in September 2006.” Todd Bishop has more on the business aspects.
While the Microsoft Hardware team is a savvy bunch with a variety of industry leading products, it’s harder to find nice things to say about Microsoft’s dogged persistence in getting partners to turn out SPOT watches:
Microsoft Corp.’s Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative today launched the next generation of Smart Watches for MSN® Direct: the ABACUS Smart Watch 2006. These newest watches feature double the storage capacity of previous watches, improved download speed, a thinner bezel and several stylish bands.
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From Fossil Inc., one of the original providers of Smart Watches, the new ABACUS Smart Watch 2006 is the next evolution of the Smart Watch category. It features a metal bezel and a choice of watch bands: black leather, brown crocodile leather, green fabric, classic metal or modern metal. In addition to the new styles, with the increased storage capacity and download speed, wearers of the ABACUS Smart Watch 2006 can download even more MSN Direct channels, providing them with additional value and a wide range of choices.
If the whole thing’s a puzzle, MSN Direct is a specialized FM radio broadcast service for these watches. Silicon Valley Sleuth provides some caustic perspective in Microsoft turns the knife on its self inflicted SPOT wound:
Microsoft has unveiled an updated SPOT watch: the Abacus Smart Watch 2006 started selling today for $179.Microsoft must like rubbing salt in its own wounds. Most of the world would have forgotten about SPOT if the company wouldn’t have reminded them of this technological failure by keeping it on life support.
SPOT uses the FM radio signal to broadcast data such as weather and traffic info. Microsoft was hoping that consumers would fork out $10 per month for such a service, but has now lowered the subscription rates to $39.95 per year.
That’s still 40 dollars too much for a service that comes bundled with most mobile phones.
More by following the link, but it’s past time to put this one out of its misery. Interestingly, the SPOT/MSN Direct team is responsible for the Vista Sideshow design – it’s the little ancillary external screen supported on notebooks running Vista.
Catching up with a number of recent of Windows Vista items, the top of the list is provided by Paul Thurrott – Microsoft Missed Vista ‘Code Complete’ Milestone, Plans for February CTP:
Back in early December 2005, Microsoft publicly announced that it planned to ship a code-complete version of Windows Vista internally by the end of 2005, setting the stage for a future code-complete Community Technical Preview (CTP) build that the company would issue to testers. However, sources at the software giant now tell me that the company didn’t make this milestone, and Microsoft now plans to ship a code-complete Windows Vista version internally by January 31, 2006 instead.
Microsoft, however, says it’s actually on schedule. Thurrott also reports that the next Community Technical Preview (CTP) is likely due February 17 and it won’t be code complete either, but should be feature complete.
Speaking of CTPs, over the weekend came the news that Microsoft Ships First Vista Security Patches for the December CTP. They fixed the WMF vulnerability that drew so much comment earlier in the month and which apparently affected Vista as well.
The new features of the Vista firewall are explained in the January Microsoft Technet column by “The Cable Guy.” Leading the list is that outgoing traffic can be checked.
NotebookReview.com has a pictorial preview of the Windows Vista Sideshow. The sideshow is a secondary LCD display built into the cover of Windows Vista notebooks and tablets with a variety of PDA-like functionality. It got some play in Bill Gates’ CES keynote and interestingly is from the SPOT/MSN Direct team.
The user interface (UI) in the Vista December CTP is reportedly the final design and there are some complaints that it is not too much different from Windows XP. Decide for yourself in the pictorial side-by-side comparison at BentUser.
Windows PE 2.0 beta is coming this month. PE is short for Pre-installation Environment and it’s a special purpose OS for large scale deployments of Windows Vista. Details here.
Some other Microsoft announcements:
At the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft Corp. showcased several new products built on Windows® Automotive technologies delivering advanced in-vehicle communication, navigation and digital entertainment experiences for consumers. Alpine Electronics of America Inc., consistently ranked No. 1 by J.D. Power and Associates in customer satisfaction, unveiled a new portable navigation device called Blackbird and a new aftermarket in-vehicle navigation system, the NVE-N872A. In addition, Microsoft showcased the Windows Automotive-powered navigation system in the new Honda Odyssey minivan, Honda Ridgeline truck and Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, the 2006 Honda Civic.
These new navigation systems provide satellite-guided turn-by-turn directions and useful features such as voice-guided controls and information on more than 7 million points of interest, including Zagat Survey restaurant guide information, to make getting from place to place easier than ever.
Microsoft Corp. and KVH Industries, Inc., today announced an agreement to bring the MSN® TV service to consumers traveling in cars, trucks, RVs and boats throughout the United States. KVH’s Mobile Internet Receiver with MSN TV service, a customized version of the MSN TV 2 Internet & Media Player, will provide in-motion access to Web browsing, Microsoft® Windows Media® Player, MSN Mail and MSN Messenger, digital photo viewing, MSN Video, and MSN Radio with two-way connections made possible by broadband EVDO cellular services. The result will be the first in-motion product to offer consumers easy-to-use, high-speed Internet access on the television screens already installed in cars and other vehicles today. KVH’s Mobile Internet Receiver with MSN TV service will also include Wi-Fi output to provide Internet connectivity to a wide range of Wi-Fi-enabled products.
And no consumer products show would be complete without the latest in Microsoft SPOT products which now seem to mostly fit under the MSN Direct brand for FM subcarrier broadcasting:
Microsoft SPOT Unveils Next Generation of Smart Watches, Expands Smart Product Suite With Weather Stations. It’s a new ABACUS Smart Watch from Fossil and a weather station from Oregon Scientific that also got its own press release.
