Slashdot’s Assorted CES Gizmos explores the other trade show going on this week – the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Frank Buckheimer writes “The CES 2003 show in Las Vegas will give us some pretty nice introductions of some brand new products.” Other submitters sent in news about a “Mini PC” the size of a paperback book, and a spiffy digital sound projector. mbstone writes “Bill Gates announced a line of MS wristwatches that receive email, stock quotes, sports scores, etc. by FM radio.
News.com reports on the Consumer Electronics Show running in parallel with Macworld Expo, where Bill Gates presented his version of “iLife”:
The only notable new arrival in Gates’ talk was Media2Go, a portable multimedia gadget design being developed by Microsoft and Intel. Media2Go devices will have a 4-inch screen, a hard drive and basic controls for viewing photos and TV programming downloaded from a PC, as well as listening to digital music. Early manufacturing partners include Sanyo, Samsung and ViewSonic.
Gates spent much of his time elaborating on SPOT, a new initiative he outlined in Las Vegas a few months ago at the Comdex computer trade show. SPOT is software that allows devices, such as alarm clocks, to run Microsoft’s .Net Compact Framework and gain access to data stored on a central PC or remote servers.
While initial presentations on SPOT have stayed on the theoretical side, Gates on Wednesday demonstrated the first devices that will use the technology. Watchmakers Fossil, Citizen and Suunto all plan to have SPOT-enabled models available by the end of the year.
The watches will connect to PCs to calibrate themselves, download software and connect wirelessly to streaming data beamed over FM radio signals to grab the latest sports scores or stock prices.
