Wireless Swatch Beams MSN Direct Services
74199
Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg said that smart watches take advantage of &quot;invisible space,&quot; items you carry with you that don&#39;t take up any extra space.
257279
The company announces a new version of its wireless messaging and data access software.
509642
Microsoft&#39;s MSN TV division has revealed details of its &quot;MSN TV 2 Internet &amp; Media Player,&quot; the broadband-oriented successor to its earlier modem-interfaced WebTV Internet receiver.
425345
Wireless package now includes a 2.1-GHz Pentium M processor.
376638
Today, the Redmond company is unveiling the first widespread preview of its new MSN Search technology, a key part of its effort to regain ground in a critical area where Microsoft concedes that it has fallen behind.
524261
A Macromedia executive says wireless carriers are demanding specific menus, buttons and functions. Could Flash be the answer?
332578
From a cell phone with just six buttons to one that lets users dictate text messages and another that delivers the results of a breathalyzer test, mobile handset makers put their most eye-catching gadgets on display at this week's wireless industry conference.
295899
Meat wagons hitched to wireless bandwagon
129777
Swiss watchmaker Swatch on Wednesday introduced &quot;Paparazzi&quot; watches that use Microsoft&#39;s Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT), giving Dick Tracy wannabes yet another watch brand to choose from.
341701
Sprint is launching a set of services designed to help businesses get a better grip on the array of wireless devices and applications that enterprises are rolling out with increased frequency.
245506
Starbucks has upgraded its Wi-Fi offering from a tall to a venti, switching partners from T-Mobile USA to AT&amp;T in a deal that will mean free coffee-shop wireless for millions of U.S. broadband subscribers.The chain&#39;s network of hotspots, the best-known in the U.S., covers more than 7,000 company-owned stores. Users of AT&amp;T Broadband and U-verse DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) services will get free access to the networks, and the carrier will soon extend benefits to AT&amp;T Wireless customers as well, according to a news release. AT&amp;T business customers with remote-access subscriptions will be able to buy unlimited, flat-rate access at any Starbucks location.AT&amp;T had 14.2 million lines of DSL in service at the end of last year. Its wireless arm has about 70 million subscribers. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany&#39;s Deutsche Telekom, said it had 28.7 million subscribers at year&#39;s end.Although 3G (third-generation) cellular networks are nearing typical wired broadband speeds, Wi-Fi hotspots in key locations such as airports, hotels and cafes remain an attractive option for people who need high-speed connectivity on the road. T-Mobile has provided the Starbucks networks as part of its national hotspot service for several years, with a variety of paid plans including US$6 for one hour, $9.99 for a day and $29.99 per month with an annual agreement. Prices under AT&amp;T will be slightly lower, including $3.99 for two hours and $19.99 per month.But the deal also opens up a whole new customer base for the hotspots: Starbucks customers with an active Starbucks stored-value card will get two hours of free access per day. All that&#39;s needed to keep a card active is to have money stored on it and to buy something with it at least once a month, said Starbucks spokeswoman Bridget Baker. Starbucks employees will also get free access.AT&amp;T will take over the networks market by market, starting in the next few months and finishing by the end of the year, the companies said. Under a roaming agreement to be implemented by March 31, T-Mobile subscribers will also be able to use the AT&amp;T Starbucks networks, Baker said.The deal significantly expands AT&amp;T&#39;s network of hotspots, giving it 17,000 U.S. sites (about 70,000 worldwide) and adding a popular Web-surfing location to its lineup, which today includes McDonald&#39;s restaurants, Barnes &amp; Noble bookstores and some hotels and airports. It builds on an existing relationship in which AT&amp;T has provided back-end networks for Starbucks stores for more than 10 years, Baker said. The carrier will provide Starbucks an enterprise-class network with increased bandwidth and redundancy, according to the release.The prospect of high-speed access at Starbucks should help AT&amp;T attract new DSL customers and hold onto existing ones, telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan wrote in a commentary on the deal.&quot;The customer wins because they get to take advantage of money saving bundles, and AT&amp;T win&#39;s because it keeps customers happy which means hanging on to the customer in an increasingly competitive marketplace, and Starbucks win&#39;s because it expands their digital entertainment platform and gives customers more reasons to spend time in the stores,&quot; Kagan wrote.
669473
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Research workers showed off some of their projects, including several that find new uses for mobile phones, on Monday at a summit in Redmond, Wash. Eric Chang, director of incubation at Microsoft's Advanced Technology Center in Beijing, described Fone+, a product that lets users connect their mobile phones to a TV, a keyboard, and a mouse. Fone+ would let users take advantage of the growing processing power in mobile phones that enables more computing functions but would allow them to use phones to access the Internet with a full keyboard and on a larger screen. The product would be aimed at regionsÂ such asÂ China, where PC penetration is still quite low but mobile phone ownership is high. Users could also connect other devices, such as external storage, to the phone through the cradle. The phone could connect to the Internet either wirelessly or through broadband wired connections, Chang said. While some parts of China have broadband, others are covered by at best GPRS or EDGE, relatively slow mobile connections, he said. Chang expects to demonstrate the application Tuesday at the summit. The application appears to have caught the eye of Microsoft executives such as Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer, who mentioned Fone+ at a conference earlier this year. Another researcher showed off applications that combine physiological sensors with mobile phones. One application developed and tested by Nuria Oliver, a researcher at Microsoft Research, combines a heart-rate sensor with a music-tempo analyzer to let runners use music players in their mobile phones to set their workouts. With MPTrain, a user first chooses a workout on the phone that might include two 10-minute periods of intense exercise interspersed with periods of slower exercise. The application then analyzes the music in the user's phone to choose songs based on their tempo and length, matching the chosen workout. "The phone knows where your heart rate should be based on the workout you want to do," Oliver said. "It determines whether you need to slow down, speed up, or keep the same pace and based on that selects the right song to induce you to run at the right pace," she said. She tested how well a song encourages a runner to change pace and found that music works remarkably well, compared to runners trying to pace their workout on their own without music. Oliver has also developed and tested an application that can be used by people who suffer from or think they might suffer from sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea repeatedly stop breathing as they sleep, often many times a night, and perhaps for a minute or longer. Wearing a small sensor on a toe that communicates with a mobile phone over Bluetooth, a user could sleep at home and monitor their heart rate and level of oxygen in their blood. Most people with sleep apnea undergo tests when they are hooked up to many sensors on their bodies and must sleep in a hospital for one or two nights. Oliver's application would allow users to remain in the comfort of their own homes and monitor their sleep for longer periods of time, allowing them to note how different factorsÂ such asÂ food or stress may affect their sleep, she said. The researchers showed off their projects at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit, a conference where Microsoft invites members of academia to discuss issues in computer science research. Microsoft Research, a group comprising 700 researchers in five labs around the world, works on a variety of projects that may ultimately become Microsoft products or be sold to external sources.
48553
LONDON - MSN is upping the stakes in the battle for online and desktop domination with the launch of a new set of communication services to include blogging and picture sharing.
54857
Microsoft (MSFT) and watch maker Swatch are offering a new line of wireless data watches, the companies said Wednesday, bringing the era of Dick Tracy wristwatch radios one step closer.
539369
MSN, Microsoft Corp.'s  Web  portal, said on Tuesday it will make a big push to stream live  concerts to its users after signing an exclusive global  partnership with Control Room, the company behind the web  broadcast of last year's Live 8 event.
578790
Microsoft is adding film showings channel to its MSN Direct data service for smart watches.
381793
Beta application is available as part of the new MSN Toolbar Suite.