Microsoft Chairman Demos Smart Watches

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates opened this year's CES with a keynote address tonight.

Part of Mr. Gates' speech was a new version of one he did at Comdex in November, in which he talked about seamless computing, which will allow software to work together, whether it is two company's billing systems or a PC and smart phone sharing their user's information. "We want to make it easy to have the same information on the devices you have at work and the devices you have at home," he said.

Much of what Mr. Gates talked about was not related to handhelds or other mobile devices, but he did discuss SPOT watches, which are just going on sale this week. He demonstrated how watches from Fossil and Suunto can display snippets of information they receive by monitoring FM radio transmissions. He also said SPOT technology would be integrated into other types of devices later this year.

Incidentally, these have been renamed Smart Watches with MSN Direct.

Related Links

• First SPOT Watches Now Available