Microsoft Smartwatch

 

The service will be available initially only in U.S. metropolitan areas and parts of southern Canada, but testing has already begun in Europe, the source says.
"Europe presents some interesting challenges. In Italy, for example, radio broadcasting is like the Wild West, it's almost unregulated. You get stations jammed on top of each other," the source says. Still, the service should be available in Europe "very soon," he says.
Whether anyone besides computer geeks will embrace the technology remains to be seen. Past attempts at Dick Tracy-type watches, such as Seiko's MessageWatch, which sold in the mid-to-late nineties, have floundered. Microsoft is betting that consumers are more ready nowadays to embrace such devices, and that technologies have evolved sufficiently to make them attractive.

New and Improved

CES will also be the launch pad for Microsoft's MSN Premium software for broadband Internet users, which offers firewall, antispam, antivirus, and enhanced e-mail and instant messaging options. It will be priced on a subscription basis at $9.95 per month, Microsoft officials say.
MSN Premium is meant for the multiuser broadband household and has features such as parental controls and multiple e-mail accounts. Microsoft will also introduce a dressed-down version called MSN Plus that will be targeted at the single-user broadband customer. Pricing for MSN Plus will be between $4 and $6 a month, Microsoft has said.
The MSN products succeed the current MSN 8 Internet Software and will be the first to be offered worldwide by Microsoft, a spokesperson says. However, at CES Microsoft will launch only English language versions targeted at the U.S. market, she says.
Furthermore, at the show Microsoft will talk about an incremental update to its Windows XP Media Center Edition that is expected out later this year and show off Windows Automotive products for in-car entertainment and navigation. The company is also expected to describe enhancements it is making to its Tablet PC software.

source:http://www.pcworld.com