Dean Takahashi, a former colleague from our Red Herring days, gets the goods on Microsoft’s new Smart Personal Object Technology, or SPOT, and the FM radio network that is going to be used to transmit data to these devices. The first ones out the gate are wristwatches, like Suunto’s N6 SPOT watch (pictured at right), but plenty of other gadgets like alarm clocks and coffee machines are set to earn their SPOTs as well. Using the FM band to transmit data on channels leased from sub-carrier spectrum from broadcasters isn’t an altogether original idea, but Dean’s article covers the advancements that Microsoft and others have made to try and make this attempt a success.
