garye@microsoft.UUCP (Gary ERICSON) (09/12/90)
Some time ago, the question was raised about finding a watch that could have info or schedules downloaded from a computer. Someone mentioned a Seiko watch sold by Microseeds in Florida. I called them (813-882-8635) and they gave me prices (they only sell at list unless you're a dealer). They also recommended calling the Mac Warehouse (800-255-6227) who also gave me prices. Microseeds Mac Warehouse Wrist-Mac - standard $149 $99 - pocket $149 $99 - executive $199 $139 Each of these has a Macintosh connection (hence the name) and the watch comes with a cable and Mac software (requires Hypercard). I didn't get a real clear picture of these products, and the differences between the versions, but apparently the standard and executive are wristwatches while the pocket version is a pocket watch. They all will take data downloaded from a Mac; I was told specifically that with the executive you can edit data and send it back to the Mac (I don't know if the others do that as well). The pocket and executive (maybe the standard) hold 2K of data representing 80 screens. There was mention of memos with 12-character titles plus numbers, but I don't know how that fits with the 2K of data. There was also mention of a few daily alarms which leads me to believe that the data you download from the Mac is strictly text, i.e., can't download alarms. If that's true, that's really too bad. I remember Travelling Software carrying something that sounds a lot like this, but it's missing from their latest catalog. I remember seeing two Seiko watches in the past - one with a cable to connect to a computer, and one with a tiny keyboard you could plug the watch into to enter data. I presume this Wrist-Mac is based on the former model. In both cases, the screens were really hard to read. I also thought I had seen a version from Casio, but I haven't seen anything like it in a long time. Anyone know anything more about this? This seems like such a good idea, especially if you could download alarms from your PC/Mac-based calendar program (to let you know about all your meetings during the day). Anyone have phone numbers for Seiko or Casio? Maybe I'll call them directly and ask about products like this. Gary Ericson - Microsoft - Work Group Apps