Donald Thompson is responsible for overseeing the end-to-end design and day-to-day management of the developers, software, protocols, and technology strategy fueling the SPOT initiative. During the Internet boom, he built the centralized ad serving system used by all MSN Web properties, including Hotmail, MSNBC, and MSN.com. Prior to joining Microsoft, he developed an automated loan kiosk and decisioning system for Citibank, a cellular billing and management system for Bell South, and wrote AI and 3D graphics algorithms for commercial game companies. Before committing to a life of software, he was a professional child actor working in movies and television.
Product groups at Microsoft generally develop platforms or specific
applications that run on these platforms. SPOT is different. Our goal is to
increase the usefulness of everyday objects that we can wear, carry, or that
might be scattered throughout the environment, ultimately making some
activity easier and/or more enjoyable. To enable this new category of
solutions (products, technologies, platforms, and services), SPOT is required
to encompass a much broader scope than is typical at Microsoft.
The first product developed according to this vision is the Smart Watch with
MSN Direct (see Figure 1). Some commercial watchmakers that are shipping this
product include Fossil, Suunto, Tissot, as well as other watch manufacturers.
Wristwatches qualify as everyday personal obj... (more)
The first article in this series described the overall motivation for the
Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative, detailed the client
hardware and core client software and covered some of the wireless network
processing. This article will finish describing the client software with a
review of the UI rendering architecture for Smart Watches 1.0, which has
already been adapted... (more)
In this excerpt, we'll create the ultimate flashlight. With find-in-the-dark
flashing behavior and a power-audit mode, this single-button-controlled
device will become the ultimate in personal illumination for the twenty-first
century.
Figure 1 shows how the flashlight will be constructed. The .NET Micro
Framework device will have an input from a push-button switch and will
provide an o... (more)
Donald Thompson is responsible for overseeing the end-to-end design and day-to-day management of the developers, software, protocols, and technology strategy fueling the SPOT initiative. During the Internet boom, he built the centralized ad serving system used by all MSN Web properties, including Hotmail, MSNBC, and MSN.com. Prior to joining Microsoft, he developed an automated loan kiosk and decisioning system for Citibank, a cellular billing and management system for Bell South, and wrote AI and 3D graphics algorithms for commercial game companies. Before committing to a life of software, he was a professional child actor working in movies and television.
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