With every tech company from Apple to Google reportedly working on a wearable computer to compete with the Pebble and the Sony smart watch, smart watches are definitely a hot topic on the gadget frontier. We can now add Microsoft to the list as the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently published a patent from Microsoft that sounds a lot like a wearable computer.
To be clear, this Microsoft invention isn’t your average smart watch with different time-telling faces. In fact, the application makes no mention of the device’s ability to tell time at all. The technology, as outlined in its application, is all about making data transferring – from using a credit card, logging into your account, to accessing a building or car – as secure and difficult to hack as possible.
What Microsoft described in its paperwork is an “electrical device” that you can wear on your body (like on your wrist). Alternatively, it can be part of the surface of a mobile device, a wallet, or even jewelery. It then uses the wearer’s body part, like your arm or finger, as a “transmission channel” to transfer data through direct physical contact with another device like a computer, smartphone, or even a game console and controller. The idea is that your body part acts as a conduit for the data to travel through, rather than beaming the information wirelessly, which makes it prone to hacking.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Select Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: PyCon AU 2024 Talks, New Raspberry Pi Gear Available and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
