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Known as MAD's Maddest Writer, co-host of The Giz Wiz with OMGchad at www.GizWiz.TV, The Giz Wiz on ABC's World News Now, and on Tech Guy Labs with Leo Laporte on www.TWiT.TV

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    « Two Win 10 Computers for under $300 - huh? | Main | I saw this at CES 2017, but they weren't giving rides! »
    Saturday
    Jan212017

    An item from Dick's Gadget Warehouse gets a lot of attention at CES 2017.

    CES 2017 will usher in the shows 50th year! To help celebrate they're going to to have an exhibition of break-through technology gadgets of the past 50 years. I told them I had something to contribute, the Timex Data-Link, which was really the world's first 'smart watch'. And I happen to have a Data Link Watch in in the original box! (Since I loved the one I used, I bought a spare, just in case.) Here's some info on the watch via Wikipedia: The Timex Data Link was a line of early smart watches manufactured by Timex. As the name implies datalink watches are capable of data transfer through linking with a computer. The Datalink line was introduced in 1994 and it was co-developed with Microsoft. The early models included models 50, 70, 150 and model 150s (small size). The model numbers indicated the approximate number of phone numbers that could be stored in the watch memory. These early models were, at the time of their introduction, the only watches to bear the Microsoft logo. The watches have been certified by NASA for space travel and have been used by astronauts and cosmonauts in space missions. There had been an evolution over the years as to the number and type of entries that can be stored in the various watch models as well as the mode of data transfer between computer and watch. (And now back to me.) You downloaded the software to your computer, filled in the names, phone numbers, etc. and then held your watch up to your CRT computer screen. The watch's sensor windows read the flashing bars of light on the monitor and turned it into data on your watch. The Timex Data Link was also a full-function timepiece. Not only water-resistant to 100 feet, but you could get two to three years of battery life. And all for about $180.00 to $200. By the way even though you could send up to 150 items of data to the watch from your computer, they were limited to 40 characters each! It took under a minute for the info to be transferred to the watch. (Sometimes after many tries.) Laptops and LCD monitors were not bright enough to transfer the data, so Timex can up with a USB light sender. This limitation started the end of the usefulness of the Timex/Microsoft Data Link watch.

     

    Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/pbBLs2gS3Lo

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