Now, a wrist-watch that keeps track of your expenditure
WATCHES with brains tend to be the stuff
of science fiction. But soon you will be
able to buy a drink with your watch and,
if you over-indulge, use it to check
where your money went. This is
the prospect being offered by Swatch,
the Swiss watchmaker, which aims to
develop new applications for Swatch
Access, the 'ski pass on the wrist'.
Swatch Access is based on the (RFID)
radio frequency identification technology. RFID, a radio-based minicomputer,
is used for locking cars, tagging animals,
charging motorists on toll roads and
marking railway containers. Inside an
otherwise normal Swatch is a microchip
developed by Swatch's sister company,
Marin. This stores data and has a sensor
ring - a kind of radio antenna. This
allows the ski pass data to be stored in
the chip, and signals to the ski-lift gate
to let the wearer through.
The watch costs about 30 pounds
and can be reprogrammed repeatedly
for use at different resorts. The device is
already used at 360 ski resorts in 30
countries worldwide. The system provides a contact-free entry method,
working independently of the watch battery.
Swatch is now putting a wide range
of a city's attraction and services on the
Access, including hotels, restaurants,
tourist sites and buses. Hand-held
terminals are being used in restaurants,
for example, to debit the cost of a meal
from the watch, and it could also be
used as a Credit card.
Other possibilities include linking
the device to a laptop computer at a
hotel's reception desk to enable the user
to'check in. At this stage, Swatch Access
ig being seen as supplementary to smart-
cards. Swatch wants to concentrate on
sports, tourism and transport applications rather than high-security entry
j systems, where technologies such as
facial or iris recognition systems are
emerging.
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