The etymology of glanceable

Glanceable, as several journalists have pointed out to us, is not an actual word (yet).

The earliest record I can find of the word "glanceable" from outside of Ambient is a 2002 paper from the Scope project at Microsoft Research. But as everyone knows it's an evolving language, and it's only a matter of time.

Ambient Devices: More than just words and voices

Alan Reiter did a good overview of Ambient Devices and comparison to Spot some time back I thought it would be worth posting. Unfortunately Alan took down his blog, but thanks to the Internet Archive you can find the article here.

A market beings

Over three years ago Ambient started on the mission to make all Internet information as easy to read as a clock. Simple, intuitive displays that continually show you the information you care about. We called it glanceable.

Somewhat simultaneously Microsoft started their Smart Personal Objects Technology (Spot) initiative, later renamed MSN Direct.

And now a third player enters the market, albeit with glanceability layered on an already overburdened and complicated interface. Welcome Motorola.

The market has evolved to the point where even ordinary, seemingly benign objects are now connected to a network. Clocks, watches, paperweights, pinwheels and other items are among the newest players in the sweeping world of wireless. Such gadgets fall under the ''glanceable'' class of wireless devices.

Startup Ambient Devices and software giant Microsoft Corp. are two of the most notable players in the new glanceable objects market. And although their devices in many cases offer the same sort of information, their strategies are very different.

from RCR Wireless News