SideShow Devices Galore: Universal Remotes, Speakers, Bags, Phones, Companions

It's no secret I'm a fan of SideShow, the Microsoft technology that allows little bits of data from a Windows Vista PC to be accessed from a lightweight display, even while the computer is off or hibernating.

Who wants to boot up just to view their outlook calendar or review their music libraries? SideShow lets users navigate that information from an auxiliary display.

Software "gadgets" that enable the sharing of information between the PC and the SideShow device are written by the applications developers themselves. Microsoft, for example, wrote the gadget for Outlook. Lagotek wrote a gadget for accessing its home-control system. Apparently, the development of gadgets is relatively painless. One expert estimated that a developer might charge something like $10,000 to write the tiny bits of code.

Any third-party SideShow device could access the gadgets. From a Windows PC, the available gadgets appear in the Control Panel, from which users can select their preferences -- which gadgets appear on which SideShow devices.

How can you access the gadgets if the PC is off? The SideShow device (assuming it's in range) automatically synchs with your PC whenever you boot it up. Information from Outlook, or WMV, for example, are cached in the SideShow device ready to be pulled up.

Of course, accessing gadgets that require interactivity wouldn't work while the PC is off. You could browse a playlist, but you couldn't play a song, for example.

You could even access an electronic programming guide (EPG) while the Media Center PC is off, but you couldn't select a show. Since most Media Center PCs will always be on, gadgets for EPGs, home automation and the like will always be usable from SideShow-enabled remote controls or other displays.

Theoretically, SideShow shouldn't care about the transport protocol used--Bluetooth, Zigbee, WiFi, whatever--but for some reason it only seems to "support" Bluetooth for now. The fluke at CES was a SideShow-enabled digital picture frame from i-mate

SideShow @ CES

CES 2007 was the first significant showcase of SideShow devices.

nVidia demonstrated its new Preface platform for Personal Media Displays, implemented in ASUS's W5Fe and LG's Z1 laptops. nVidia even showed its own reference design for a Preface-enabled Media Center remote control and a credit-card-sized LCD with a 2.5-inch display.

MSI showed an implementation of nVidia's itty bitty SideShow display.

i-mate, in addition to showing a SideShow-enabled digital frame (apparently the only WiFi-enabled SideShow device), also displayed a mobile phone that looks like the i-mate SPL phone but will apparently offer SideShow capabilities.

The placard next to the phone indicated that Smartphones and Pocket PC Phones would be available Q2 2007. The placard also indicated that users could control PowerPoint presentations through the mobile phone (or any SideShow device, really). Now there's a handy application.

A slew of remote controls were on display at the show, including products and reference designs from Philips, Ricavision, Interlink, Topseed and SMK

As indicated previously, Microsoft has worked out the licensing agreements with its EPG provider Tribune Media Services, allowing users to access, record and do other EPG-related things through the SideShow displays.

As far as I could tell, only Lagotek showed a home automation gadget for SideShow, as demonstrated on an SMK remote.

My two favorite SideShow devices, though, were the Z-10 speakers from Logitech and the SideShow-enabled computer bag from Eleksen.

Logitech's Z-10 bi-amp, two-way speakers ($149) sound pretty good, as far as PC speakers go. The cool innovation, though, is the LCD screen on the front panel that can display song information, a digital clock and other basic information without a Vista PC, or the complete gamut of SideShow goodies from a Vista PC.

In the past, Logitech has demonstrated the SideShow-enabled G15 keyboard for gaming, but I didn't see it at CES.

Even cooler, a SideShow display embedded in a computer bag from Eleksen, maker of fabric interfaces for consumer electronics. The display is controlled via an interface on the canvas material. It appears Eleksen will be selling the reference design for this contraption, rather than the SideShow bags themselves.

What Price SideShow?

Microsoft's own research suggests that some 28% of consumers would pay a $50-$150 premium for laptops with a non-detachable SideShow display, and $200-$300 for a detachable display. Indeed, SideShow devices could be implemented for these prices.

Most of the SideShow products on display at CES are expected to be released in the first or second quarter of 2007.

Windows Vista ships with two gadgets: Windows Media Player and Windows Mail. Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 includes a Calendar gadget as well. Microsoft plans to release additional gadgets including E-mail and Contacts, RSS feed viewer, picture viewer, stocks, gadgets for Windows Media Center, and gadgets for PowerPoint.

Additional gadgets from Microsoft and partners will be downloadable from the Windows SideShow Gallery at gallery.live.com.

Get started writing Windows Gadgets for SideShow devices
Technical info by Jeffrey Richter of Wintellect
Thanks, Derek