My how the MSN Direct service has changed. I got my first taste of it with a SPOT Watch purchase back in 2004: the watch received limited but customized information over FM radio frequencies. At CES this past January, we saw MSN Direct integration with GPS devices and that service now has the potential to get even better. Today, Microsoft announced API availability so websites can use a "MSN Direct Send to GPS" function.
I haven’t seen an example of the API in use yet, but here’s how I envision it. You visit a website and find locational information: say the address of a local bookstore, for example. One click on the webpage would then shoot the address to your GPS device so that you don’t have to use a cumbersome interface to re-enter the address when you get to your car. As much as I love GPS units, the weakest function in my opinion is usually address entry, so this is a real time-saver for websites that take advantage of it. Granted, the functionality is limited to MSN Direct devices like those from Garmin, but it’s a step in the right direction. Heh.
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