Gadgets, for some, are replaced on a regular basis. A phone, for example, may serve for its two-year contract and then be replaced. While periodicity differs, the same goes for desktop computers and notebook computers.

Some gadgets, however, have the longevity of a good friend. A good pen, for example, is something you can use forever (assuing ink refills are available). And, the same goes for a watch (for the few of us who still wear them). Two of my watches are in their final weeks of life as they were designed because Microsoft is turning off the MSN Direct service that provides their intelligence on January 1, 2012.

The Suunto N3 and N3i are powered by Microsoft SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology) that receives data on sub-carrier of commercial FM radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. Data included time (with auto-time zone adjustment), news, weather, movie schedules, Outlook calendar sync (with alarms) and even one-way MSN Messenger messages. This was great to have back when cell-phone wireless data was spotty and WiFi was a rarity. I’ve worn one of the two Suuntu watches since around 2005 if memory (and my old blog) serves me correctly. And, I’ve been making it a point to wear the N3i daily as its nears its end of electronic communications life. To be fair, many of the SPOT features degraded or stopped working a year or so ago. So, it is not quite the same watch it was in its youth.

The watch should still function as a basic timepiece after January 1, 2012. But, it may lose the extra timefaces forever if I, for example, let the battery run down without a recharge.

Microsoft SPOT was a technology that never really caught on as 3G data and WiFi let people get information directly on their phone. But, it could have been the basis of smart accessory devices had Bluetooth been added to let it communicate better.