Full FeedCES 2009 Keynote: Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO
We have begun to prep for the Steve Ballmer press conference. This is going to be interesting since Bill Gates has given the CES opening keynote for over 10 years - check out last year’s live blog here. We have seen Steve going absolutely crazy in the past: screaming, yelling, and sweating beyond control. More recently he has seemed to mature with calmer keynotes and more thought out responses. Who knows which Steve will come out tonight in Vegas, but what we do know is that we’ll be seeing a preview of Windows 7, new Halo games, MS connectivity, and more.
Bookmark this page and we’ll get started a bit before 9pm eastern/6pm pacific.
.
As usual during live blogs, hit the F5 key on your computer or just hit the refresh button and follow along in real-time.
Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - 
Subscribe to our feed
And we are out. Thanks for spending some time with us.
Ballmer closing now, “despite the economy”...rah rah.
Before closing, some R&D peeks. A digital notebook tablet, pulling info from the cloud. Now, a surface table which is shown to be great for study groups. The table recognizing a solid object (brain model) with annotations.
Click for a larger image.
Flexible active display could become the surface of the future. nice!
Ballmer is back. Says key trends are enabling transformation: Moore’s law, screens and displays are everywhere, pc, phone, TVs, internet will become a single platform.
Now, an actual 12 year old girl takes the stage to guide us through Kodu, a game creator that teaches kids to program. A neat little game that allows kids to create things to their vision.
Click for a larger image.
Xbox 60 million music downloads through Rockband, Guitar Hero and Lips. Robbie says that’s 80% of all downloads across all console platforms.
Windows Mobile total access? He said this new application is coming soon. Allows you to update your queue, nice.
Primetime is coming spring 2009. Robbie is having controller issues, haha. Showing Netflix compatibiliy. Doug thinks it looks like CoverFlow…
On to 2009, Halo Wars goes teen rated, Feb 28 release and a demo availble Feb 5. Halo 3 ODST also coming this year.
Click for a larger image.
Xbox live will intro Primetime. Social events, for example 1 vs 100 game show, all live you can play against/with others in your social network. neat idea. Oh look, Bill Gates is in the game:
Click for a larger image.
Now Robbie Bach is talking New Sync coming soon with Tellme integrated in. Zune doing well, 2 million on Zune Social. Subscriptions are still the way to go. Now going to TV. 10 million Mediarcenter users. Mediaroom grew 250%. Interactive applications merging web experience with TV experience. Xbox had best holiday season and best year overall. 28 million consoles out there around the world. Xbox live has 17 million members, 70% growth.
Showing the “I’am a PC” commercial then Tripod takes the stage, apparently at 3 piece acoustic group. Maybe I need to get out more as I’ve never heard of them…
Windows Messenger changes user created tiles that match the emoticon you send.
Windows Live is becoming a clearinghouse of social networks. Bringing them all together in one place. Hotmail new feature coming soon: Quickadd, a box that pops up on the right that allows you to search for data and quickly insert data into an email.
Windows Live brings your web life together. Mail, What’s new in your network, Silverlight enhanced slideshow that automatically changes backgrounds to suit the image. Sweet.
Treo Pro being demo’d with new IE with FLASH!!!!!!! take that Apple.
Showing off simply networking, play to feature sends music to any connected network device. Called Homegroup. Now showing off touch on 7. Surface Globe being showed using multi-touch on an HP, different gesture tilts the view quite impressively. The guy behind me says, “ooh”.
Jumplists is kind of neat. By program, you can see common tasks and recent docs or mail or sheets or, well you get the idea.
Demo time with Charlotte. Windows 7 beta. Move between open windows is much simpler via a preview. Neat peak through to desktop by hovering over the tray icons. Really??? this is the show pony? Easy access to the desktop?
Click for a larger image.
Windows Mobile. Says he is happy with momentum. More choices, 20 million Windows phones in last 12 months. -take that apple.
Teaming with Verizon for Live Search. Changing how Windows deals with us and us it.
A partnership with Facebook, connect instantly and automatically published to your Windows Live network if you so desire. Dell is pre installing Windows Live essentials on every pc they sell.
Adam scoffs at Ballmers assertion that Windows Live has become essential.
On Friday, the Beta will be available online to everyone.
Windows 7. On track to deliver the best version of Windows ever. Tasks faster. “should boot more quickly and have fewer alerts.” Touch built into Windows 7. Beta released now.
Lets get to the future. 3 things made Windows successful: 1. Best applications. 2. More choice in hardware. 3. Windows experience helped make it all work together.
We are shown a video of a laptops from Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, Sony,. This video was called OEM Sizzle video internally.
Click for a larger image.
He is super excited at hardware and software coming out. Phones!!!
In the future, instant connections between any of those screens. The last mile for consumers. PC, phone, and TV plus the cloud, makes life seamless. Windows is the linchpin. Windows will tie it all together through the cloud.
Smartphones will make up 50% of all phones in just a couple of years time. TVs haven’t changed much. Boundaries are dissolving between computer and TV.
Opportunities Steve sees: pc, phone, tv. The three screens we see every day. Convergence of three screens into one ecosystem.
Times suggest scaling back. He believes companies and industries who innovate will position themselves far better than companies that pull back. MS is put in $8 billion last year alone and will continue to do so.
opening with jokes, Message from Jerry Yang, “why do you keep ignoring my friend request on facebook?” to much laughter.
Dressed in a smart burgundy sweater, nay wine he touts how much Bill Gates is doing in good works around the globe.
Looking quite spiffy in a shirt AND sweater - must be to hide the sweat.
We are being shown a high energy video about all the awesome things you can do with Microsoft products. From mobile to entertainment. And Ballmer takes the stage, “So this is CES.”
That are making Vista look so great. And does everyone have touchscreen computers, becuase that’s all they are showing.
Says Steve B got a perfect 800 in math on the SATs.
Gary Shapiro is coming on stage who introduce Ballmer after he touts just how great CES really is. Says he is ready for optimism.
Some mad freestyle beat boxing going on
This year’s Microsoft keynote, while still in a massive space, is in a much smaller room than Gate’s address last year.
We’re here at the Steve Ballmer keynote getting ready for things to begin. Stay tuned for what may turn out to be a great keynote—and may turn out to be nothing new.
Macworld 2010
"Apple may not be at Macworld 2010, but Appletell is, bringing you news, photos and videos directly from the show floor and special events. Join us February 10-14 to see what new products 2010 has in store for Macintosh, iPhone, iPod and iPad (yes, iPad) owners."
Palm Pre Information & Updates
Palm just introduced their next-gen smartphone, the Palm Pre, and next-gen operating system, Palm webOS. Gadgetell's got the latest Pre and webOS information and news for you right here.
I’m really looking forward to a preview of Windows 7 preview. What do think will be the most significant new feature(s’?
on January 7, 2009 at 04:42 PM - LINKWell @ least Ballmer is a change of pace! Can’t wait to see the changes Windows 7 brings, let’s hope the PR campaign associated with its launch is better than that associated with Vista. How the hell can they improve Halo, only one of the greatest games ever - guess you can’t put anything past Microsoft…
on January 7, 2009 at 04:46 PM - LINKI’m looking forward to the fact that it is something other than Vista! I’m pretty sure we can all be in agreement there, right? Hopefully we’ll see an ease in hardware requirements with 7.
on January 7, 2009 at 04:50 PM - LINKCome on Bock, I know you’ll miss Bill’s keynote just a bit. Steve has some big shoes to fill.
on January 7, 2009 at 04:53 PM - LINK