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We’re here today to give you live, and frequent updates of Michael Dell’s keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2006.  Just as you did yesterday with our coverage of Bill Gate’s Pre-Show keynote address, hit refresh every once in a while to get caught up to speed.  Lets get the show on the road…

2:27 - “The meeting will begin momentarily” By the way… this is called “Michael Dell’s Industry Insider speech” in case you were curious.  Stay tuned.

2:33 - Looks like they’re going for fashionably late just like Bill Gates was yesterday.

2:34 - Gary Shapiro (President of the CEA) hops on stage to describe Dell’s business model and introduce the man himself.  Dell is “America’s most admired company”

2:35 - “Michaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeel Dell” Now we’re watching a cool video intro.  Here he is…

2:36 - “The PC is becoming the center of the digital lifestyle.” 1/3 computers is a Dell. 

2:38 - Grown from 1.2 million units in 2000 to about 6.8 million units in 2005 (449% increase). Shipped over 10 million units in the 4th quarter.  “Gamers represent about 20% of PC users… 40 million users who care about 3-D graphics display performance.”

2:40 - XPS 600: Dell’s flagship product.  2 CPUs in this system.  This effectively doubles the graphics performance versus the single GPU and much faster than any gaming console you can buy (taking a shot at Microsoft’s Xbox 360).  The new… limited edition XPS renegade.  It has design by Killer Paint (flames).  4.26 GHz Dual-core… two Western Digital 150 GB 10K RPM rapid drives.  Available in Q1 of this year.

2:44 - Jen-Hsun Huang, Co-Founder and President and CEO of nVidea takes the stage with Dell to discuss the extremeness of the graphics of Dell’s new PCs

2:45 - nForce 4 core logic is what they started with to synchronize two GPUs in one system.  “If Michael already has 2 GPUs in the XPS, how do we top that?” They’re going to put 2 GPUs on one card… they can now put 4 GPUs into a computer.

2:49 - 1.3 billion transistors, 2 GB dedicated Frame buffer, 41 Gigapixels per second, 5.2 TFLOPS total compute power.  “We’re bringing all of that super computing horsepower to the purpose of playing exteme high-def video games.”

2:50 - Jen-Hsun Huang leaves the stage and Dell takes back over… “4X faster than the fastest thing out there”

2:52 - “Richard Garriott, Executive Producer of NC soft in Austin Texas and developer of the world’s multi-online games.” He’s showing us Auto Assault (which has been on the screen behind them the whole time.)

2:53 - Hundreds of thousands of people can connect and play these games together (that’d be too big of a game… don’t you think?) This game seems pretty whack.  ncsoft is a 100% Dell shop.

2:56 - Rebecca is still playing Auto Assault in the background… I wonder how much she’s getting paid to play that game?!?!?  Richard (and Rebecca) leave the stage.

3:00 - XPS Laptops - Dell reads a bunch of quotes from newspapers and magazines… where’s our quote Mike?  The new Inspiron B 1705.  The first Dell platform with Intels new dual core mobile optimized processor.  17 inch monitor.  “World’s first low powered dual core processor.” Media Direct will allow you to see all of your videos or music and photos… even while your system is off.

3:02 - The 24 inch monitor has won more awards than any other display.  Takes the cover off of the UltraSharp 30” display.  Contrast ratio of 700:1… 11 ms response time… HDCP compliant… “more than 3 times the resolution of the new Xbox 360”

3:04 - Dell goes on to talk about the 42 and 50 inch displays.  Shipped about 1.5 million Media Center units.  “It only gets better with VIIV and Blu-ray”

3:06 - Last year there were over 1.4 billion visits to Dell.com.  Dell.com generated more pure online revenues than Amazon, eBay, yahoo and google all combined.... pretty impressive!

3:07 - Here’s what’s taking dell’s direct model to the next level?  He calls up Mike Johnston in Edmonton to get some support.  Mike tells him to go to http://www.dell.com/remote and he enters in the caller ID so Mike can take over his screen.  “How about you fix it and then you show us what you’re doing”

3:10 - They’re using this about 50% of the time to fix problems that callers have.  99% satisfaction.

3:13 - Partnership with Goodwill… here’s Alex Gruzen, Senior VP of Product Group to show us what they’ve been working on in their labs.  Takes the wraps off of the XPS mobile concept… first notebook with 20 inch widescreen display panel.  “No compromises in protability” Uhhh except that it’s huge!  It has a leather like feel to it.

3:17 - Bi-directional remote (Bluetooth).  The product is not for sale yet… He takes it away and it actually looks like a brief-case when it’s closed.

And that’s it folks… hope you enjoyed the live-blog.  Pictures are coming soon.

And he’s back for some more… Dell and Alex Gruzen come back out for questions. “You’re going to see a whole series of products in the XPS family.”

“You’re gonna see a pretty broad array of product innovations from Dell across the year.”

If that Notebook PC they just introduced says anything about the year… I agree, it’s going to be a good year for innovation. 

Dell gives his thoughs on the $100 PC… “I think a lot of these countries need clean water, medicine. There’s this thing called the industrial revolution. They haven’t experienced all of these basic things that are more important to them than a $100 PC. That’s not exactly what the world is looking for now. If it were, you would see a lot more reuse of old machines in the developing world.” Good point Mike.

Once again, that’s all… have a good night.

In Delphi’s press event yesterday, they announced their partnership with Hyundai which adds to their long list of automotive partners.  The deal includes shipping all Hyundai cars with Delphi units already built-in.  They also announced their current line of navigation systems that they have made easier to use.  Delphi’s new Integration Navigation Radio features both voice activation and touch screen.  It will also have the first OEM application of real-time traffic services in North America.

They hinted at possible video content to be sent over satellite in the future.  While on the topic of satellite radio, Delphi announced their partnership with Ondas Media, who are expected to be the first company to launch satellite radio in Europe in 2006.

Finally they unveiled their new multimedia radio unit.  This in-dash receiver has Bluetooth, MP3 playback, podcasting capabilities, 2 way communications, and an SD slot.  The radio can also be connected to the internet via a PC.  They gave very little details on this front but will have more in the near future.

Mike Troettie, President of Sharp America spoke about how Aquos TVs are selling big… to accommodate for this, they’re adding a facility.  (They can produce 8 45 inch screens out of a single piece of glass… amazing!) He mentioned that LCD will always cost more than Plasma, but the price differential is slimming.  They then talked about their new 57 inch TV with 5-wavelength backlight.  This will improve the reds and greens of the display.

Next he announced another new TV… the D90, which is a top of the product line for them.  It’s a new 1080p set with a 176 degree viewing angle, 1500:1 contrast ratio, and 4ms response time.  Not bad at all.  Now is the cool stuff.  Bob Scaglione, Sharp America’s Senior VP of Marketing took over from here.  They’ve got 3 new technologies/partnerships that they highlighted in yesterday’s address: megacontrast, dual viewing angle screens, and Network AQUOS.  First, they’ve announced their megacontrast TV.  The megacontrast has an amazing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio (this is obviously for high-end video editing or design).  He next spoke about the dual viewing angle TVs which we all saw some time ago.  The display will allow the driver of a vehicle see the screen as a navigation system, while the passenger can see a DVD movie.  And their big news is that have partnered up with NBC to retrofit all of NBC with Sharp LCD HD displays.  This includes a 10 year agreement to replace NBC’s Panasonic jumbotron in Times Square with one of their own.

Scaglione also introduced their XV-Z20000 front projector.  This is Sharp’s first 1080p DLP projector to hit the market.  The display uses TI’s DLP technology to give it a crisp, HD picture.  He mentioned their strong commitment to Blu-ray and that they will release Blu-ray players in the summer of this year.  He gave very little details and moved on to their new 2.1 surround systems.  These will target those that either don’t have room for 5.1 systems or just don’t need them.

Thanks for joining us as we live-blog Bill Gate’s keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show.  The show is set to start at 6:30PM PST.  To check out our updates, click the refresh button every couple of minutes and you’ll be right up to date.

Here we go…

6:36 - Cool little video intro taking us through the different categories that CES covers.

6:39 - Gary Shapiro (President of the CEA) gives us an intro.  Talks about the great keynotes that they are hosting this year.  “Our world cup of technology.”

6:41 - Shapiro introduces Bill Gates and gives a pat on the back to Gates and Microsoft for everything that they’ve introduced at CES in the past.  He then talks about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and how they are Time Magazine’s People of the Year.

6:43 - Microsoft’s “digital vision” video takes our attention as Gates prepares to come on stage.  The video highlights various Microsoft employees and how they’re living the dream.  My eyes are turning yellow from the background.

6:45 - Gates comes on stage and talks about the stiff competition he and his wife had for Time’s Persons of the Year.  He talks about 1982 when the PC was on the cover of Time.

6:47 - This is the “digital decade.” He talks about the Xbox 360 that they’ve been building up for 5 years.  Mentions Office 12 in 2006.

6:48 - Has a touch screen LCD that he’s playing with.  It has a TV, and doesn’t look anything like a Microsoft product.  You can use it to keep track of the family schedule and watch news channels.  Kind of like an enhanced Media Center PC.

6:50 - He has a tri-screen desktop setup that is about 2’ x 9’.  He also has a tablet PC that he moves things to his desktop or to the video conference that he’s in with Thomas Anderson (the creator).  This kind of looks like a Steve Jobs keynote to me…

6:52 - Traffic information comes up automatically on his desktop telling him that he might want to leave a little early for the airport.

6:53 - Moves on to the “airport” where he puts his phone down on a table and the screen pops up what’s on the cell phone’s screen.  Business card information is scanned and then automatically entered into his phone.  The system is called “BlueYonder.” “I get the benefit of the full screen when that phone normally has a smaller screen.”

6:55 - Shows image of devices that he used… PC, Smartphone, and Xbox 360.  Talks about the great sales growth we’ve seen in the “digital decade.” Broadband overtook Dialup… over 100,000,000 broadband users.

6:56 - Describing a digital home/office environment where information follows you wherever you go.  Talk about this as a “cross-device approach.”

6:59 - Personalization, empowerment, everything moving to the internet.  Mentions IPTV and security that goes along with it.

7:00 - Going to introduce Windows Vista by the end of the year.

7:01 - Aaron Woodman, Group Program Manager (in charge of Vista) shows us Vista.  You can now see all of the applications in full motion when you click Alt+Tab.

7:03 - Flip 3D gives you a visualization of the programs that you have open.  Gadgets are shown in the sidebar and can be dragged to the desktop to see a full version.

7:04 - Slideshow: can see your calendar and other information without even powering on your laptop.

7:05 - The implementation of “Tabbed browsing… but with a twist.” You get to see all of the tabs that are open in an Alt+Tab style.  Kind of like a PowerPoint slideshow.

7:07 - Parents can now block different levels of games without even having the games.  If your kid buys a game and its above the allowed level, it gets automatically blocked.

7:08 - Gaming, memories, and music:  Gaming… Microsoft Flight Simulator demo.  Uses Xbox 360 controller with the Vista PC to control the Flight Sim.  They have a little bit more than a year to finalize the product… but “Gaming is going to be awesome on Windows Vista.”

7:09 - Memories: Photos and videos… looks like iPhoto with a Vista theme.  You can crop an image in the photo viewer without opening up any type of editor.  Vista “always saves the original” so you can revert back to the original if you want the content that you cropped out.

7:11 - Motion video can be played in the Windows Slide Show.  On to Music… the next generation of Windows Media Player.  “Nice… clean user interface.” Digital Stacks… you can see exactly how many songs are in each album, genre.

7:12 - Brings Bill back out and the Van Taffler, President of MTV networks to discuss some things they’re doing with music.  Shows picture of Napoleon Dynamite and Bill Gates and says they’re “twins separated at birth.”

7:15 - Announces URGE.  “URGE will offer a customized relationship with music.” 100 radio stations with customizable soundtracks.  Subscribers will drive the service (feedback).

7:17 - “Please… take note… we are trying something new with URGE.” BTW, this is Taffler speaking.  Aaron is now giving us a sneak preview of URGE.

7:18 - The music service will have 2 million tracks… you can buy the songs or you can have “all you can eat.” Plus 100 CD quality radio stations.  Editorial blogging is integrated in the music store.  They’re also doing this for MTV, VH1 and CMT… for example TRL.

7:20 - “There’s no stale music in your experience.” They play Justin Timberlake and then Justin Timberlake comes out and cracks a few jokes.  “URGE offers artists like myself a way to connect with the listeners.” URGE and Timberlake will be doing some “new and creative things together.”

7:23 - Gates comes back and talks about Tablet PCs (which they’ve been pushing for some time now).  As you use the Vista Table version, it will learn your handwriting so it gets better… and better.

7:24 - Talks about the Palm 700w and how amazing it is with its shortcuts.  Mentions that Verizon approved the device early so it will come out sooner than they expected.

7:26 - Has an in-home cordless phone by PHILLIPS that uses the Windows Live phone service so you can use Live Messenger without being on your computer.

7:28 - “Individualized video feed to your TV.” If you’re in a hurry and you’re in the middle of a show, new software will pick the highlights of the show and condense it so you don’t feel like you missed anything.

7:30 - You’re going to want to bring your information and content onto one screen anywhere you are in the house.  “This is where Media Center comes in...” 130 manufacturers using Media Center.

7:31 - Microsoft will take full advantage of the new Intel VIIV processors.  Over 150 partners have designed different parts of the Media Center.  “Any show, any time, anywhere” Gates announces partnership with DirecTV…

7:34 - Video on demand will work with Media Center with DirecTV’s help.  Joe Belfiore now takes the stage to introduce Media Center… where we are today and where we’re going.  “Texas 16, USC 10”

7:35 - Shows Comedy Central “MotherLoad” and announces 5 partners for their online Spotlight guide.  Play clips from The Daily Show, The Chapelle Show… and old shows.  Good way for channels to have a good connection with their viewers.

7:36 - Shows a PC from Averatec that’s about the size of a Mac mini.  They will be available this spring for under $1000 with a TV tuner and $499 without a tuner.

7:39 - Show the upcoming Toshiba Gigabeat (30 GB, 4 hour battery life) and shows how it uses the “familiar media center menu.” Purchased movies from Starz!/VONGO service can be transferred onto devices like the Gigabeat.  About 1000 movie titles.

7:40 - LG Electronics portable media device is now being demo’d… and now it’s done.

7:42 - We’re now looking at Live.com and the movie and TV show content recommendations that are integrated in the site.  Allows you to set Media Center to record a show for you through the internet (similar to TiVoToGo).

7:45 - Windows Live Messenger has integrated “Activities” that will give you recommendations of shows and movies that your friends like.  The service automatically offers you promotional content such as trailers right in your Live Messenger buddy window.

7:46 - HD-DVD: Joe shows Toshiba’s new HD-DVD player… there’s a demo coming on now.  Plays the “Bourne Supremacy” in the Toshiba player.  You can now choose scenes while you’re still watching the movie.  HD-DVD has an interactivity layer that will show you the actors that are in the scene you’re watching.  It also gives you a bio on the actor.

7:49 - With the producer commentary option, you can actually see the person talking in the corner.  (Kind of looks like a floating head in the middle of the screen)

7:50 - HD-DVD players will allow you to copy high-def version of the movies over to the player.  Joe moves on to cable card device by Dell.

7:52 - Windows Vista Media Center demo… high-def content is available on any compatible device in your house (PC, Xbox 360, etc...)

7:54 - Media Center allows you to select albums by album-art instead of the song name.  You can also view by Artist or Year.  “Don’t forget… all of this is available on the Xbox 360 through it’s extender capabilities.”

7:55 - The movies that he copied before (Bourne Supremacy) is now available on your PC.  Hands it off to Peter Moore (Corporate VP of Xbox) to talk about the Xbox 360.  We’re now watching a video intro to the presentation.

7:58 - Xbox 360 had an “Unprecedented Global Launch” Forecasted to ship 4.5-5.5 million units worldwide by June 2006.  Moore announced they now have a 3rd manufacturer for the 360.

7:59 - More than 50% of Xbox 360s are connected to Xbox Live.  Since the launch, there have been more than 4 million Live Marketplace downloads.

8:03 - Later this year, “we will be launching an external HD-DVD player.”

8:04 - By June of this year, Xbox 360 will have 50 HD games.  Al Bernstein comes out to demo EA Fight Night Round 3.

8:05 - Bill Gates comes back out to take the place of Mohammad Ali, Steve Ballmer comes out to fight him… Ballmer is actually trash-talking Bill Gates.  Ballmer looks like he tweaking out as he handles the controller.

8:08 - Joe Frasier (Ballmer) goes down and gets knocked out.  Ballmer just threw his controller.  Who would’ve guessed Gates would win.  Fight Night demo will be available on Xbox Live immediately following the show.

8:10 - Gates is back going solo.  Themes of tonight’s show: High Definition, Partners that create the content, and that all of this has to work across all of the devices… “User-centric.” Biggest investments: Security, Privacy, speech recognition.

8:12 - “Microsoft… Your Potential, Our Passion”

Thanks for joining us for tonight’s live-blog of Bill Gate’s keynote speech at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show.  We’ll see you back here for some more live action as it comes in.  Have a good night.

Photo courtesy Engadget.

Earlier today, Pioneer unveiled several new products ranging from navigation systems to HDTVs.  I’ll talk about the nav systems first.  They will launch three new models, the most expensive one having a built-in 30GB hard drive.  The other two models are DVD-based and are simply stripped down versions without the hard drive.  Other features of the top-notch one are the built-in text-to-speech, Bluetooth, and iPod connectivity.  The hard drive has 10GB of the 30GB reserved for music and has a GraceNote for recognizing song information.

They also highlighted their Blu-ray and HD products.  First was their Blu-ray Disc Player, the BDP-HD1.  The player will be priced at $1800 and will be available in May.  It feature support high-definition audio.  They mentioned that one of the deciding factors for choosing Blu-ray over HD-DVD was the fact that up until this point, HD-DVD has only been 720p, while Blu-ray has reached 1080p video playback.  More to come.

Toshiba had a lot of announcements to make today at their CES press conference.  Here are some of the highlights.

Their announcements fell into 4 main categories: monitors, set-top boxes, camcorders, MP3 players, and HD-DVD players.  Obviously HD-DVD was the main event… so we’ll end with that!  We’ll start out with monitors.  One in particular was their new 55” SED.  In case you’re wondering, SED stands for Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display.  This will be the year of LEDs and projection TVs, as Toshiba will introduce over 25 new models just in 2006.  Amazing!  They also mentioned that they’re working to reduce the “form factor” of their TV lineup.  The set-top box that they mentioned, the Gigastyle RD-XS55, is a 250 GB PVR and DVD burner with 720 to 1080 up conversion built in.

Next up is camcorders… AKA Gigashot.  They introduced their new camcorders with built-in hard drives.  The new Gigashot comes in 30 GB and 60 GB configurations which will run $729 and $999 respectively.

Their Gigabeat line will also get a new Flash DAP.  The audio players will sport a nice 1.1” OLED display and will come in 512MB and 1 GB models.  They will be $119 and $149.

And here’s the main attraction… the HD-DVD news.  Toshiba announced 2 HD-DVD players
that will be released in 2006.  The HD-XA1 and the HD-A1.  We couldn’t catch all of the specs, but the XA1 is decked out with a bunch more features.  The A1 will cost $499 and the XA1 will cost $799.  On one of their slides they had pictures of Batman Begins and Vanilla Sky… so maybe they’ll be the first ones to hit.  Toshiba also has new “Qosmio” notebook computers coming out with built-in HD-DVD ROM drives.

We’ll have more news and press conference news as it pours in… so stay tuned.