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Ladies and Gents, welcome to Gadgetell’s live coverage of the Bill Gates keynote address.  The man himself is expected to take stage here in Vegas at 6:30 PM to kick-off the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show.  Are you ready for a good ole’ Bill Gates keynote?  Yeah, us too!  Remember last year when he talked about integrating the phone with y?  This year, not a whole lot has changed.  Expect to hear a lot about Windows Vista, Office, and of course, the Zune.  We’re banking on Bill to have some A list celebrity with him like last year when he brought out Justin Timberlake.  Maybe he’ll bring out Britney this year… you never know!  I’ll stop blabbing on, but stick around and we’ll begin shortly.

NOTE: You know the drill, punch the F5 key for frequent updates - and by frequent, I mean every couple of minutes.

6:19 PM PST - We just got the announcement “Ladies and Gentlemen… please take your seats, the program will begin shortly.” We’re in our seats now and excited to see what Bill has to say.  Stick around.

6:27 PM PST - Well, the colors on stage are changing, so you know what that means…

6:35 PM PST - We’re now getting a CES introduction… great stuff.  Disclaimer: The connection here sucks so if we lose you, don’t worry, we’re still typing and will post it shortly.

6:40 PM PST - Gary Schapiro, President of the Consumer Electronics Association is now on stage giving his introduction.  The man is on his way…

6:43 PM PST - They’re now playing a montage video of Bill Gate’s past keynotes.  To be honest, it makes him look stupid… but it’s enough to be ironic since we know the man is a visionary.

6:46 PM PST - They’re playing a Windows Vista promo video building up the hype for Bill. 

6:48 PM PST - Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the Chairman of the Microsoft Corp., Bill Gates!!!

6:49 PM PST - Bill’s cracking jokes about if they’re going to want him back after he’s been running his foundation… because he’ll be more likely to talk about infectious diseases than technology…

Here’s a good shot…

6:50 PM PST - He’s now talking about the “Digital Divide” and how youngin’s now use their computers more than they watch TV.  I know that’s correct for me, but what about you?

6:54 PM PST - There are some key things missing.  People want “Connected Exeriences"… people want to do things across multiple devices.  This sounds similiar to last year’s keynote.

6:55 PM PST - “This is not only the best version of Windows ever, but it’s also the highest quality version ever as well”

6:59 PM PST - He’s still talking about Windows and all of the things that people enjoy doing on their computers these days.

Justin Hutchinsom, the Group Product Manager of Microsoft, is coming on stage to demo Vista… and “we’re going to show you some features we haven’t shown publically yet.

The demo is live on the big-screen, and he says, “Windows Vista is not about searching, it’s about finding.” But I’d say, to me, it’s about searching.

7:02 PM PST - Shaddow Copy is a new feature from Vista… which he says is “better than going back in time"… Good to hear Microsoft has the balls to go after Steve Jobs.

7:03 PM PST - We just took a look at Office 2007, and now we’re looking at Windows Live Search.

He’s now using an Xbox 360 controller to fly around on their Windows Live Local.  http://local.live.com

7:07 PM PST - We’re now looking at a new feature in Vista Media Center called Sports Lounge which is a “sports fan’s dream”

Sports Lounge, Media Center - Windows Vista will take entertainment on the PC to the next level.

7:08 PM PST - Now we’re looking at Photo Gallery on Vista.  DVD Maker in Vista “makes it easy” to burn DVDs.

7:10 PM PST - Groupshot, a new application, will let you merge photos together. The example he used was one girl’s eyes were closed in a picture - and the boy’s eyes were closed in another version of the same picture.  He used Groupshot to merge the two photos into one so it’s “the picture you wish you had taken.” Very impressive.

7:12 PM PST - You can now set full-motion video as your background on your Vista computer.  They showed a waterfall and an animation of people moving around - it looks great.

7:15 PM PST - They’re now showing new innovative laptops, tablet portables, and UMPCs from HP, Toshiba, Sony, and Medion.

The models that he showed are timed to launch with Vista in 22 days.

7:17 PM PST - “Now let’s take a look at some of these Windows Vista PCs” - Video comes on showing the sleek new units from the manufacturers mentioned above.  They’ve got the Ferari laptop (of course - since they sent those out to a bunch of bloggers).  Now we’re looking at VooDoo (which was recently acquired by HP).  Do I sense a hardcore HP/Microsoft partnership?

7:22 PM PST - They just played a promo video announcing HP’s new Windows Home Server (which HP will brand as the HP Smart Server). Automatic backup, connectivity (first mention of Zune).  If you want to grow capacity, you just “plunk the storage in.” I personally like the word “plunk"… very classy!

7:25 PM PST - “A big part of connected experiences is connected entertainment.” Robbie Bach, President of Microsoft Corp just took the stage to talk about connected entertainment.  Integrated concept of hardware, software, and service that bring it all together is ideal.

Lets talk about music - Bill Gates introduced MTV Urge at last year’s CES.

7:26 PM PST - In our segment, we are the #2 player.  “Zune is off to a great start” - hmm I sort of disagree, Robbie.

He’s now talking about the mobility - Cingular’s BlackJack, Verizon’s Q, Cingular’s Treo and T-Mobile’s Dash are now on the screen - he just said “and that’s why we outsell Blackberry in the market.” Very bold statement sir.

7:29 PM PST - There are over 200 million gamers that use Windows machines. 

7:31 PM PST - “Games for Windows” demo is now playing, which pretty much means you can play games on Vista.  Woo hoo!

Xbox 360 - In the first 8 weeks, we sold over 2.4 million copies of Gears of War.  They will have over 300 titles in 2007;

Halo 3 - They just played a promo video - you know, the kind you see between levels in games where it looks way better than the actual game?  That’s the kind of video they just showed.  We’ll have that for you later.

7:35 PM PST - Xbox Live - They want to bring this to Vista.  They’re demoing it with collaboration between Windows Vista and Xbox Live.  They just opened UNO on Vista and are playing between both platforms.

This will roll-out on the Live service, this Summer.

7:39 PM PST - There have been 3 billion hours of Live play on the Xbox - that number is bound to sky-rocket once it’s integrated with Vista.

4 new ways for you to get TV & Movies on Vista. 

1st way to get HD content - They’re now showing the HD DVD player for Xbox 360 - and talking about how the demand for the product is so high that they can’t keep stores stocked.

2nd way to get HD content - Regarding Media Center, they have now shipped 30 million copies worldwide.

3rd way - Video Marketplace on Xbox Live - They’re going over their partners for Movies (HD movies that is).

4th way - IPTV - 2 years ago, they demoed it.  Today, they’re in market with 5 providers (AT&T, etc).  Over the next 3 or 4 years, this will take over.  What about HD DVD guys?

7:44 PM PST - We’re looking at IPTV broadcasting on the Xbox 360.  This is obviously a BIG announcement.  You will be able to talk to your friends while watching TV.  Very impressive.  This will be available holiday season, 2007.  “That brings us full-circle on Connected Entertainment.”

7:46 PM PST - “Connected Entertainment gives you the ability to take content with you wherever you want it and whenever you want it.”

Bill is now back on stage.

7:48 PM PST - “Now we’re going to talk about the car.” He’s talking about their new partnership with Ford.

Mark Fields, Executive VP of Ford, has now taken the stage with Bill.  They’re talking about Sync which integrates all of your devices with your car using “Micrsoft Auto.” He says you can bring devices like “Zunes, iPods, and any others” in the vehicle for connectivity.  Pardon me?  Did he just say iPod?  I guess they’re facing the facts.

7:51 PM PST - Because it’s fully updatable, owners will never have to worry about their devices not being compatible.

Sync will be available on 12 new Ford automobiles in 2007.

“Thanks Mark, it’s great to have you here!” I think that’s Bill-speak for get off of my stage. Just kidding.

7:54 PM PST - In conclusion - They going to demo the “Connected Home of the Future.” Very similar to last year.

He’s now going to take us through futuristic scenerios…

1) Bus Stop - The phone knows his location, he just sits there and it tells you the bus that’s coming, and tells you about nearby destinations that you might be interested in.  He is on his phone looking at a nearby restaurant’s menu.

2) Kitchen - “Another scenerio I have deep expertise in” - hey, at least he’s honest!  He put something on the counter-top and the counter just turned into a screen with a projected image of recipes, etc.

3) Bedroom - An image is projecting on the wall which is based on his personality.  He had a very hip look on the screen when he was in there, and when he mentioned that his grandma was coming to stay there, it turned into a very old traditional green house.

8:02 PM PST - That’s it, “Thank you” says Bill.

Thanks for tuning into Gadgetell for Live Coverage of Bill Gates’ keynote.  Stay tuned for more news throughout the night and for the rest of the show.  Have a good night.

The Consumer Electronics Show is well known for its series of executive keynote speeches.  Speakers often announce ground-breaking products, and bring celebrities on stage to help them out.  At this year’s show, we will be Live Blogging ALL of the keynotes from CES 2007.  We’ve got our EVDO cards and we’re ready to rock.  Come back during the times listed below for a constantly updating post with news and quotes straight from the keynotes.

The executives and industry experts shown below are among this year’s keynote speakers…

Bill Gates Chairman, Microsoft Corp. 6:30 p.m. PST Sunday, January 7, 2007	Gary Schapiro President and CEO, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) 8:30 a.m. PST Monday, January 8, 2007	Ed Zander Chairman of the Board and CEO, Motorola Inc. 8:30 a.m. PST Monday, January 8, 2007 with Gary Schapiro
Robert Iger President and CEO, The Walt Disney Company 4:30 p.m. PST Monday, January 8, 2007	Michael Dell Founder and Chairman, Dell Inc. 9 a.m. PST Tuesday, January 9	Leslie Moonves President and CEO, CBS Corp. 4:30 p.m. PST Tuesday, January 9, 2007

NOTE: All times are Pacific. (+2 for Central, +3 for Eastern)

It seems like Apple is ready to kick the sh!t out of Microsoft in about 45 min from now. We are set and ready to cover the 2006 Word Wide Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, CA. The man himself, Steve Jobs, will take the stage at 10:00 am PST and continue ripping on Microsoft (check out the pictures to see what we’re talking about). These past two weeks have been filled with rumors, honestly too many for us to even cover. They have included the new iPods, video iPods, metalic iPod nano’s, eliminating the shuffle, iTunes will add movies, the long awaited iPhone, Mac tablets, glossy MacBooks, a replacement for the G5 dubbed the Mac Pro, and the already confirmed Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. From the banners in the convention center we know Leopard will be the main discussion, but Jobness always has one more thing…

Click on for the live blog of the event as well as pictures from the convention center. As always you can hit Ctrl+R or F5 to reload this page.

Here is the first major assault on Windows Vista.

And here is the second...I must say, very clever.

9:35 PST - The Apple Store is now closed and everyone is walking into the main conference room. We should be rolling in about 30 min.

9:53 PST - Almost everyone is in by now, we have about another 15 min before it begins. Coldplay, The Postal Service, and U2 fill the speakers. I suggest that you Appleheads go get towels now to begin wiping up the drool that will follow.

9:59 PST - We are just about to go, give us a second while we add some more pictures.

10:00 AM PST - The crowd is getting louder as well is the music. The show hasn’t started yet but we just received this supposed leak of the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard disc...we will find out soon if it is real or not.

10:04 AM PST - And here we go, Jobs takes the stage and the crowd goes wild. Steve tells everyone to “take the day off,”—crowd laughs. There are over 4200 registered attendees from 48 countries, largest WWDC ever. There will be tons of Mac demos and tons of people to help you out. 1"4 ratio of Apple engineers to attendees.

10:05 AM PST - Now the issues at hand...the Mac. There have been over 1.3 million Mac shipped (tiny number compared to the number of PCs shipped, but this is a Mac event so I’ll be quiet). 75% have been Intel based Macs. Both the MacBook Pro and MacBook have had great success and as expect the MacBook has lead the lineup.

“Today for the presentation, I’ve asked three colleagues to help me out. Phil Schiller, Bertrand Serlet and Scott Forstall, VP of platform experience.”

10:09 AM PST - Schiller takes the stage: Mac Pro, same case as the old G5 but with 2 optical drives, Woodcrest processors (based on Core 2 duo processors), up to 3 Ghz, 4 MB shared L2 cache, 64 bit, etc. It is 3x faster than the Xeon processors. 1.6 to 2.1 times faster than the G5 quad. There is room for 4 hard drives (up to 2 TB). 4 PCI express slots, Firewire 800, USb 2.0,graphics slot at the bottom…

There will be one main configuration: Dual 2 2.66 dual core Xeons, 1 GB RAM, 667 MHz FB-DIMM. 250GB HD. Nvidia geforce 7300GT, 256 MB and 16x Superdrive for $2499. The previously fastest model was $800 more and Dell’s closest model cost $1000 more. Starts shipping today. They built this thing from scratch in 210 days, WOW!

10:20 AM PST - Xserve is a 1 rack unit server built by Xtech. The new Xserve will be up to 3 Ghz, built on Xeons - quad performance like the Mac Pro. 5x faster than its predicesor. $3293 for a Dell, $2999 for a Xserve.

10:26 AM PST - Job is back, now lets talk dirty—Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. 19 million users, 6 major releases with the last one being for Intel processors. Over 3000 applications run on PowerPC and Intel chips. Microsoft has been working on Vista for 5 whole years and each elements is just copying Mac OS.

10:28 AM PST - Bertrand: “Redmond start your photocopiers.” The jokes don’t stop, showing how Vista and Windows is just like OS X. MS has taken the same features and moved them around. Search boxes move from the top right to the bottom left. RSS has been in Safari and now hits IE7. iCal and Calendar all the same.

10:33 AM PST - Jobs is back on stage and tells us that some features will stay under wraps for now but here is a preview. “Money isn’t everything with R&D.” Major releases in Leopard:

1. Support for 64 bit applications - Can run 32 bit applications side-by-side with 64 bit applications


2. Time Machine - Only 26% of people backup files. Time Machine automatically backs up a music, folders, photos, everything. You change the file and it gets backed up. Of course you can restore it as well. You can backup a hard drive or just a file. If you ever rename the file or overwrite it you can now search via a time-line so you don’t have to loose it forever, hence the name Time Machine. This is great for finder and works with 3rd part apps as well. This looks really easy and a great life jacket for when you kills that important file. “Absolutely the best way to back up everything you have, store everything, and find what you need that you thought you didn’t”


3. Delivering a complete software package - Lots of new beta software will be finalized and ship with Leopard including Boot Camp (to load Windows on a Mac). Thus far 500,000 downloads. Also Front Row to access all of your media from your couch. There will be next generation versions of Front Row and Photo Booth.


4. Spaces / Virtual Desktop - It essentially creates a virtual space for clusters of apps to work together like Mail and Safari. You can drag information from one desktop to another.


5. Spotlight - One of the best features thus far in Tiger, you can search for files instantly. You will now be able to search other machines if you have permission. This includes other home computers as well as work servers.


6. Core animations - Core animation handles everything in between - color, size, opacity, etc. You can create whatever you want by zoom and flying a camera around. You can move items within their own layers.
7. Universal Access - “Mac OS X is so great that we want everyone to be able to use it. We’ve made major enhancements to Voice Over, Braille support, closed captioning support, faster, better navigation.” Text to speech sounds very good as well as the computer text. You can speed it up or slow it down.


8. Mail - New things including stationary (you can use photos to create HTML email), notes (will keep self emails out of your inbox and now in a notes box), to-do lists (set priority, alarms, any incoming message can be a To-do, any application can create these To-do’s...one system wide tracker)


9. Dashboard - Over 2,500 widgets available today.


• Developers will get Dashcode—an easy way to help the create the widgets you want and they have an itch to make. It has a CSS visual editor, RSS built in for updating content, Javascript, debugger...


• Users will now be able to turn any part of a webpage into a widget. With about 4 clicks from within Safari a user can create a Widget of a Dilbert Comic Strip, NYT best seller list, whatever you want.


10. iChat - Multiple logins, invisibility, animated icons, video recording, and tabbed chats. Photobooth effects in iChat. iChat Theatre, you can show iPhoto slideshows when talking. You can also change your background, like standing in the middle of Times Square or video background like being on a roller-coaster. Steve, “Life at apple is a roller-coaster.”

11:22 AM PST - These are the newest 10 core features of Mac OS X. They are all 64 bit. (iCal was not discussed but we hear it is moving to a multi-user platform like Google Calendar.) “We plan to get done with Leopard and ship it this coming spring. We think we’re going to get it out next spring.”

11:27 AM PST - Thats all, thanks for coming. There is no one more thing. In review we got the Mac Pro, the xServer server, and a preview of the top 10 apps in Leopard, due this spring. We are sure there will be lots more released in the near future.

The Microsoft E3 press event will begin in about an hour from now. Take this time to read up on the Nintendo Press Conference, Sony Press Conference, leave feedback on the gaming announcements thus far, enter today’s contest, and catch up on stories from earlier today. We expect MS to launch new features for Xbox Live, maybe new hardware accessories, possible talk of a portable device, and more.

We are just about ready to present the Nintendo E3 press event from the Kodak Theater in LA. You can expect to hear more about the new name Wii, more revolutionary detail, playable games, controller accessories, a price, launch date, DS details (including DS lite), and more.

Read on to check out the live blog of the press event.

9:30AM PST: Here Wii go...we are live. A man is on stage directing a symphony with the Wii controller in his hand. Now someone else is playing a racing game by twisting and turning his body to move with the controller. Another guy is using the Wii-chuck to act lie a sword. There is a speaker in the Wiimote

9:39AM PST: Reggie takes the stage, “What you see from Nintendo is not just next, it is just new.” Nintendo is about everyone, not about just a few. Now a video about Playing=Believing with with iiiii’s from Wii. People of all ages and types are playing the drums, guitar, tennis, golf, controlling a symphony, driving, playing Mario (the first to look slightly awkward), flying a plane (looks awkward as well), sword flights, baseball, shooting a gun, ...with the stick controller. The controller is held differently for different games.

9:45AM PST: Reggie claims that they will have answers with questions but not all. They will jolt the right brain with inspiration. Do you know anyone that never watched TV, read a book, seen a movie...what about a video game?

Nintendo’s way is to challenge standard thinking. Nintendo set forth to make games that are entirely new. The date and price is not going to be set yet but they confirmed that it will cost less than others and will be available in the forth quarter on 2006.

Wii, we, is all about inclusion. A giant lead for gaming, everyone around the world.

9:51AM PST: Video with clips from Sonic, Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, Dragon Quest Swords, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Fire Emblem, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Cars, Super Mario Galaxy, SD Gundamn G Breaker, Tony Hawk Downhill Jam, Sudoku Action, Excite Truck, Elebits, Red Steel, Rayman 4, Super Swing Gold Pangya, Sonic, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., Finalfurlong Revolution, Madden, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Twilight Princessand others (Graphics don’t look amazing but good enough for the new style of gaming. The games certainly are set to include everyone from your grandmother to your little brother.)

9:55AM PST: The Legend of Zelda, available on launch day. The nicest they ever made. Nate and Bill are presenting the world premier of “The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princes” on Wii. Movement is the nun-chuck. The sword is the B button on the remote. The bow is aimed using the pointer on the Wiimote. You can hear the string and arrow go from the remote (with the built in speaker) to the TV. You can feel the impact of fighting with the built in rumble pack. Nunchuck has it’s own motion sensor, to allow tons of freedom.

This E3 version is stripped down in difficulty level as well as boards and levels. “With the bow, the Wii remote adds depth of sound. Built-in to the Wii remote is a speaker. You’ll hear the bowstring draw taught and you’ll hear the bow sound draw to the screen as the arrow is shot. A quick jab with the Wii remote and shield shove. You’ll feel the impact with the built-in rumble.” Using pointer to launch boomerang. Classic Zelda chime heard on Wii remote speaker. You can pick up crates with the A button and then chuck them with a quick motion.

10:03AM PST: Zelda will launch on Gamecube and Wii on the same day. Mario will be brand new with new features. Excite Truck will be brand new, but now you hold the steering wheel of a truck. Project H.A.M.M.E.R. allows you to swing the nun-chuck. Disaster allows you to use the controller as well. 3rd Party: Sega will launch Sonic again, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for Wii, Madden ‘07, Tony Hawk, Rayman, SpongeBob...27 games available on the show floor. Does not include the games available from the virtual console.

10:03AM PST: RedSteel demo. The remote leans back and forth and leans like the gun. The nunchuck is utilized as well. The graphics look like Xbox 1, PS2, Gamecube. Ememies can each smart depending on the situation, you will never play the same exact game.

10:13AM PST: George Harrison is going to talk about Nintendo DS. DS has sold more than 16 million units in 18 months. Nintendogs sold 6 million. Wi-Fi connection has 1.3 million users thus far in less than 6 months. Touch Generations: Brain Age, Big Brain, Club House, Soduko and others all about touch.

Nintendo DS lite is smaller, brighter, and lighter. Mario will be back but wireless functionality as well as the touch screen. Pokemon will be available too on September 18th. Yoshi Island 2, Starfox DS, Diddy Cong, Final Fantasy III, Tony Hawk (play other Wi-Fi gamers, and talk over VoIP), Legend of Zelda for DS too (with a sword), Mario Hoops 3 on 3, will all be available.

10:22AM PST: Iwata, President of Nintendo, reinforces expanding the total number of people who play games. Target people with low interest and ones that have never played before. The logical solution is too reinvent the interaction between games and the people, but make sure that core-gamers are happy too. Claims the controller is comfortable. The virtual console allows people to play games they used to play years ago (Tetris).

The loading times are way to long. DS spoiled him because you can just open and close the cover to start and stop play. The Wii can power up virtual console games and other features (web browser) in just a few seconds.

The machine can provide services even when it is “turned off.” Wii connect 24 keeps it on all the time without the fan, using the power of min-light bulb, allowing new features, weapons, etc to be pushed to you via the internet even while you are sleeping. Aiming for a system that is new everyday.

10:32AM PST: Wii sports will be available on launch day. Includes golf, baseball, and tennis. Miyamoto is on stage explaining how to play tennis. You can twist the remote to add top spin and back spins. Scott Dyer is the first ‘real person’ to pay the game up on stage. It’s Reggie vs. Iwata and Scott in tennis. He seemed to pick it up right away with no learning curve.

10:42AM PST: Reggie closed it all up saying how important it is to include everyone and that they have taken risks ever since the company’s inception, over 20 years ago. The DS Lite and Wii are risks once again but they expect the machine to fair out very well. “Bottom line of every E3 is what’s hot and what’s not. What’s hot is the next step ... What’s hot is if its disruptive ... We know that the future is right here. Wii and the DS represent that same thing: risk. Change is good. We were the disrupter 20 years ago ... Wii will come next. Playing is believing. Thank you all, we look forward to seeing you on our show floor tomorrow”

Wii would have liked to learn the tech specs of the machine, price, release date, number of release games, etc but wii’ll all have to wait a bit longer. The games look enjoyable even if the graphics are not top rate, I’m actually interested in trying them out (prior to this I was not too thrilled). 

We are just about ready to present the Sony E3 press event where we hope to learn more about PSP upgrades, PlayStation spot, and of course lots of PS3 details (including games, a new controller, pricing, release date, etc..)

Read on to check out the live blog of the press event.

4:32PM PST: We have gone live and expect to begin any moment (yeah we too were hoping the Sony folks know it was supposed to begin 4:00pm PST not 4:00pm in Japan)

4:52PM PST: Kaz Hirai the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment has just taken the stage. He is talking about the power of PS3 and that even though it is powerful the importance lies in the hands of the gaming programmers. PS3 must be connected, seamless with PSP, upgradeable, etc.

4:55PM PST: Just reinforced the November launch for PS3 as well as try to cool the fire about the extreme costs and risks of PS3...but PS2 led the way. Sony has shipped over 1 million units thus far and over 3 million online users. PS2 will continue to be supported for more than 10 years. New titles include God of War sequel, Madden ‘07, and others.

4:59PM PST: PSP is the fastest selling Sony gaming platform, 17 million units thus far. 545 games on the market thus far and another 155 more titles/applications on their way including: Planet PSP, Kill Zone, LocoRoco, Dark Mirror, World Soccer 2, TalkMan, Gangs of London…

5:02PM PST: PSP “Greatest Hits” programs will be released for the top 5 games. UMD is a format with lots of specs (no indication of it being continued, only that it exists and their are some titles). Plan to add RRS Video, VoIP, a camera, “Memory Stick Boot” and video peripherals later this year.

5:05PM PST: PlayStation 3 promo video of people around the world (New York City, London, Sidney, Cape Town, Tokyo, Mexico City, etc) being extremely excited for PS3 and what the love about prior systems.

5:10PM PST: Specs will be powered by Cell, CD, DVD, Blu-ray support, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Dolby Digital Surround Sound, Removable Hard Drive, support 1080p, SD card support, up to 7 wireless controllers, back catalog compatibility of all older formats. PSP can interact wirelessly.

5:12PM PST: Every system will ship with a hard drive to improve performance, store downloads, and manage content. Clear black system will ship worldwide at once. Many many games are being developed. Playable game titles are here and can be played at the Sony booth.

5:17PM PST: Phil Harrison, President Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios is going to present games. Kazunori Yamauchi, President, Polyphony Digital Inc., will present Gran Turismo HD. It is GT4 boosted up to HD for use on the PS3, allowing endless development possibilities. The video will be 1920X1080p at 60 fps, the first time that a household TV will present a true HD 1080p resolution. The menus have been optimized for HD as well.

5:22PM PST: These menus looked great but there seems to be a consensus that it does not look so amazing, just slightly better than SD. They have dropped the loading times from 15 seconds to about 3 seconds (with help from the internal hard disc drive). They are showing the older games and the improvement from GT1 to GT4 to the PS3 version. It is definitely more realistic but it is also much larger. The sound from the game certainly utilizes the Dolby Digital HD format, it sounds like we are right there next to the cars.

They are now stressing that this is just a test or proof of concept. In the near future we cna expect a network enabled GT. GT3 came 1.5 years after the release of PS2, the plan is to release the next GT “not-to-far” after the release of PS3.

5:33PM PST: EyeToy creator, is demoing “The Eye of Judgement” a game that allows you to interact with the characters, much like a holographic board game. Playable at the Sony booth for PS3.

5:36PM PST: Kaz is back talking about the online offering. PS3 online network is, “as essential as the air we breathe.” Account management, player profile, ranking, friends list, video chat, voice messaging, text messaging...a virtual society and community will be created. The services will be offered FREE of charge for users. Users can also access games, music, movies, and more. E-distribution of content will be available via the PSP, downloaded onto the Memory Stick Duo. The fist game is Ridge Racer from the original PlayStation (with the Space Invaders opening) using a PlayStation emulator.

PlayStation card will be used for online payments. Phil is back to discuss shopping on the PS3. First glance of the PS3 interface. It shows what you can buy, community features, and more. SingStar has been huge in Europe thus far. You can brows an online catalogue of songs on SingStore videos (in HD too), purchase songs (no pricing yet). It can be downloaded to the hard drive of the PS3 or you can contribute via My SingStar and upload your content. We’re being shown Genji. This game looks impressive. It’s got a lot of nice graphical touches.

5:48PM PST: Now we are being shown how the PSP can seamlessly interact with the PS3. This looks really cool. We see the side-view mirror of a race car on our PSP while the main screen shows us the car driving forward.

5:57PM PST: These are the most realistic images I have ever seen from a games. Graphics of people walking the street of London, animals in Africa, animated people on a golf course (the trees and houses are unreal), Harry Potter (greet fire from the dragons mouth), Eight Days (showing fire, bullet holes, speed), Naughty Dog (a Tombraider like game with a guy), Resistance, and more.

6:09PM PST: Kaz is back once again presenting 3rd party games: Coded Arms Assult, Ridge Racer 7, Tekken 3, Sonic the Hedgehog (which we posted a trailer for early today), Virtual Tennis 3, Virtual Fighter, StrangleHold…

6:21PM PST: Footplanting in the PS2 is shown compared to the PS3.  Instead of only having 45 degree range of motion, figures now have full 360 degrees of motion.

NBA Live 07 is shown and IT LOOKS AMAZING!  Now we’re watching a graphics artist recreate Tiger Woods on the PS3.  It looks like Tiger is on video… rinkles in his shirt and all.  An EA Sports representative came out on stage to announce their full support for the PS3 (as if we thought they weren’t going to).

6:29PM PST: Kaz is back and introduces Final Fantasy.  And oooo Meta Gear Solid 4.  Here comes the father of the PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi.

6:36PM PST: Here comes the long-awaited PS3 controller.  I can just feel it coming.  Phil is now going to unveil a “secret” about the new, familiar controller.  The controller has 6 degrees of freedom built into it.  Similar to the revolution controller, the new PS3 controller now moves as you move it.  I’m glad to see that the new controller isn’t a boomerang anymore.  It’s just like the original dual-shock PS2 controller.

6:40PM PST: Now they’re demoing a flying game with the new controller.  The capabilities are amazing.  Dylan Jobs, a game designer is very excited about the controller.  “It allows us to change from static control mechanics to kinetic controll mechanics.” Back to Kaz…

6:43PM PST: Today we’re pleased to announce the Global launch details.  1 with a 60 GB hard drive disk and the other with a 20 GB hard drive.  Here are the launch dates and prices…

Nov 11 - Japan
59,800 yen - 20 GB
60 GB - retailer decides the price

Nov 17 - US
$499 - 20 GB
$599 - 60 GB

Nov 17 - Europe
499 euros - 20 GB
599 euros - 60 GB

Shipping 2 million units during launch, 2 million more by end of year, 6 million by March 31, 2007.  That’s all we’ve got for today.  Hope you enjoyed our live coverage of the Sony Pre-E3 Press Event.  Have a good night.

Some images via Engadget

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.

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.