Bill Gates of Microsoft spiced up his presentation by turning it into a talk show interview, with Conan O'Brien as the host. Conan did his usual monologue, making jokes at Bill's expense.
Bill demonstrated the I-River H10 MP3 player, using Microsoft's "Windows PlaysForSure" which offers an infinite library of music. He showed us a Nikon D-12 camera that sends pictures wirelessly to the computer. Microsoft's Media Center Extender allows a TV watcher to leave home in the middle of a television program and pick up the show on another device, right where it left off. Samsung makes a portable version of the Media Center.
An SBC representative was a guest presenter, with programming for the Media Center. She said her company has perfected an instant channel change for digital television, improving on the lag time between when the button is pushed and the channel actually changes. Shows available from SBC's service include not only movies, but news programs and sitcoms as well. The screen can be cut into four parts to show four sporting events at once, with statistics at the bottom of each.
The Microsoft rep brought out the X-Box car racing simulation, and helped Bill and Conan customize "real" cars with parts that can actually be purchased in real life - a 1987 Buick Regal for Conan and a sports car for Bill. As they raced them on the X-Box, Conan ran his off the road.
Bill said, "I create these things because I want them for myself." Conan replied, "If you only had the money . . ."
Dr. Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, envisions a time when the digital lifestyle will be world-wide, with information passing seamlessly from country to country in our digital universe. To introduce that theme, his presentation began with a gorgeous show, reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil, with drummers and dancers from all over the world.
An Intel employee demonstrated a "visible" software called "My Media Collection" that may be ready next year. He waved his hand in front of the TV screen, and a globe covered with a grid of little pictures appeared. By waving, he spun the globe to the left or right. When he pointed at the picture he wanted, it filled the screen. Craig threw the remote control across the stage, saying, "You'll never have to use the remote again."
My Media Collection will combine cable TV and satellite TV, along with amateur videos and purchased videos. The status of your eBay bid, or a picture from the camcorder by your front door, can be displayed in the corner of the screen.
Intel will employ "hyperthreading" (using two processing cores at once) for more realistic facial expressions in video games. Multithreading will use multicore devices for fantastic realism.
A couple of young musicians helped Craig demonstrate the "UmixIt" software, using a specially recorded CD. Separate out the tracks, and play along with the band using your own instrument. Eliminate the vocals, and it's a karaoke machine with printed lyrics so you can sing along. Sony recorded one of the special CD's of Aerosmith's new song, "You Gotta Move," with this technology. Aerosmith's lead singer Steve Tyler came onstage to sing "Walk This Way" with his arm around Craig, trying to get him to sing along.
China is the biggest market for cell phones now, and the department stores there have free cell phone chargers for their shoppers. India and Latin America are also big markets. In Malaysia, the GPS global positioning devices point to Mecca. There is a device for people who do not own computers, prompting them to go to an Internet café to read their e-mail. These e-mailers have never turned on a PC, because the café PC's are always turned on when they arrive.
An eight-year-old child demonstrated a program designed to teach her to write a Kanji character for her Chinese language class. As the girl traced it, it changed color, and then graded her on her skill.
Intel is interested in the "digital home," and especially in ways to help the elderly continue to live in their own homes. RFID reminders prompt them to take their medication. A touch screen of faces of family and friends keeps track of who visited or phoned last, and what happened during those contacts. Sensors in the bed monitor the person's heart rate. The newest Intel products use much less power, generating less heat and costing less to operate.
Intel's guests included Meg Whitman of eBay, who told about eBay's efforts to recycle old computer equipment, and Robert Redford who talked about digital movies made by independent film makers for his Sundance Festival.
Edward Whitacre of SBC told us that there are 5,000 SBC wireless hot spots in the U.S. at Avis offices, Barnes & Noble, and in the state parks. SBC is investigating WiMax, which has a longer range than WiFi does.
A new SBC service called U-verse will be available the end of this year, so that all of your digital information will be everywhere at once, simply and seamlessly. With a single address, you can access your PC, PDA, phone, and TV. You can route your personal calls from your wired phone to one of your other devices, and can change the settings on your VCR while you are away from home.
The talk by Michael Powell, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission and son of Colin Powell, could not begin until the Secret Service had swept the auditorium. Then audience members had their badges put through the reader so that there would be a record of who was in the room. Two bomb-sniffing dogs gave us the once-over, and our bags were searched.
The challenge for the FCC is to figure out what is in the public's best interest. President Hoover was the first to seize the air waves, and wanted to protect consumers against harm. Businesses hope that the FCC will save and protect them, and hobble their competitors. But Michael warns that they should be careful, as the government's help and protection always come with strings attached. These days it's hard to categorize a business. The FCC rules are very specific by category. But now the cable company Comcast looks much like the telephone company SBC. Michael thinks that the FCC should guard against the worst offenses, such as adware, viruses, and spam - anything that will damage the Internet experience - but otherwise not over-regulate.
Michael says that the current hard cutoff date for analog TV is 2006, but only if 85% of the people have HDTV- ready sets. But the question is whether this should be 85% of the homes of TV watchers, or 85% of all of the TV's in operation. Some homes have several television sets. When people buy brand new television sets that are cheaper because they are not HDTV-ready, they postpone the changeover to HDTV.
President Bush wants broadband in every home by 2007. Michael would aim for 2010. In Japan, for example, most people live in the two largest cities in multifamily dwellings which are easily outfitted with broadband, and the government subsidizes it. Here, that is not the case. Some foreign countries have adopted only one form of broadband. Michael is in favor of using every form of broadband available. He says there are miles and miles of unused, idle fiberoptic lines in our country that were laid but never made operational. They should be put to use.
Motorola Vice President Ron Garriques touted Motorola's very thin Razr cell phone as simple to use, beautiful to look at, and convenient because it fits in the top shirt pocket. (Colin Powell's wife gave him one for Christmas.)
The snowboarder came in from his snow-covered ski jump in the convention center parking lot to show us his wired jacket that had a remote for his telephone built into his jacket sleeve, and a stereo helmet.
Motorola's iTunes-enabled cell phone works just like the iPod and uses the same menus, so there is nothing new for an iPod user to learn. Another Motorola iTune product with speakers, rather than ear phones, is coming out soon, but Ron won't show it until it's ready to be sold to avoid instant copying by competitors.
Carly Fiorina represented Hewlett Packard. She said we used to be entertained by what other people made. Now we create our own entertainment such as our own music play lists, the photos we enhance for our collections, and home videos we make for anniversary or farewell parties.
Jeff Katzenberg of Dreamworks received a surprise invitation to show the animated movie, "Shark Tale," at the Venice Film Festival. To finish the movie in time for the festival, Hewlett Packard put 250 more servers onto 27 trucks and two jets within three days of his emergency request. The movie was shown with a Texas Instruments Digital Light Projector on a huge inflatable screen in the Piazza San Marco in Venice to an audience of 6,000. He showed us a preview of Dreamworks' newest animated movie, "Madagascar," which comes out in May. It is full of humor!
HP's Digital Entertainment Center has an HDTV media hub. The device will find your recorded movies, TV shows, and amateur videos by date, by event, by person, or by recording device. It has a removable hard drive, and will label your CD's and DVD's with "light scribe" labeling.
HP is working on ideas for the future, such as a table for the family room with a surface that is a touch screen map . . . or touch screen jig saw puzzle . . . or a touch screen Chinese checker game.
Mike Ramsay, co-founder of TiVo, said that the newest TiVo incarnation is currently code named "Tahiti." It will increase the TiVo storage to 275 hours. Not everything will be recorded, but will be ordered and downloaded from the Internet - a combination of broadcast and broadband. Mike thinks Internet TV will replace broadcast TV anyway. People don't want a lot of channels to choose from. They just want a lot of programs to choose from.
You'll be able to find every movie ever made. If the movie is still in the theaters and not yet available for download, TiVo will show a preview of it, and tell you in which theater it is playing. You'll be able to share your photos and videos through TiVo. "TiVo to Go" will transfer your TiVo to your PC, so you can watch it there.
Rich Templeton of Texas Instruments had as his guest Howie Long, who played for 13 seasons with the Oakland Raiders. He is now an announcer for Fox Sports, and he talked about the broadcast trailers for this year's Super Bowl being outfitted for both High Definition and regular transmission.
Rich told us about the Digital Light Processing front and rear projection television sets that use tiny mirrors to project the colors. The TV sets are thin - not the profile you would expect from a projection set. RCA and Thomson make 61" screens. The 35 trillion colors are as good in bright daylight as they are at night. Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks spoke at both the Hewlett Packard talk and the Texas Instruments talk, and told about the advantages of making digital movies. Digital movie cameras are much lighter in weight and, with no film to change, they can record long scenes all in one take. The depth of field for shooting inside automobiles or at night is better. The next Star Wars movie, "Revenge of the Sith," premiers on May 19th and was recorded with digital cameras. For animated movies, the number of colors is unlimited.
With the Slingbox Personal Broadcaster any TV signal in (such as satellite, cable, or TiVo) can be played on other devices. It can connect from your house, let's say, to a hotel room in Singapore. It turns your laptop or other Internet-connected device into a personal T.V. The Motorola future phone will show your program from one of your devices at home. Pay $249 for the box, and there is no additional service fee - but you do continue to pay for your cable or satellite or TiVo service, if that is what you have.
Texas Instruments research hopes to produce a portable MRI machine, a driverless vehicle for the military, and neural implants to help the blind see.
Final note: Of the keynote speakers who spoke the first week of January, 2005, four are leaving their posts. Carly Fiorina is gone from Hewlett Packard. TiVo's Mike Ramsay has resigned as CEO, but will continue as board chair. Michael Powell is resigning as head of the FCC. Craig Barrett is 65 years old, and will retire from Intel.
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