Map Of Zunes

CES: it's the geek Mecca. This year, for me, it was a train-wrecka (har har!). Join me on my journey of unpacking the frustrations and tribulations of a CES I'd rather forget. I need some catharsis from the five days I spent in Vegas, so this is more for me than you, but perhaps you'll find it entertaining in a "driving past a car wreck" sort of way.

When I went to CES 2009, I posted quite a few videos of what I saw there. Producing those videos in 1080p h.264 on my Dell XPS M1330 took a long time, so on December 9th I placed an order for a pimped-out Core i7-based Dell Studio 17. Plenty of time before CES, right? Wrong. Despite calling in a favour with a contact I have in Dell's CTO office, as of December 30th I still didn't have the laptop - the estimated ship date was January 8th, three days after I left for CES. Switching to plan "B", I went out and purchased an HP dv7, a $2000 Core i7-based laptop with a 17.3" screen and a weight of seven pounds. I was planning on bringing this beast of a laptop with me to CES to leave in my hotel room for video production, and I'd carry a netbook me me for day to day CES reporting. Then I started to hear about the security restrictions after the December 25th "underwear bomber" was foiled, and my already rocky start to CES prep got worse.

On January 4th, a day before I left for CES, I spent two hours doing research online and on the phone, trying to determine what I could and couldn't bring on the plane from Canada to the USA. As best as I could tell, the Canadian rules were the strictest in the world - my peers flying in from Europe were able to carry on bags with no particular restrictions. The morning of the 5th I spent an hour crafting a great article about how frustrating the confusion and lack of information coming out of CATSA (Canadian Air Transport Security Authority) was, and Firefox locked up and I lost my entire article. Here's the short medium-length version: I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a CATSA agent - after trying for two hours to get through their constantly-busy phone line - trying to determine what was allowed and what wasn't. The initial, and sole, list of allowed items didn't include mobile phones, MP3 players, headphones, or even books. It listed laptops, but not laptop bags. It mentioned a "small purse", but no size dimensions. How was I going to carry two laptops with me?

The CATSA agent I talked to refused to confirm whether any of the items I had questions about - phone, MP3 player, headphones - were for sure allowed. He said they "Should be". You don't go through airport security with items you think will be allowed on the plane, because if you're wrong, you either don't get on the plane, or your lose the item you're carrying. Who's going to risk that with an HTC HD2, a Zune HD, a Panasonic GF-1 digital camera, a pair of Ultimate Ears headphones, and a Dean Koontz book that you really want to know the ending of? I asked for the dimensions of the small purse to see if I could find a similar bag, and the agent said they had no information on dimensions. He suggested I carry a "man purse" if I had one - but couldn't tell me the size of said "man purse". I kid you not. I investigated how much it would cost me in fees if I were to cancel my whole trip, and decided I'd make the best of it and still go.

So I went to the airport with all of the above jammed into the pockets of my leather jacket, carrying my Dell XPS M1330 laptop in a neoprene sleeve. I returned the HP dv7 to the store I bought it from before I left. Everything else - including my Canon HF100 video camera - was packed in my suitcase. I arrived at the airport 2.5 hours early, expecting to see long lines. Instead, I breezed through the ticket counter and US customs. Well, sort of - I had a small detour into US border security secondary inspection for some unknown reason where I just sat on a bench for five minutes and no one talked to me before telling me I could go. I arrived at security 15 minutes after I started at the airport.

What did I see? Security lines that were even lighter than the last time I travelled. Even more shocking? A bunch of people were carrying laptop bags, camera bags, and purses that I'd define as anything but small. Here I was, trying to be Mr. Responsible, doing my research, changing my content creation plans for CES, and the people who evidently didn't know any better or who thought they'd push their luck were able to get through carrying bags I was told would definitely not be allowed. I saw people with big, honking 17" laptops in shoulder bags. As a footnote to this part of the story, post-CES start date (Jan. 8th) CATSA decided to publish a PDF with all sorts of details about what's allowed, including the exact dimensions of permissible "small purse", and that laptop bags are permitted. Thank you CATSA for the lemon juice on the paper cut you slashed into me.

Once I made it to CES, I thought "OK, let's make the best of this." I was staying at the Imperial Palace, which, while it has a great location, was far worse of a hotel than I was expecting. I tried to make light of it with a Twitter meme that didn't catch on like I'd hoped it would, but I still had some fun. Wednesday and Thursday were pretty good days, though I managed to overtax myself on Thursday to the point of near-paralysis on Friday. Thursday's stupidity was me walking the show floor for two hours, then three of us walking from the CES show floor over to The Hilton seeking the sustenance of food and drink, failing miserably (The Hilton has very little to offer in that regard that we could find), walking back to the CES show floor, then going to an evening event and walking back from it. Friday morning my body was such a wreck I could barely move.

By Friday night I was feeling better and headed to a CNTRSTG event sponsored by DisplayLink. While there I was treated to a fine meal and had a good time chatting with my peers. By the time I got back to my hotel, however, I was starting to feel a bit strange. Two hours later I felt a touch ill, but thought it was the gut-wrenching two final episodes of The Shield season seven that I watched. When I woke up at 2am puking my guts out, I realized it wasn't the gripping cop drama, but food poisoning or a flu bug. Saturday felt like the longest day of my life as I went through the classic flu symptoms: fever, chills, and no-orifice-shall-be-spared expulsion of what seemed like more than my body weight. I felt like death, but was helped along by the delivery of a few bottles of fluids from a friend.

By Sunday morning the worst of it was over, and I loaded up on Pepto-bismal and Imodium to fly home. The Las Vegas airport was a ghost town, with no lines for security. I sat there for nearly three hours before the flight boarded. In my delirious state I accidentally deleted (and now can't recover) what was perhaps one of my only interesting videos - it was of an HP Snapdragon-powered netbook prototype - but at least I could carry a small laptop bag with me on the way back. Hooray.

As I stood at the luggage conveyor belt in Calgary, weak and exhausted, it didn't take me long to notice that I was the only person left waiting for his luggage. That's right, Air Canada had lost my bag on a direct flight from Las Vegas to Calgary. I shuffled, zombie-like, over to the baggage counter, ready to become an angry brain-eating zombie at not yet being able to go see my wife and baby boy waiting outside, and was informed that there were any number of reasons why my bag wasn't there. The TSA could have scanned it and found something suspicious; Air Canada could have not had room for it on the flight, or maybe just lost it. At that point, I didn't care. I stumbled outside, hugged my wife and child, went home, and slept for 12 hours.

The next evening (Monday), an Air Canada courier dropped off my suitcase - reeking of cigarette smoke - and thankfully all of my electronics were still inside. CES 2010 was a complete failure from a news coverage and health perspective for me, though I did manage to network and meet some of the right people for the next Thoughts Media site to launch (there's your treat for reading to the end of this long-ass rant). I can't think of very many things that I truly regret in life, but if I could go back in time to January 5th, I'd tell myself to skip CES 2010 entirely.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's may just hit himself in the head with a shovel repeatedly rather than going to CES 2011.

Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.

"Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, and Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division, deliver the pre-show keynote address in Las Vegas to kick off the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Coverage begins on Jan. 6, 2010, at approximately 6:30 p.m. PST with the live, streaming keynote. The Microsoft 2010 CES Newsroom will be updated throughout CES with the latest news, videos, photos and press information from Microsoft and its partners."

CES is here! Tune in to the live webcast at 6:30 PM (PST) today (world times listed below) as Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach talk the latest and greatest in Windows 7, Office, Windows Live, Windows Mobile, Xbox, Zune, and other consumer technologies. But if you'd rather digest it all in one hit, keep your eyes peeled for our post-keynote report.

• Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle: Wednesday, 6:30 PM
• Chicago, Houston: Wednesday, 8:30 PM
• New York, Washington, DC: Wednesday, 9:30 PM
• London: Thursday, 2:30 AM
• Paris, Berlin: Thursday, 3:30 AM
• Moscow: Thursday, 5:30 AM
• Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Perth: Thursday, 10:30 AM
• Tokyo: Thursday, 11:30 AM
• Sydney, Melbourne: Thursday, 1:30 PM
• Auckland: Thursday, 3:30 PM

We've got another great contest for you, and this time because it's an accessory that works with so many different products, it's a network-wide contest. The prizes? I'm giving away three pairs of SHURE SE210 Earphones (MSRP $179.99 USD), courtesy of the generous folks at Shure. Our very own David Tucker reviewed this earphones back in September, and he loved them - so I'm sure the three winners will as well. The SE210's feature a noise-isolating sleeves that block 90 percent of the ambient noise, and the more noise you can block out, the more you can enjoy your tunes.

What do you have to do to win? Simply post a message in this discussion thread telling me which type of device (or devices) you'd use the headphones with. A Windows Mobile smartphone? A Zune? An iPod? An iPhone? A netbook or laptop? That's it - one post per person, and the contest closes on Tuesday the 15th of December at 12pm GMT -7. This contest is world-wide; I'll be shipping you the prizes myself.

Remember that all first posts in our system are held in moderation, so if this contest entry is your first post, please wait up to 48 hours before getting concerned if your post hasn't shown up yet - it will. Winners will be contacted via private forum message, so ensure that you have email notifications turned on. Winners will have 72 hours to claim their prize.

Let's see those entries!

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Amazon.com has some great deals today (Fuji Finepix camera for $79 anyone?), so if you're going to do some online shopping at Amazon, do me a favour and use our affiliate link. It costs you nothing, but gives back a bit to the sites that you enjoy. Thanks! :-)

Yesterday afternoon I witnessed a great interview between Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, and Joshua Topolsky, editor-in-chief of gadget blog Engadget. The event of course celebrated the launch of Windows 7, but Windows Mobile (6.5 and 7), Zune HD, and Microsoft’s cloud computing initiatives were all hot topics, and each were discussed at some length.

While Josh maintained a level of cool collectedness throughout, Ballmer was energetic, apologetic, and at times, seemed like he was having genuine fun in the interviewee chair. A number of the audience members around me mentioned that Ballmer seemed “nervous,” but I saw it more as a frustration with consumer markets in general not “getting” the Microsoft message. He showed that the company had made many strides towards products and scenarios that consumers wanted to see, but even still appeared to be quite alright with taking a second place to Apple in mindshare if it meant holding on to the much larger number of sales the company regularly pulls in. Josh asked why we had seen Microsoft-built hardware products for Xbox and Zune and not, for example, a mobile phone. Ballmer replied that game consoles, media players, mice, etc. all had total sales of under 50 million units, while PCs, phones, and TVs outsold those markets several times over, so it made sense to create a platform rather than building something new. He cryptically mentioned that the rumored “Pink” phones would not be made by Microsoft, but likely a hardware partner.

When asked about the possibility of seeing Zune in the next version of Windows Mobile, Ballmer nodded. “Next version, yes,” before jokingly adding, “but that’s always the typical technology company response, ‘next version.’” It remains to be announced the extent of the Zune feature set that will make it into Windows, as so far the recent Xbox / Zune Video integration has been relatively underwhelming as far as rumored and promised feature crossover. Ballmer claimed he hadn't seen the leaked video of Microsoft's Courier tablet concept, but added with a smile that he would be excited to see any company produce something similar to what he had heard was showed in the video.

Josh pressed the CEO on a number of difficult topics, and gained some good answers, some well-crafted dodges, and a number of somber apologies for high-profile mistakes like the recent Danger/Sidekick data loss. Josh called out Windows Mobile, referring to the platform as—and I’m paraphrasing here—less than successful. He asked if Microsoft as a company was heading in too many directions, to which Ballmer replied that as a computer company this size, it would be a mistake not to be in, for example the search business, and companies like Apple simply do not have the market share or penetration in the rest of the world to truly be a threat to the bottom line. Ballmer seemed to approach these seemingly divergent brands as a necessity for a company its size to maintain its position of dominance.

After the show was over, Josh returned to the stage with fellow Engadget editors Nilay Patel and Paul Miller to discuss news of the week. They spent about 3 minutes on Windows 7 before declaring that enough time had been spent on the topic (huh?) and went on to discuss the Mac lineup refresh, Barnes & Noble’s new Nook, and the poor marketing message conveyed through Verizon’s “Droid Does” ads.

At one point, Nilay referred to Windows 7 as “Vista done right,” which I’ve never been able to understand. Sure at a low-level, it appears as if 7 is merely a slight tweak from Vista (perhaps the taskbar and new Aero features were “add-ons”?), but many of these features would not be possible without a lot of the compatibility breaks Vista ushered in. This includes technological/architectural, interface, and marketing initiatives that have become necessary in modern operating systems. In many ways, I doubt a success like 7 could have come any other way than such a dramatic shift.

The episode will be available for download today from Engadget.

Microsoft's "Open House" party at the Armory in uptown Manhattan last week was meant to serve as a "coming out" of sorts. The Microsoft brand for the first time in a while seems to be regaining ground lost after high-profile marketing failures like Windows Vista and lackluster mobile device sales. Now, Windows 7 is getting rave reviews even ahead of its release, Zune HD is a critic's darling, and the Xbox 360 is selling like never before. While these individual products have gained success on their own, they have so far failed to lift Microsoft to the same level of brand unity that competitors like Apple and Google have enjoyed. The event therefore was intended to show the connection between their many interests and reinforce Microsoft's commitment to its "three screens and the cloud" strategy. Did it succeed? Well, yes and no.

The event took place in a hangar-like building with several exhibits, demos, and a 60-foot tall bubble dome at its center where “World's #1 DJ" Tiesto spun tracks throughout the night. A Windows Mobile "tree house" that shook with every bassy techno note showed off Windows Mobile 6.5’s dedicated Twitter functionality courtesy of the two beautifully-costumed (human) "Twitter Birds." One of the Twitter Birds, perched on a swing set below the tree house with a megaphone in one hand and a smart phone in the other, loudly sang out any Tweet sent to @Retweetbird. The Zune / Windows Media Center area was basically a model living room showing off the products’ television interfaces for couch surfing. These demos proved that well-designed technology could be fun, and that the company has a sense of humor about itself.

Nothing brand new was shown off at the event, but it gave a good sense of Microsoft's fall lineup of hardware, software, and services. Windows 7 was out in full force, with an emphasis on gaming and netbooks, and there were some cool displays with Xbox and Zune. Microsoft Hardware, home to keyboards, mice, and webcams, had two designers on hand to discuss the creative process behind their new 720p webcam and their line of Sidewinder and Wireless Mobile mice. The webcam performed admirably, and filled an HDTV completely with only a slight drop in frame rate from SD. The resolution was astounding, as the representative proved by alternating between close-up macro shots and zooming in on text from across the room. It's got a bendable, rubberized grip to fit any monitor, and a built-in microphone, a feature that apparently caused a number of headaches due to its positioning and size. I'd been following the recent news of their multi-touch concept mice, as well as the MS Hardware tours on Channel 10, and the on-hand ergonomics engineer happily reported that he had made a cameo in the background of one of the videos. He mentioned that the original concept of the foldable Arc mouse was to be worn as a clothing accessory, perhaps clipped to a pocket or purse. It comes in six colors, but I can’t see anyone actually wearing a mouse with them as part of a daily routine. Thankfully, neither could Microsoft and the idea was scrapped.

As I toured the booths, I was amazed at the variety of initiatives the company is pursuing and the vastness of its product line. Even the exhibition placement spoke to the company’s range. The Hardware booth was bounded by a demo car for Microsoft Auto on one side, and a bank of Xbox 360s on the other. The many divergent interests of the company were apparent here, and when they were properly integrated— like with Windows Media Center and Windows 7—it worked beautifully. But other things just appeared to be from a wholly different world than another. Mere feet from Harmonix representatives showing off 'Beatles Rock Band' was a Ford sedan equipped with Microsoft's voice control system, which allows the driver to speak commands for directions, music, or phone calls. Despite the advanced voice recognition software, it still got choked up on basic phrases, and had difficulty interpreting my wish to hear tracks by Elvis Presley (though it did fine with Beyonce and Sade, pronounced "Sha-day," which the rep says was due to over 80,000 enhancements). The car system itself just seemed out-of-place and did not entirely fit with the “cool” vibe they were going for.

While the three screens—mobile, monitor, and television—were displayed to full effect, very little by way of Cloud Computing was discussed. No Live Mesh or Live services of any kind could be found, and even the integration of Zune Marketplace services on Xbox Live video did not present a compelling case for connected entertainment. Despite repeated attempts over the years to tie the three screens together with web-based “Cloud” services, we so far have yet to see any successful efforts toward a unified solution. The company is starting to recognize this and hopefully prove their commitment to their cloud computing initiative which includes the mantra “software plus services.”

While Microsoft certainly has a long way to go to unify its platforms, the Open House proved that the company is taking steps in the right direction. The lineup of hardware and software available this fall is the best in the company’s last few years. It should be exciting to see where the company stands at this time next year.

Remember the iZel review that I published a few weeks back? Well, the makers of the iZel have offered us three to give away to lucky Thoughts Media readers! This contest is open to anyone in the US or Canada (sorry rest-of-world). Entering the contest is really easy: all you have to do is post a message in this discussion thread telling me what kind of device(s) you'd want to use with the iZel. That's it! I'll randomly select three entries and each person will win an iZel. Nice and easy! The contest is open until the 16th of July, at 12pm (GMT -7). Enter now!

This is a bit off topic for some sites in our network, but a good deal is a good deal: our hardware affiliate partner Expansys is selling the Linux-based version of the Acer Aspire One for $199, which is an excellent deal. This version of the Aspire One has an 8.9 inch screen, 1 GB of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive, and uses the 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU. Combine that netbook with a $49 copy of Windows 7, and you've got yourself a nice little piece of mobile computing technology (just be sure to also have an external USB-based optical drive). I haven't installed Windows 7 on an Acer Aspire One, but I suspect it would work just fine - Windows 7 identified all the important hardware on my MSI Wind and HP Mini 1000 netbooks without a problem. At the time of this writing, Expansys only has 58 left in stock, so don't delay.

The first presentation I attended at CNTRSTG was by Boston Power, a battery company that's been making some waves lately with probably the most significant enhancement to Lithium Ion batteries that we've seen in several years. Given how little Lithium Ion batteries have changed in the past decade, that's not exactly hard to do, but Boston Power is definitely moving the needle.

Dr. Christine Lampe-Önnerud, the founder of Boston Power in 2005, is a scientist by training and was part of a team of 20 people who pioneered lithium ion technology in the 1990's. She studied at MIT, and worked at Bell Labs; she knows batteries. Her team at Boston Power has over 300 years of combined experience in Lithium Ion batteries.

There are two main problems with Lithium Ion batteries today: poor long-term performance and the fact that batteries just don't power our devices long enough to make us happy. Although the examples that Lampe-Önnerud brought up seemed unrealistic in my experience - she mentioned serious battery performance loss in the first three months - it's true that over the long term, battery performance gets increasingly worse. I tend to use my laptops in fairly controlled environments, but if someone is routinely using (or leaving) their laptop in extremely hot or cold environments the viability of the battery will definitely be impacted. You might get four hours of battery life on your laptop when you first get it, then six months later you're only getting three hours of run time. This is what Boston Power is trying to change.

Figure 1: Dr. Christine Lampe-Önnerud, the founder of Boston Power.

The charging cycle industry norm for Lithium Ion batteries is broad: anywhere from 150 to 300 cycles, which varies by manufacturer. That means that if you use your laptop for a few hours, then recharge it, you've used up a charging cycle. Shallow charges also impact the longevity of the battery cells, so using your laptop for 10 minutes then plugging it back in isn't the best idea because it will use up part of a charging cycle. I've seen all sorts of opinions expressed on this matter, and unfortunately I wasn't able to ask this question to Lampe-Önnerud to find out how rooted in reality this concept of shallow charging really is.

So what is Boston Power doing about these problems? The company is only four years old, but they've managed to partner with the biggest laptop company in the world: HP. HP is releasing a line of batteries called HP Enviro, which feature 1000 charging cycles and 3 year warranties. The HP Enviro batteries, as you can probably guess by the name, also leverage the environmental advantages of the Boston Power approach. There are no heavy metals or PVCs in the product, and they're highly recyclable. These batteries are created using Boston Power's design and technology, which typically test in the 1400 charging cycle range - when asked why they didn't put 1400 charging cycles on the package, Lampe-Önnerud said that the number of charging cycles depended on a number of environmental factors and 1000 was the minimum they could promise. It's nice seeing someone in the technology world under-promising and over-delivering. Can you imagine if you bought a laptop that had five hours of advertised battery life and it worked for seven hours?

Rather try to invent new technologies, they worked to tighten the specs of what was out there today - to fine tune the specs and deliver greater performance than what was typical today. Their batteries are enclosed in aluminum , which is a great heat conductor, whereas most batteries are encased in carbon, which doesn't conduct heat. Most lithium ion batteries have trouble with heat, which is why batteries tend to be on the edge of the laptop. Boston Power batteries can deal with the heat much better, meaning you can put the battery cells in multiple places inside the laptop, gaining more power overall. She hinted at working with several design teams to re-think the location of batteries. I strongly prefer removable batteries, but if I knew that the battery inside the laptop was going to still give me as much run-time power three years down the road, I wouldn't care quite so much. In their product roadmap, they have technologies to increase run-time on the battery, meaning that down the road we should see Boston Power batteries that last longer than other batteries on the market.

Figure 2: A sample Boston Power battery in a Compaq notebook. This sample battery has a translucent shell so you can see the Boston Power battery cells.

So how do you get a Boston Power battery? That's the biggest problem right now: availability. Right now HP is the only company that's selling Boston Power batteries, but they don't have an exclusive on the technology - HP simply worked closest and longest with Boston Power and are now reaping the rewards from that. The Boston Power batteries are "drop in" for several models of HP 3 and 4-cell Pavilion notebooks, meaning they're exactly the same size as the batteries they are replacing. The batteries are selling for about $30 more than normal batteries, so there is a price premium - though if you've ever gone through multiple batteries for your notebook, that $30 price premium vanishes immediately when you can keep using the same battery for several years. I was told that within a few weeks the HP Enviro batteries should be available as an option on HP.com for ordering customized notebooks. Obviously, HP and Boston Power want to get more of these batteries out for more notebooks, but that will take time.

Will you see Boston Power batteries available from other notebook companies? Quite possibly. The Boston Power batteries are very price competitive with other batteries that the OEMs are currently using. Sony, Samsung, LG, and Sanyo have largely run the battery industry for the past 17 years, but it's within the realm of possibility that these big battery makers might license Boston Power technology to improve their own batteries. Boston Power's technology is definitely the biggest thing to happen to Lithium Ion batteries in the past five years, and I can't wait to see what they accomplish over the next couple of years.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He was spoiled by the 11 hour battery life of his Fujitsu P7000 laptop.

After a few minutes of beatboxing and a seemingly enthusiastic Gary Shapiro introducing Steve Ballmer on to the stage, Microsoft's keynote was under way. This was Ballmer's first keynote at CES since taking over from Bill Gates, who delivered it for the first time almost 15 years ago and has traditionally done so up until last year. The question on everyone's mind was whether this keynote would be as memorable as the last. In a time when the very word, "recession", strikes fear into both consumers and businesses, would Microsoft have enough up its sleeve to turn 2009 into a year of ambition, innovation, and prosperity?

Ballmer kicked things off with some light humour. He had apparently received a deluge of messages and words of advice leading up to CES.

• One from Bill Gates: "There are always two conventions going on during CES - make sure you go to the right one." Apple fans know the other.
• And another from Jerry Yang: "Steve, why do you keep ignoring my Facebook requests?" Ouch.

From there, Ballmer adopted a more serious tone and stressed that Microsoft had delivered many positive outcomes in the industry, helped lift many families to the middle class, and would continue to drive innovation and make a difference. He made clear that as the recession ripples across the globe, reduced expectations were a natural response and there would be a temptation to temper optimism and scale back ambition. Yet despite all that, he still believed that our digital lives would only get richer, and Microsoft would be there every step of the way. Just last year alone, the company channeled more than eight billion dollars into R&D.

But just how rich can our digital lives become?

The original vision was to have a PC on every desk and in every home. However, Ballmer recognized that today, only a billion or so have a PC. The aim now was to make computing more accessible and more affordable for the next billion or so people, which we are currently witnessing in the booming netbook market and OLPC initiative.

Another vision centered on convergence - an amalgamation of displays, the phone, and the PC to deliver a seamless ecosystem for this idea of "anytime, anywhere" computing. Over one billion mobile phones are sold each year. Ballmer noted that in emerging markets, it is the phone that is often people's first experience with computing, and that smartphones will soon be ubiquitous to the point that they will make up over 50% of the mobile phone market. In the world of TVs, while resolutions have improved, capabilities have largely remained the same. Ballmer anticipated that TVs will soon become more sophisticated and connected, and that the boundary between the PC and TV will eventually dissolve.

Ballmer then went on to discuss our interaction with computers and other devices. He believed that it would evolve in more natural ways. Natural user interfaces such as speech, gestures, and handwriting would become mainstream, although the keyboard and mouse would still have its uses. We're currently seeing examples of this in the upcoming Windows 7, Surface, and touch-enabled smartphones.

Microsoft's last area of opportunity - at least in the short-term - would be in connected experiences. Until recently, we've been largely disconnected when moving from one device to another. But these barriers are slowly crumbling, thanks to the cloud. Ballmer believes that nailing this would deliver a huge breakthrough in computing.

To help realize these visions and areas of opportunity, there is Windows, which Ballmer tagged as a linchpin and the centre of people's technological solar system. What was once simply a PC operating system for the masses would soon become a phone platform and cloud platform for the masses, but it would not be possible without the cooperation of hardware manufacturers. Ballmer recognized their efforts in delivering innovative hardware for Windows to run on.

It was time for a video. Microsoft was ready to show off the latest and greatest desktops, laptops, and phones running Windows and Windows Mobile.

The Samsung X360, Dell Studio Hybrid, Toshiba Portégé R600, Toshiba Qosimo X305, Moneaul Minew S10, Acer Aspire 8930G, Sony VAIO TT, ASUS U6V Bamboo, Lenovo IdeaPad Y650, Lenovo ThinkPad W700DS, HP Firebird, and HP TouchSmart PC all made an appearance.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1, Samsung Omnia, HTC Touch Pro, and HTC Touch HD also dropped in to say hello.

The video ended and Ballmer moved on to discuss Windows. He looked back and raised three points that he felt made Windows and the PC successful: the first was a solid and diverse range of applications that worked together, the second was greater choice in hardware, and the third was a Windows-enabled experience that brought all of it together. He then went on to say that the future of Windows is, as Microsoft advertises heavily, a "life without walls", and that the PC operating system would play a critical role. Ballmer talked about Windows 7. He was excited about its progress and stated that Microsoft was on track to deliver the best version of Windows ever and one with all the right ingredients: simplicity, reliability, and speed. He then delivered the first major announcement in today's keynote: the availability of Windows 7 Beta. If you're an MSDN or TechNet subscriber, it's available right now. If you're not, you only have to wait until Friday to download it from Microsoft's web site.

Windows Live was next on the agenda, and Ballmer had three announcements to make:

• The worldwide availability of the new and improved Windows Live Essentials, which includes Messenger, Mail, and Photo Gallery;
• A partnership with Facebook, which will see content and status updates shared between the two services; and
• A partnership with Dell, which will see Windows Live Essentials and Windows Live Search pre-installed on all consumer and small business PCs worldwide. Great out-of-the-box experience, or more bloatware for you to uninstall? You decide.

Ballmer moved on to Windows Mobile, and discussed the success of the platform. Last year, eleven devices each sold over a million units, and thirty new devices were released to market. Microsoft's partners have sold more than twenty million phones in the past twelve months. Unfortunately, there were no major announcements here other than a new long-term partnership with Verizon Wireless, which will soon see Live Search pre-installed on all of its phones.

Ballmer wrapped up his spiel on Windows and passed it on to Charlotte Jones for a demonstration of Windows 7, Windows Live, and Windows Mobile.

Jones demonstrated a few tricks in Windows 7, such as peeking through windows, tiling windows, and Jump Lists. She also demonstrated homegroups and Play To by setting up a home network and sending a media file to an Xbox 360 for playback.

Next up, a touch demo! Jones used her finger as a replacement for the mouse to drag-and-drop a few files. She then opened an application called Surface Globe - think Live Search/Virtual Earth, but touch-capable. One finger to move around, a two-finger spread to zoom in - it was like watching a fullscreen version of Google Maps on the iPhone, but it wasn't long before she showed off some unique ways to control the map. With two fingers, she was able to tilt the orientation of the map and zoom right in to see three-dimensional representations of the buildings in Manhattan.

Jones moved on to Windows Mobile to announce that the new Internet Explorer would soon come pre-installed on new Windows Mobile phones, which most of us knew about, anyway. She demonstrated it on a Palm Treo Pro for a brief moment. Scrolling seemed a little choppy, which may end up being enough to keep you glued to your third-party browser of choice.

There was also a brief demonstration of panoramic shots on the Samsung Omnia, and how simple it is to upload that content to Windows Live.

It was on that note that Jones decided to demonstrate some of the new and improved features in Windows Live. First, she touched on the new home.live.com, which went live (excuse the pun) late last year. She showed off a one-click Silverlight slideshow, integration with Twitter, Flickr, and Yelp, and an accelerator box, which helped her translate a Russian phrase to English. Other than that, there wasn't much else to wow the crowd.

Next up was a look at Microsoft's efforts in adding a social and search aspect to Hotmail. Jones demonstrated a Quick Add pane, which took the hard work out of looking up a business address and pasting it into the body of an e-mail. No word on a release date for said pane, other than "coming soon".

Jones' stage time ended with a look at Messenger. Having used the application myself, I can say that it's a lot cleaner and faster than previous versions of Messenger. However, none of that was covered in the demo. Instead, Jones decided to touch on what some would argue as a trivial feature known as video tiles or dynamic display pictures, where said tiles/pictures animate according to emoticons used in a conversation. If you want happy, sad, or a wink, it's there. If you want "Kissy Lips" (in Jones' own words), it's there, too.

Australian musical comedy act, Tripod, took the stage as an intermission prior to Robbie Bach's appearance.

Bach commenced with a spiel on connected entertainment, stressing that it wasn't just about connecting devices, but connecting friends and family, too. In other words, delivering a great social experience, which we're seeing now in Xbox Live and the Zune Social.

Bach revisited some of the major announcements and milestones of 2008. He touched on Ford Sync, which will receive an update later this year, along with a new version of Tellme. Sadly, there was no cars on stage to see any of it in action. He also touched on the excellent performance of the Zune platform. By the end of last year, there were two million in the Zune Social, and more people are currently embracing the concept of subscriptions, especially now that Microsoft is offering monthly credits of ten songs to Zune Pass subscribers.

There were more statistics to be discussed as Bach moved on to TV. He noted that it was a great year for Media Center, with over ten million unique users accessing content, and the average session time being ninety minutes. Microsoft's IPTV solution, Mediaroom, grew 250% to nearly two-and-a-half million people worldwide. Later this year, Microsoft and Singtel will launch Mediaroom Anytime, enabling viewers to access previously aired shows without the need for recording.

Xbox enjoyed another great year - in fact, the best holiday season and best year ever to date. Over twenty-eight million consoles have been sold in thirty-six countries, and the Xbox 360 currently has an industry-leading attach rate. Xbox Live is currently composed of seventeen million users worldwide, which represents a growth rate of 70% in 2008. Just the last three months alone saw three million people join the service.

Bach then moved on to the year ahead and kicked it off with a look at upcoming releases in the Halo franchise. Halo Wars will hit shelves on February 28, with a demo expected on Xbox Live on February 5. Halo 3: ODST will ship in the fourth quarter. Both are for the Xbox 360.

Sometime in the second quarter, Microsoft will launch its live, social, and interactive channel, Primetime. You'll be able to team up with your friends, and participate in and experience live events such as the 1 vs. 100 game show.

After a couple of problems with a wireless controller, Bach demonstrated real-time streaming of 30 Rock via Netflix. Later in the year, Microsoft will release a Netflix application for Windows Mobile, allowing you to manage your Netflix queues quickly and easily.

The Community Games channel will launch later in the year, offering a medium for developers to develop and sell their own games. Kids won't be left out either, with the Kodu Game Creator set to teach kids programming concepts and enable them to create and distribute their creations.

Bach introduced Sparrow, a twelve-year old girl, on to the stage to demonstrate Kodu. What followed was a wild demo of complex workflows being created and managed at a pace that not even the crowd could keep up with. In just a few minutes, Bach and Sparrow were battling it out in her newly-created world. All in all, a very impressive effort by the girl.

Ballmer took the stage once again to discuss the future of computing. He stressed that it was one that would focus heavily on improved processing power, cheaper high-definition displays, and cross-platform applications that would learn your habits, understand your preferences, and predict your needs.

Janet Galore joined Ballmer on stage to demonstrate prototypes that will hopefully enhance the quality of education in the future. The first prototype was a tablet displaying an interactive anatomical map of the human body. But that wasn't all that it was capable of. The device was able to anticipate what resources she might be interested in as a student, and semantically analyze said resources with Microsoft Research algorithms to deliver information relevant to her studies. Add in automatic translation and timelines and you have a device that is probably an absolute boon to medical students.

Galore then briefly demonstrated the Surface's ability to interact with the tablet, a smartphone (an HTC Touch Diamond, maybe), and a plastic model of the human brain. And after a quick look at a flexible colour display, the keynote was over.

If you had high expectations coming into this keynote, there's a good chance you're reading this now feeling sorely disappointed. This year's keynote focused heavily on the achievements of 2008 and less on the technological advancements expected in 2009. Other than some major Windows 7 and Windows Live announcements, it was a rather dry keynote, especially for Windows Mobile, Xbox, and Zune. But there's always next time.

To Ballmer's credit, he certainly filled Gates' shoes very well, or as Shapiro put it, filled Gates' sweater very well.

Darius Wey is a software and web developer based in Perth, Australia, with an avid interest in photography, music, mobile devices, and the Xbox 360. He never seems able to come up with a witty remark to end his bio. Maybe you can help him.