Live: Microsoft CES 2009 Keynote Kicks Off The Ballmer Years

Here at CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Steve Ballmer has kicked off his speech wearing Bill Gates’ old shoes. Was TechCrunch right about the speech’s contents? Update: Here’s video of the keynote:

Or, if you want the quick and dirty, here’s what unfurled in front of me, give or take a few guest presenters and some marketingspeak:

Ballmer comes out—my guess is he’s smiling. He talks about the wonderful world of consumer electronics. He mentions this company called Microsoft. He also mentions the tough economic times we’re all going to suffer through together. He will be optimistic, however.

He’s going to talk about Windows 7. First, he’ll announce the availability the Windows 7 Beta tomorrow for registered Microsoft beta peeps, January 9th for everybody else. He’ll run through a lot of stuff we’ve already seen on Win 7, like DeviceStage, Homegroup networking, “Play To…” and other coolness like the Win 7 touch interface.

On the Windows Live front, he’ll tell us that Windows Live Essentials is no longer in beta, and that you can now post photos on Facebook directly from Windows Live Photo Gallery, and save photos from Facebook directly to your Win gallery too. He’ll also say that Windows Live Search and Essentials toolbar is gonna boot Google from Dell computers in February. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless is going to implement Windows Live on VZW feature phones. IE8 is not out of beta yet, but it’s coming.

For Windows Mobile, the big news, as presumed, will be full Adobe Flash support in the browser. (Sounds good to me, if only the browser was as good as, well, others.)

Ballmer is going to call Robbie Bach to the stage to talk about connected entertainment. Bach will start with some good Xbox stats—28 million worldwide, with 17 million active Windows Live members, and over a billion dollars spent on the service since inception.


Bach will introduce a number of sweet products:
• Windows Mobile app for managing Netflix queue
• Xbox Live community game builder called Kodu (already buzzed about)
• Windows Media Extender functionality in Toshiba products (announced earlier today)
• The latest edition of Ford Sync, which you can read about here
• Go back and forth on shows you didn’t pre-record using Microsoft Media Room Anytime (I wonder what the advertiser stipulations are on that)
• Already known games Halo Wars and Halo 3: Orbital Drop Shock Trooper
• Xbox Live Primetime game 1 Vs 100 live gameshow coming in spring

What, no love for Zune? Almost everything’s going according to plan so far, but stay tuned, because anything could happen. You know, come to think of it, Robbie Bach got to talk about a lot of the fun stuff. Is this the kickoff of the Ballmer Years? Or is it really the kickoff to the Bach Years? Steve would probably win at arm wrestling, but seeing the two of them on stage, I’m starting to think Bach could maybe take the bossman in a Cool Hand Luke-style a fist fight. [Full CES 2009 Coverage]

Live from Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote

5:57PM We’re inside and front and center. In just a few sweet moments Steve Ballmer will take the stage and launch us into a phantasmagoric world of keynote goodness. Keep your internet terminals tuned to this channel!

Continue reading Live from Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote

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Live from Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft CES ninja booth tour: hello Windows 7

It was already a fair bet that Steve Ballmer will be talking about Windows 7 during his CES keynote tonight, especially after the beta keys leaked but we’d say the odds just got better: we just hit up the Microsoft booth a little early and spotted a prominent 7 display. We were hustled out before we got a chance to dig further, but we were certainly intrigued by the black cloth covering up the Windows Mobile display — we doubt it means anything, but maybe Ballms has some WinMo 7 action to show off as well. Check it in the gallery!

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Microsoft CES ninja booth tour: hello Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 beta 64-bit version leaked just in time for Steve Ballmer’s keynote

It looks like the usual suspects are at it again, showing their baldfaced contempt for copyright law by disseminating a 64-bit version of the Windows 7 beta. When we saw the 32-bit version a couple weeks ago things looked pretty good, outperforming Vista and XP in “real world” tasks, so we’re hoping that its older brother performs on the same level. There’s a strong possibility that the public beta will be announced at tonight’s keynote, and if it is Engadget will be on hand to dish out all the gory details.

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Windows 7 beta 64-bit version leaked just in time for Steve Ballmer’s keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus features modded G50 with 4.3-inch secondary computer, oh my

What’s 1 primary laptop plus 1 secondary, smaller computer equal? Want, that’s what. Asus just showed us a modified G50 media laptop with a secondary 4.3 LCD display computer with some help from Microsoft here at Asus’ CES presser. Microsoft actually calls it “two computers in one chassis” running independently from each other but sharing a common battery. The smaller computer will run for over 12 hours for all your widgeting (contacts, email, etc) needs — alas, it does not appear to be removable. Funny thing is, not a single mention by Microsoft about SideShow. Check the video after the break, it’s compelling and nerd sexy to see a movie launch from the small, second computer onto the larger display.

Continue reading Asus features modded G50 with 4.3-inch secondary computer, oh my

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Asus features modded G50 with 4.3-inch secondary computer, oh my originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Live Messenger Version 8.5 Leaked

This article was written on May 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

The latest version of Windows Live Messenger has been leaked.  Version 8.5 was leaked by Messenger Addictos, a site dedicated to covering Windows Live Messenger.  As the name suggests, the site is in Spanish, and the version that was leaked is also in Spanish. If you want to give it a try there is a way to get it in English.

The screenshots below shows the old messenger compared to the new messenger:

Messenger1

The most obvious changes are with the user interface, but I’m sure there were also a handful of bug fixes with this version.. It’s starting to look more Vista-ish.

You’ll also see a few cosmetic changes with the message window:

Messenger3

You may have noticed with your current version of Messenger that it installs to an MSN Messenger folder.  A few weeks ago I went searching for the Windows Live Messenger folder only to find that it wasn’t there! Despite the fact that Microsoft changed the name to Windows Live Messenger, they never created a new folder for it.  This version will now finally install to a Windows Live folder.

This isn’t officially released by Microsoft, and it’s not an official beta. With that said, you can get instructions and a download link for an installer which I found in the comments over at Digg. It will require that you download an English Language data file if you want it in English instead of Spanish.

Microsoft also threw in a new bunny emoticon as Mess.be pointed out. The shortcut is (‘.’) and it looks like this:Messengerbunny

If you download this version, let us know if you come across any additional changes.

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Windows Live Writer now has XHTML Support

This article was written on September 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

Live Writer XHTML

Looks like I was right about there being a new Live Writer released today. The Live Writer blog just announced that Beta 3 has been made available, and it can be downloaded by anyone and everyone.

And let me tell you…this thing finally has XHTML support! You know that there was some divine intervention going on when someone over at Microsoft actually cares about standards. ;) Oh, and if you’re looking for the way to enable XHTML support it’s located in your Weblog Settings pictured above.

Don’t fret, there is more good stuff besides for the XHTML support:

  • Insert videos using our new ‘Insert Video’ dialog
  • Upload images to Picasaweb when publishing to your Blogger blog
  • Publish XHTML-style markup
  • Use Writer in 28 additional languages
  • Print your posts
  • Justify-align post text
  • Better image handling (fewer blurry images)
  • Resolved installation issues from last release
  • Many other bug fixes and enhancements

Prior to this I had been using the newly free blog software Post2Blog for all of our postings. It was nice, but a little rough around the edges. Windows Live Writer has won my heart once again, and I’ve already made the switch back! Kudos to the Live Writer developers for making an indispensable app!

There are some things that I want to caution you with though:

  • Even the standalone download uses the new unified installer, and it will automatically upgrade all of your existing Live software (Messenger, Mail, etc…).
  • The new installer takes abnormally long to do its job. So get it started and then walk away for about 15 minutes.
  • All of the Live apps are now installed in C:\Program Files\Windows Live\[AppName], but that shouldn’t break any of your Live Writer plugins.

Download Live Writer Beta 3

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XIM 2 Xbox 360 mod ready for pre-order, you aren’t ready to pony up

Eager to use your mouse / keyboard combo on your Xbox 360? Eager enough to drop $179.95 for the privilege? If so, then you should probably know that XIM’s ready and willing to oblige. The XIM 2 module, which is supposedly plug ‘n play in nature, is at long last available for ordering, though it’s not quite ready for shipment. Seriously though, for this price you may be better off investing in a few controller mastering lessons and using the remainder on Bawls and Cheetos.

[Thanks, K.Green]

XIM 2 Xbox 360 mod ready for pre-order, you aren’t ready to pony up originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Y2K8 Zune quirk really a Freescale bug?

Well, here’s an interesting twist to this story. That mysterious and completely enraging “Zune bug” that cropped up on the final day of 2008 may not have been restricted to Microsoft PMPs. A much smaller cadre of Toshiba Gigabeat users reportedly experienced similar issues, and some even noted that the whole “discharge and re-date” rigmarole fixed their unit right up as well. Upon further investigation, it seems that the issue may actually reside in the Freescale MC13783 processor, which — coincidentally enough — is used in the Zune 30 and a few of Toshiba’s alternatives. We suppose it’s a little late to ask, but did any non-Zune owners experience similar issues just prior to the dawn of ’09? Or were you too busy, um, partying like it was 1999?

[Thanks nywytboy68]

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Y2K8 Zune quirk really a Freescale bug? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Culprit of the Zune Massacre

Anythingbutipod and Ihaveazune have done some research and have discovered that the 30GB Zune failing bug also affects its twin brother, the Toshiba Gigabeat S. According to them, the culprit is the power management circuit.

The fiend is Freescale’s MC13783 PMIC—a chipset used to regulate and control power—which is used in the the Gigabeat S Series. This is the model that Microsoft used as the basis for their Zune.

Whoever is guilty here, don’t worry if you are one of the six people who have a Toshiba Gigabeat: According to one user in the same thread, the Zune fix works too. [Anythingbutipod forum thread via Anythingbutipod]