The Buzz

Leave it to Gates to pull a trick or two out of his hat before he left the stage. Bill went left of center and dug into the Microsoft “fresh from the lab” files to debut an as-yet unnamed software application for handheld devices that comes about as close to Battlestar Galactica as it gets — fundamentally a mix of Virtual Earth, digital camera and Search technology that allows you to point a device at any person/building/location and have the device automatically consolidate and bring up available data on that subject. In one of Gates’ examples, shoot a photo of a movie theater and trailers for the movie currently running become available for viewing, as well as the ability to buy tickets. In a nutshell, Microsoft is building an interactive platform for advertising that will add several new layers of commercial distribution and the possibility for retail. Pictured: Authentic Rock star Slash takes on the competition on XBox’s Guitar Hero III.

The best thing that can be said about waiting 4 1/2 hours to find out what's new from Microsoft in "Thank God for Apple" since the only thing that made the lengthy wait tolerable. And that's with with no bathroom breaks unless you knew how to say "hold my spot" in Croatioan.Nevertheless, it was worth it, as this keynote marked the last CES speech for Bill Gates as the founder and CEO of Microsoft. He leaves his fulltime post in July to focus on his $36 billion foundation.Gates launched the presentation touting the success of the “first digital decade” and ushered in the second with predictions that the theme of the second decade would be greater connectivity. But only after a mildly amusing video skit depicting his imaginary “last day” at Microsoft, and featuring the kinds of celebrities who ususually show up next to Gates on stage - including Jay-Z, Steven Spielberg, Bono, NBC’s Brian Williams, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, among others.High Definition ExperiencesGates saw the immediate future as a series of increased “high definition” experiences marked by an ever-increasing quality in the presentation of the media we already consume, with no major changes in the devices we use, but greater sophistication in the interfaces used to access that media.Translation: Everything’s moving the way of the iTouch.As opposed to years past when Gates launched X-Box, the Tablet PC and new operating systems, Gates’ 2008 keynote was marked more by inspired mash-ups rather than singular innovations.A demonstration of Windows Live Events was exciting, but beyond the surface lttle more than a mix of the best of MS Outlook mixed with tools and an interface eerily similar to that of the popular eVite invitation service.Simlarly, a demonstration of new functionalities of the iPod-trailing Zune music player was a smart but derivative mix of iTunes meets Facebook, specifically a system that enables your friends to see, track and share variations of your playlists and seamlessly make direct purchases of the music.Microsoft seemed to be taking a vauable lesson from the success of its Xbox, obviously learning that it pays more to be come second with a better product than innovate with a non-starter.

At an event so potentially overwhelming you don't try to map out where you are and follow a plan. You do what everyone else does, which is follow along with the cool kids (pronounced smelly Frenchmen) and stand in line with the first crowd you see. It's a sure sign of a major speaker or better than average free stuff. In this case, it wasn't just any line, but the 2pm bumrush to see Bill Gates give the pre-show Keynote, a CES tradition. This particular line got you the privilege of waiting in a second line for a door which opened at 3:00pm. After which, proper patience won you the option of standing in yet another VIP/Press line that lasted for 3.5 hours until 6:30pm when the lights dimmed and the Gates show began.