CES 2008 Keynote: Bill Gates, the final CES address

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They are now playing Guitar Hero on stage. Kelley Law-Leon is the world Guitar Hero champion and is rocking on stage. This chick can play! Bill Gates is now bringing out Slash to play for him. He is rocking out on stage.

That is it, just like that it is finished. No closing remarks, they just left and everyone is piling out. We’ll bringing you more CES coverage all night and all week. Check out our CES page or you can go to our home page.

We will back in a few minutes with images, or check out the Gallery.

A new device (a few years out) will act as a live camera. As you point it at places or people it can tell you more information about all these places (if people owe you money, if friends are located in the location, history from the past, and more). This thing is very cool, cooler than Surface.

Windows Mobile will sell 20million phones this year. Voice commands is more and more of the future. TellMe has the most users in the world and can identify where you are (Ie. Las Vegas). You can then search “Movies” and it will list the closest theaters. You can then order movei tickets via your voice and share then with your date. A text message comes to them confirming the tickets. You can then connect with other movies and view new movie trailers.

Microsoft is very eager to take advantage of the mobile advertising space and can think of many ways to capitalize on the future capabilities.

Microsoft Auto Sync will sync with your car. You can control it via voice. If you get in a crash it will automatically call 911, unless you tell it to stop. You can Sync with Zune and more.

Zune Social is in beta right now – with 1.5 million people testing it to date.

He’s now talkking about Microsoft Mediaroom. “We have 1,000,000 TV screens on Mediaroom.” We’re also annoucning some interactive content — most regarding the 2008 election. British Telecon will provide the service to allow the 360 to be a set-top-box.

In the Us, the Xbox business is in a “Very, very good place”. I’m excited to announce tonight that we have passed the 10 million user mark on Xbox Live. We’re brining ABC shows to Xbox Live, and expanding the video content available. In addition, MGM Studios is putting content on Xbox Live as well. “It’s clear that online video is going to be a powerful force.” Samsung and HP will be launching Media Center Extender into their new products.

Bill now talking about about Microsoft Silverlight. Microsoft (MSN) and NBC have partnered up as the exclusive media partners of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Lets hear NBC perspecitive of the partnership. Bob Costas was just on the screen announcing the partnership, and theyre talking about 3000 live hours of video. Bob Costas says “Bill you just have to stop calling me… theres nothing I can do… lost my number!”

Bill’s now playing with a Microsoft Surface and decorating a snowboard… Very funny here. He just signed it “Bill” in child-looking-cursive.”

“With Windows Live, Windows Mobile, and Windows Vista… everything is integrated.” OK, Bill has taken the stage again…

She’s now showing Windows Live Photo Gallery, and touting the feature that allows you to create a panormaic out of separate images of the same location. Loaded pretty quickly, not too shabby.

Windows Live Events was just introduced as well — looks VERY similar to MySpace. Oh, and Windows Live Calendar looks like Google Calendar. Oh well, the more the merrier.

Bill introduces Mika Kramer, Director at Microsoft and walks off stage. She’s talking about all of the rich applications in Windows. “Tonight I want to show some things that are fresh, and new. With the new Windows Live calendar, planning has gotten easier”

“A year ago, we launched Vista — we’ve got over 100 million users using Vista right now. We have great partners building neat new form-factor PCs – and they’re more stylish than anything seen before. We have online services… over 400 million people using those new services. Over 10 million new users over the last year. The breadth of applications is getting larger and larger.”

3) The power of convergence. And OMG OMG he just said “iPhone’!

2) All of these devices will be “Service connected” — things will show up on the device you want it to show up on. If you pick up a device and authenticate who you are, it will know who you are and give you the information you want.

The three key elements that I like are !) High-Def images everywhere. On the desk, in the desk, just like the Surface.

He’s talking about how Microsoft doesn’t just service computers, but the connectivity of all devices, and things that haven’t even been invented yet.

The video wraps up with Brian Willaims from ABC saying “Those of us here at World News Tonight are going to miss reporting on this brilliant, powerful, sexy man that just doesn’t believe in paying more than for a haircut.. every night” Great video. Moving on…

They also got politics involved showing Bill Gates talking to Barack Obama and Al Gore. Now they showed him as if it’s his last day and he uses The Clapper in his office. Very funny.

John S. says “I’m on my private jet right now…. and the phone.. I’ll have to turn that off or it will throw off the navigation system.”

Bill Clooney is talking on the phone like he’s being casted to play Bill Gates in a movie. He says “you should get Russell Crowe to do it!” Now he’s talking to John Stewart from the Daily Show on the phone.

They of course had to work celebrities into the keynote. Matthew McConahey (spelling) is in it as Bill’s personal trainer. Bill says “Am I ready to take my shirt of yet?” Bono, Jay-Z, etc. They show Bill in a recording studio, and he says “Dude, wasn’t that the craziest riff you’ve ever heard?”

“I want to talk about the fact that this IS my last Keynote. This’ll be the first time since I was 17 that I won’t have my full Microsoft job. Preparing for the last day will be hard. So I’ve had some friends help me out and offer some words of wisdom.”

Today we have an update on Ford sync… which I mentioned last year. The idea of the TV meeting the internet…we really kicked that off with MediaNow. And people realizing for the first time that they can build content… and navigate those in new ways.

“My first kenote was in 1994… when the internet was just getting started.” “It was at that time that we entered what became known as the Digital Decade.”

Bill Gates has taken the stage.. wearing a pink shirt and a purple sweater. Lookin’ snazzy.

“I’m proud to introduce to you, the Founder and Chairman of Microsoft… Bill Gates!” The Bill Gates intro video is playing right now… “Do you believe in Magic” is playing.

He’s announced all of the following products at CES: Xbox 360, Tablet, Smartphone, Vista, and more.

“And now, I’m honored to kick of this year’s CES with Microsoft’s Bill Gates… He’s spoken at CES 11 times, 10 keynotes, 8 consecutive…”

CEA President Gary Schapiro has taken the stage. He’s giving the run-down of what to expect for the rest of the show, regarding executive keynotes, and industry insight they’ll be offering.

Alright – the CES intro video is playing right now touting all of the big companies that take part in the show, and showing clips from last year.

“Please restrict your flash photography to the first 60 seconds of the keynote.” So we won’t be blinding the man himself. Ok, now they keynote will begin in 2 minutes… ok, now it’s 1 min 40 secs. Get pumped!

“Ladies and gentlemen… the keynote will begin in 5 minutes. Please take your seats.”

So Michael Yurechko from Appletell just informed me that the music in this room sounds like p0rno music. I think I’ll have to agree.

Have you guys been checking out the Photo Gallery from the Bill Gates Keynote? Because you should!

The room is starting to fill up here at Bill Gate’s supposed “last CES keynote eveeerrrrr.” We’re excited to bring it to you live once again from the Venetian in Vegas. We should be getting started very soon, so don’t go anywhere… and definitely don’t forget to refresh!

The internet is being mighty bizarre in here, so if we lose you for a few minutes, don’t freak out… we’re not going to leave you hanging! We have a backup plan…

Adam and Robert just arrived — right on time. Now we can snap photos and post ‘em in real-time.

We’ll make this as interactive as possible. Leave your questions or replies in the comments below and we’ll do our best to get back to you in a timely fashion. Just remember, we’re busy listening… while typing, so be patient. More in a few. Stay tuned.

Alrighty folks, the live-blog is up and running. Stick around for a bit until the keynote is underway. Looking forward to having you.