Gates' keynote speech at CES show short on new technology

IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates yesterday presented a host of consumer-oriented technologies at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but his keynote address touched on just one previously unannounced product.

Windows Media Center Extender, a technology that will wirelessly link computers running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition with televisions, headlined as the only really new product announcement from Microsoft in Gates' sixth year as a CES keynote speaker.

Using a remote control, Media Center PC users can access via a television photos, video and music stored on their PCs, as well as selected Internet services such as movie downloads. The Windows Media Center Extender removes the need to physically connect the TV to the PC or to even have it in the same room.

Although the extender is new for Microsoft, it isn't a new idea. Sony Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. introduced similar products last year, and earlier yesterday, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV unveiled a flat-screen television, home theater system and extender boxes that do much the same thing as Microsoft's Windows Media Extender.

Microsoft hardware partners, including Gateway Inc., Dell Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., will sell the extenders, which will come in the shape of set-top boxes or be built into televisions. The boxes are expected to cost between $300 and $600 and should be on the market by year's end, Microsoft officials said.

HP and Gateway will offer TVs that incorporate the technology, Gates said. One HP flat-screen TV with the extender built in was demonstrated onstage.

Microsoft will offer an Xbox Media Center Extender kit for its Xbox game console to connect to Media Center PCs. The kit, which will work much like the Xbox Music Mixer, is expected to sell for less than $100, according to Microsoft.

Gates also demonstrated a Microsoft Portable Media Center, previously known as Media2Go. He announced that when the portable audio and video players become available later this year, Windows Media Player will be updated with synchronization technology. Media2Go was renamed Portable Media Center last year, and release of the devices was pushed back by a year.

As expected, Gates also officially launched MSN Premium, software designed for multiuser households with broadband access that offers firewall, antispam, antivirus and enhanced e-mail and instant messaging options. Microsoft also offers a dressed-down version for single users, called MSN Plus.

MSN Premium also includes a broad content offering. Gates was joined onstage by TV personality Jay Leno, host of NBC's The Tonight Show. NBC has agreed to deliver content for Microsoft's new MSN offering. Other content partners include the Discovery Channel, the National Hockey League, Showtime and AtomFilms, Microsoft said.