Friday, January 07, 2005

Gates touts TiVo deal at CES

Tech News on ZDNet: "Delivering the first keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates touted a partnership with TiVo during what was mainly a state of the union address on Microsoft's digital media strategy. Gates showed off the first plasma screen television--from home entertainment specialist DigiTrex--to support Windows Media Connect. He also touted a new combination DVD player and digital video recorder from LG Electronics that connects with both regular Windows XP and specialized Windows XP Media Center PCs.

Also on the television side, Gates touted growing support for Microsoft's software for TV set-top boxes, including new partner BellSouth. And he revealed a new partnership with MTV Networks, which will format selected content for downloading to Portable Media Center players and Smartphone devices. Gates said Microsoft now has 61 mobile carriers in 28 countries supporting Smartphone.

The presentation was marred by several technical glitches, including a Windows XP Media Center slide show that couldn't be launched and an Xbox game demonstration that abruptly ended with a blue-screen memory error."

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