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Live from Intel's CES press event


Well here we are folks, back for more at Intel's sprawling CES press event. The room is teeming with people right now, and the mood is thick with Penryns and MIDs. We'll see if it all works out like we hope. Stay tuned!

4:27PM PT - We're seated, we're ready. House music is playing, some people are on the floor -- shaking it. Just kidding. Prepare for coolness.

4:30PM PT - Announcement: fill out a survey and win $500. Also, please be seated. Heavy stuff here.

4:33PM PT - T-minus 2 minutes. Almost party time.

4:37PM PT - The lights have dimmed... and we're off! We're being treated to a cheesy CES intro. Ouch -- kind of painful. Now they're showing a roll call of CEOs that will speak this year. It's pretty "cool."

Okay -- president of the CES, Gary Shapiro! He's talking about Paul Otellini, and how important he's been in the industry.


4:40PM PT - He's mentioned the 45nm chips. So soon... hopefully he hasn't upstaged our man Paul.

Now they're showing a video about Intel -- oh no, a special Intel version of "Video Killed the Radio Star!"

"Internet killed the compact disc star," "Internet made the video star."

Oh boy.





4:43PM PT - The gist of the song is that the internet rules... hard. And now, Paul Otellini -- cheering, but not too much. He's talking about the song, and how it debuted on MTV. He's comparing MTV to the internet, game changing moments.

"Today we live in an area of the go-to internet. Hopefully you find what you wanted in the first place." He's talking about the shortcomings of searching, and a new frontier of the "personal internet."


The stage has transformed into China, and he's demoing a device very similar to what Gates had last night -- you hold it up to a sign in Mandarin and it real-time converts it to English. Pretty cool. Now he's holding it up against a restaurant and showing how it displays the menu and video reviews on the screen, also in real time, and the data "sticks" to a physical object. He refers to it as "augmented reality." Very sci-fi.



4:50PM PT - Whoa -- lost internet there for a sec! Now he's using the device to do real time translation with a lady who has ridden by on a bike. This would make a great play.



Now he's showing 3D navigation, complete with labeling, step by step directions, and then he moved virtually into Intel's Beijing building. Pretty impressive stuff. He's stressing that this is all real tech, not far off future stuff. He's claiming 3-5 years for this to hit the commercial market.

4:57PM PT - Paul is discussing the obstacles to making this tech happen. Silicon, having the minds to put it together, and the need for better UIs. He's explaining how Intel is going to overcome this.

He's starting with the silicon issue, and explaining Moore's Law. He's saying that without it, Intel's chips would be massive, and consume huge amounts of power.

He's just mentioned the 45nm CPUs. Clearly heading towards some news here. He's mentioned Hi-k, and he's talking about the construction of these chips.

Intel has a 5-year roadmap, and they can make their wild, nutty dreams a reality thanks to Moore's Law. Now he's discussing the SOC, or System on a Chip. Whoa -- Canmore -- the first SOC for consumer devices. Totally integrated systems -- graphics, audio, number crunching.


5:04PM PT - Okay, he's getting into MIDs and Menlow. He's bringing out a Toshiba MID -- full Vista using Menlow. The device uses Adobe's AIR. He's showing off the UI -- very slick -- lots of scrolling and smooth gradients and fonts. Very slick. He's wrapping up the silicon end of things. Now discussing the trends of searching, moving away from trying to find something, to an interface that finds things for you... a little creepy. He's talking about incorporating touch, facial expressions, etc. to figure out what you want. The computer wants to get to know you.









5:09PM PT - He's talking about the Wiimote, and how deceptively simple it is, but what a shift it is in the sense of how we interact with technology.

He says he challenged his team to find a way to remake the internet interface in a more connected, natural, and human (social networking) manner. It's like the Sims, Second Life and the Matrix.



Uh oh -- music mis-cue. He's brought out one of his developers, and they're talking about zero-latency musical jamming over the internet. Oh! It's the dude from Smashmouth. Some cheering -- things are about to get crazy!

Okay, Smashmouth is online, and the lead singer Steve is about to jam with them. Lots of similar themes from the Microsoft keynote.



And they're about to begin. Guess what... "Walking on the Sun."

Some people are singing along... it's getting weird in here guys.

5:15PM PT - The technology is E-jamming wireless. Steve is talking about how he could jam with some fans he meets on MySpace... uh, sure. We don't see that happening any time too soon. Now they're talking about creating an avatar, and jamming in a virtual space. They've brought out someone from Big Stage just for this purpose. They're snapping photos now -- and getting them into a PC. They're going to create a virtual Steve.

It's going to take around 30 seconds. Isn't a real Steve enough?


And there he is. It's a Second Life character! We have a feeling more jamming is on the way. They're adding a mohawk and some sunglasses -- and they've dropped an Oakley plug.

5:21PM PT - Now they're dropping Virtu-Steve onto a virtual motorcycle. The gave him a pretty funny surprised face -- not keeping it though, Steve wants to look like a bad-boy. Okay, they're about to start a video. Uh oh! Audio issues! Paul has to wing "starring" in a virtual video. Okay... we're sure they're working towards something. Steve says he wants to trade places with Paul -- big laughs. Steve: "Just give me the credit card."

5:25PM PT - They're wrapping up -- what do you do with all this stuff? Once you've got a virtual Steve, what does virtual Steve do? They've sent him to a virtual garage, where his band is waiting. They're hanging out... but they're not real. Some sweet 3D Smashmouth going on right now. It looks like that jam is about to happen after all!

Now he's getting in front of 14 cameras which will track his movement and allow Steve to move around in the virtual space without the use of any input device. No body suit, no hardware for the user. This should be interesting.


Okay, we're about to see all this stuff in action. A live virtual Smashmouth. This is goofy. It's kind of like a bad Second Life machinima. No matter how much of a massive hit this "Rock Star" song is, it's not making this seem that cool.


5:32PM PT - Now Paul is saying somehow this tech will contribute to faster emergency response. We're not seeing that, but you never know. Now he's getting back to the "personal internet."

Wrapping up -- leaving with a thought from Moore's partner -- Intel's founder. He closes with, "Let's build something wonderful together."

And that's it! Kind of a letdown. Very little actually discussed.