Slashdot Mirror
Xbox 360 To Have IPTV, 10 Million Sold
The news from CES, from Bill Gates' keynote, is that the 360 will have IPTV rolled out in an update later this year. They've also now crossed the 10 Million units sold mark, spurred on by Gears of War in the U.S. and Blue Dragon in Japan. The implications of IPTV for the 360 (DVR on a 20 gig HD, essentially) are interesting, but are hardly the only news to come out of the event. Robbie Bach gave Gamespot an overview of Vista and 360-related announcements for the near future, and there's some great stuff in there. Likewise, Mr. Gates sat down for an interview with several journalists, including Dean Takahashi from the Mercury News and Brian Crecente from Kotaku. He gives some additional insight into the company's announcements at the CES event.
http://www.vgcharts.org/
http://nexgenwars.com/
There was a ton more announced than what is listed in the headline...
From http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/07/live-from-the-b ill-gates-keynote/
6:20 (PST) - The connection is spotty as hell, but Ryan and I are here at the Bill Gates keynote, which should be starting shortly. Stay tuned for updates -- at least barring a failure of our EV-DO lifeline.
6:22 - They're asking us to take our seats
6:25 - Over the PA: "Ladies and gentlemen, the keynote is beginning in five minutes."
6:33 - Eight minutes later: "Ladies and gentlemen, the keynote will begin in two minutes." See, even Microsoft's keynotes can't launch on time... We kid, we kid!
6:36 - Lights are dimming, looks like we're about to get going. It's starting. A visual history of CES is playing on the giant monitors next to the stage.
6:39 - Gary Shapiro, President of the CEA is on stage. He's giving the usual spiel about all the industry leaders who are speaking this year.
6:41 - "It is my great privilege to introduce Bill Gates as a featured speaker."
6:44 - They're showing highlights from past Gates keynotes - this is the 10th year he's spoken.
6:47 - Another video, this one showing hip young people using Microsoft technology. Zunes a-squirting!
6:49 - Bill Gates is walking out on stage. "Good evening, I've always loved coming back from Xmas to go right into the most manic environment ever. Are you going to keep giving the keynote, but not sure about after that, might be talking more about infectious diseases."
6:50 - "It's amazing to see the progress over the course of the year. The digital decade is truly happening. 65% of homes have digital cameras. More broadband penetration. 40% of homes have multiple computers."
Portable devices proliferating, growing part of the PC market, connections with WiFi and 3G, getting information wherever you go."
6:52 - "What are some the metrics we have here. Devices with high fidelity. Six megapixel cameras and up. high definition screens that make you drool. Now it connects up to high def cable, PC, games. All taking advantage of that capability. Network bandwidth has gone up. Processors opening memory capacity up to 64bit."
Graphics revolution let's us represent reality on screen. Seeing in games, VR, presentation richness that all these great devices deliver. It's really quite phenomenal. Storage space, people are talking terabytes, or even petabytes of storage."
6:53 - "We have amazing hardware, love walking the floor, who has the biggest LCD, the biggest hard disk. But we need to deliver on promise of digital decade. Delivering means more than just great hardware. CE defined as much broader industry."
6:55 - "An enviroment where people want to do things across multiple devices with many different people. Delivering on connected experiences, where people are productive, where they're mobile, playing games, that's key element that's missing. For Microsoft, it's a big big milestone, foundational products are moving into the marketplace. First of that is Vista, lots of hard work. Most important release of Windows ever, highest quality, we've ever done."
6:56 - "Vista and the PC continue to have a central role, all these devices have to work together. Vista is a big project, rather than talk about features, rather talk about what we've been through."
6:57 - "Process we've been through, Beta 2., out to 2 million people, RC out to 5 million, in depth went in and interviewed people in seven different countries. Biggest investment ever into a piece of software, by the far the most used piece of software, any improvements can save time and enable people to do amazing things."
With Office, new UI, connect up to Office Live services, richness improved by UI. Features users couldn't find, now they can find. New UI was a risk, but it's worke
That's video on demand.
IPTV is essentially cable over the internet. You flip channels, record programs, pause live TV, etc.