Gates Focuses on Digital Decade at CES Keynote

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took center stage at International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Sunday night in Las Vegas, kicking off the computer industry's largest annual convention with a keynote speech that described what he called the "Digital Decade."
Gates was quick to cite plenty of stats to back up his assertions: more than 2 billion digital photos were taken last year; 65 percent of homes are using digital cameras; more than 40 percent of U.S. homes have multiple PCs; and a young generation spends more time on a PC than they do watching television. "We see portable devices proliferating, a higher and higher part of the growing PC market. We see the connections, both through WiFi and 3G , getting to the point where you can get information wherever you want to go -- and we're just scratching the surface," Gates told his listeners.
Virtual Reality Comes to Life Gates believes this is just the beginning. Few would disagree. Network bandwidth has increased dramatically, high-definition television screens are adding a new dimension to classic TV, video games and even PCs. Processors offer memory capabilities up to 64-bit.
High-resolution graphic capabilities are making room for thoughts of representing reality on the screen, Gates said. He sees a day coming when shoppers won't just see a list of items. They will shop in the actual environment, either the stores that really exist or the stores that would exist if it was designed for them personally, Gates explained.
Bigger Is Better The industry is beginning to measure storage on personal computers in terabytes, as well as gigabytes. LCD and plasma screens are getting bigger. Both are part of the equation of what the industry needs in order to deliver on the promise of the digital decade, Gates said.
However, there are still some things missing. One of the most important of which is the connection, in Gates' view. Delivering on connected experiences requires more than just great hardware -- it requires content that consumers can connect to across multiple devices.
"So, delivering on connected experiences -- where people are being productive, doing new creative things, where they're sharing with each other, where they're mobile, where they're just playing games -- that is the key element that's missing, and something that we've all got to deliver on to take full advantage of that hardware and deliver on the promise," Gates insisted.

Hybrid technology to speed laptop start-up

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Patience may be a virtue, but when it comes to getting faster boot-up times for computers, no one will complain. That's why a new industry alliance is promoting a hybrid technology to speed the start-up process for laptops.

Five leading hardware makers have come together to push for a new storage component that incorporates NAND flash memory onto a computer's hard drive.

In addition to boosting a computer's ability to access stored data, the so-called hybrid hard drive also would prolong a laptop's battery life, according to the newly formed Hybrid Storage Alliance. The founding members of the alliance are Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co., Seagate Technology LLC, and Toshiba Corp.

NAND flash is a type of memory commonly used in MP3 players and digital cameras. Unlike hard drives, which store data on spinning disks, flash memory stores the information on a microchip. This nonvolatile form of memory retains data even when the appliance is turned off, allowing more immediate access to such information than with a hard drive.

Joni Clark, the chairwoman of the alliance, expects the new hybrid drives to appear on higher-end notebook models by the end of the first quarter. Eventually, the technology is expected to become a standard component across all models, she said.

The hybrid technology is designed to work hand-in-hand with advances in Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system, Windows Vista, which will become available to consumers later this month.

The technology helps to shorten a Vista-based machine's startup time by booting the system straight from the flash memory chip instead of waiting for the system to turn on and start spinning the platters on the hard drive. If a laptop with a hybrid drive is put in hibernation mode, open applications would resume faster as well.

A laptop with a hybrid hard drive could see up to a 20 percent improvement in the time it takes to boot up and open an application, the alliance said.

Drawing on the flash memory also consumes less power than a hard drive, thus extending a machine's battery life, the alliance said.

In the high-tech industry, the pairing of the storage technologies is akin to a marriage between two enemies. As the maximum capacity of flash increased in recent years, it has competed with hard drives to be the keeper of digital files in portable gadgets such as media players, cell phones or cameras.

3 Cellphone Makers Are Sued Over Bluetooth Technology

AMSTERDAM, Jan. 3 ( Reuters) — A United States research institute has sued three cellphone makers, accusing them of violating a patent for Bluetooth technology.
The Washington Research Foundation, which markets technology from universities and other nonprofit research institutions in Washington State, is seeking damages from Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Panasonic, owned by Matsushita, contending that the three companies were using a radio frequency receiver technology patented by a University of Washington scientist in 1999. The suit was filed Dec. 21 in Federal District Court in Seattle.
Bluetooth was invented as a wire replacement by an Ericsson engineer, Jaap C. Haartsen, in the mid-1990s and was developed by engineers at Ericsson and four other companies.
Nokia declined to comment and Samsung and Panasonic were not immediately available to comment.
Bluetooth was given away by Ericsson and others to create a global wireless standard to connect mobile phones, laptops, headsets and other electronic gadgets wirelessly. Hundreds of millions of devices a year are produced with Bluetooth ability.
The claim appears to restrict itself to Bluetooth devices sold or used in the United States, which means any ruling will affect around 15 to 20 percent of total global sales of Bluetooth mobile phones and headsets in the near term, according to Neil Mawston, an analyst at the market research group Strategy Analytics.
But Ben Wood, a consultant at CCS Insight, said the implications for the standard could be more serious if the foundation’s claim was successful. “A standard which everyone assumes to be royalty-free is now at risk of becoming a chargeable element inside mobile phones and other devices,” he said.
Although the complaint names the three companies, it specifically aims at products with Bluetooth chips from the British chip maker CSR, which has a world market share of more than 50 percent.
CSR, based in Cambridge, England, was not sued by the research group because it does not sell the chips directly in the United States. The company said the suit was “without merit in relation to CSR’s Bluetooth chips, and CSR will defend its products vigorously.”
The suit exempted a CSR rival, the Broadcom Corporation, based in Irvine, Calif., which has acquired a license to use the radio technology, the Washington Research Foundation said.

Tamagotchi Connexions

Every now and then something erupts onto the scene, becomes a global phenomenon and then vanishes before you can say "craze, what craze?".
Rubik's Cube, Ninja Turtles, legwarmers, er, Vanilla Ice. The list is diverse, daft, weird and (mostly) wonderful. But what goes around comes around and sometimes you just can't keep a good craze down. Because here at Firebox we believe some things are just too darn compelling to stay hidden in the file marked "where are they now?" That's why we were seriously excited when we heard about the relaunch of everybody's favourite handheld virtual pet, Tamagotchi.
For anyone who spent the 90s living in a lunar crater with their entire head submerged in porridge, Tamagotchi (Japanese for lovable egg) were pocket-sized electronic gizmos containing an animated pet that 'lived' on a little screen. In a nutshell (or should that be eggshell?) owners hatched and then raised their pixellated pet by pressing buttons throughout the day. Yes, we know it sounds a bit weird, but these devilishly addictive devices were absolutely massive, and over 40 million of the cute little blighters flew off the shelves between '96 and '98.
But our all-new, post millennial Tamagotchi Connexions (or "Tamagotchi Plus" if you're overseas) are not simply rose-tinted re-issues. The sleek 2004 model has been updated and improved upon in almost every area. For starters, each unit features five times the computing power of earlier Tamagotchi and the larger LCD screen boasts double the resolution.
More importantly, Tamagotchi Connexions can interact with fellow pets over a nifty infrared connection. This means your pets can exchange gifts, play games, 'court' each other, get married and even have babies! The level of interaction is truly impressive - if you hold two of the pets near each other, one will leap into the other screen and give flowers. Altogether now, aahh.
As self-appointed arbiters of what's in and what's out, it is our sworn duty to inform you that Tamagotchi Connexions are going to be the most sought after electronic gizmos since, well, original Tamagotchis. And that, dear friends, is exactly why you should get ordering immediately. Let the craze begin.