Latest Gear Live Videos
Microsoft’s living room vision includes apps, Mediaroom, and Xbox
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Internet, Microsoft, Video Games
Microsoft showed off the future of the living room on Wednesday, and it appears to be a combination of Bing, Kinect, and the Mediaroom IPTV technology that forms the foundation of the Xbox.
Oh, and it seems to be taking place first overseas.
In a video embedded below, Microsoft's Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox Live (identified as a corporate vice president of ISS Experiences) showed off short clips of how the living room, as exemplified by the Xbox 360 and Kinect, continued to evolve. The demonstration placed a premium on natural user interfaces, identified by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as one of the most significant advances in personal computing.
"Our goal is really, really simple," Whitten says in the video. "It's about how we make this effortless, intuitive and delightful. And that starts by making the technology fade out of the way, getting it all into the background."
Click to continue reading Microsoft’s living room vision includes apps, Mediaroom, and Xbox
Digg ThisAdvertisement
Bill Gates speaks about the past, present, future of the PC
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, PC / Laptop
The most significant innovation in personal computing over the last 30 years has been the evolution of natural interfaces, with the GUI, speech recognition, gestures and touch receiving equal weight, according to Bill Gates, a co-founder and the former chief executive of Microsoft.
As the PC turns 30, we asked Gates, as well as other industry leaders, for their thoughts on the most significant innovation in personal computing, and how PCs have changed people's lives for the better – or worse. Finally, we wanted to know what the future holds for personal computing – and maybe whether the "Personal Computer" would exist in its current form.
While Apple's Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak arguably invented and popularized the personal computer, Bill Gates, Paul Allen and later Steve Ballmer at Microsoft crafted and shaped the Windows operating system which became synonomous with the term "PC". The Apple Macintosh and Windows pushed the graphical user interface into the mainstream, driven by the increasing performance of microprocessors from Intel Corp., and later from chips designed by Advanced Micro Devices, Cyrix, Via Technology, and others.
Click to continue reading Bill Gates speaks about the past, present, future of the PC
Paul Allen portrays Bill Gates as a brilliant backstabber
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft
In an excerpt from an upcoming book released Wednesday, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen paints co-founder Bill Gates as a technical genius, but as a ruthless executive who tried to dilute Allen's financial stake in the early days of Microsoft.
In the excerpt from Idea Man, Allen's upcoming book, Gates is characterized as an intensely focused mathematical genius, with a penchant for social quirks. Allen describes himself as the glue that held Microsoft together.
Idea Man is scheduled to be published this month by Portfolio, a member of the Penguin Group. The excerpt was published by Vanity Fair.
The crux of the story seems to lie in the last anecdote Allen relates: a scene in which Gates and Steve Ballmer, brought in to run the company, apparently scheme to dilute Allen's stake in the company. Allen describes Ballmer as looking like "an operative for the N.K.V.D." Allen, then suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma, recounts the scene:
Click to continue reading Paul Allen portrays Bill Gates as a brilliant backstabber
Bill Gates hits TED, uses fireflies to address our energy future
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Household, Misc. Tech, Science, Videos
At TED 2010, Bill Gates gave a talk that laid out his vision and hope for the world’s energy future, citing the need for what may amount to a miracle to avoid planetary catastrophe, with the goal of zero carbon emissions across the globe by 2050. One of the more interesting, and most talked about, moments involves Bill take out a jar of fireflies (at last years talk, he used mosquitos) to make a point. Definitely a great video to take in, and it gives you a nice idea of what Mr. Gates is up to these days.
Microsoft’s Windows Celebrates 25 Years
Posted by Patrick Phelps Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Videos
It was 25 years ago today that Bill Gates unveiled Microsoft Windows; of course, it wouldn’t be released in stores for nearly two more years, but it was undeniably the start of a revolution.
There are those who love to hate the software giant, but the Seattle-area economy has nothing to offer but gratitude – in King County, which includes Seattle and Microsoft hometown, Redmond, there are some 70,000 households with a net-worth of at least $1 million. My dentist once told me that his two brothers, who went to Microsoft while he went to dental school, both retired at the age of 36; he is well past 36 and definitely not retired. Some people have all the luck…
In honor of Windows’ anniversary, we’ve posted a video (up top) of current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer doing his best cheesy car salesman impersonation in this ridiculous Windows commercial from the 80’s; proving that dignity is not always a prerequisite for success.
Microsoft Launches New Commercials
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Videos
Thank goodness Microsoft realized how silly their latest Seinfeld/Gates TV ads are and have moved on to the next phase of “Life Without Walls” in new ads, billboards, and other media sources. The company will also be launching Web and TV ads called the “Real PC,” using both celebs and “little people” who declare “I’m a PC.” We certainly hope that this commercial blitz is more successful. By the way, we just caught one. No Seinfeld, just Gates. Take your last look.
Read More 
| I4U News
Liveblogging the 2008 CES Bill Gates keynote
Gear Live’s live coverage of the 2008 CES keynote! Refresh this page to keep track of the announcements!
6:39 The lights are up, and Bill has walked on stage!
6:40 Bill is talking about the last decade. Photos and music have made a huge transformation from analog to digital. “Information anywhere” seems to be a major theme.
6:42 Lots of partners have contributed to this digital decade - While this is Bill’s last CES keynote he thinks technology is just getting rolling
6:44 Video spoof of Bill Gates last day at Microsoft - Bill driving a Chevy Malibu to work and cleaning out his desk. Very funny stuff!
Check out the rest of the coverage after the jump
Click to continue reading Liveblogging the 2008 CES Bill Gates keynote
Follow Gear Live!
Recent Galleries
Facebook Fans
Featured Poll
Which is more important to you: Audio quality or video quality?
Thanks for voting in this poll.
Categories
Advertisement
Site Links
All About GearLive
GearLive Tools
Check out the Gear Live Tools that let you integrate Gear Live into your site and add Google features.
Advertise
GearLive Store
New! Get Gear Live hats, shirts, hoodies and more at the new Gear Live Store, coming soon.
© Gear Live Inc. – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.
