Michael York

Tonight, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation, took the stage as the Pre-Show Keynote Speaker for the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show. The event was covered live, right here on MichaelYork.org, where updates were broadcasted within seconds of the events occuring. Liveblog after the jump!

7:51 pm: “Tripod” band takes stage once more! That’s about it…thanks for viewing! =)

7:50 pm: Technology industry has great opportunities ahead despite economic problems. “Thank you, and good night!”

7:42 pm: Microsoft Research takes the stage! $8 billion spent on R&D last year alone by Microsoft. Well done!

7:41 pm: Steve’s talking about being efficient with processor power. Finally! HDTVs will become cheaper, lighter, and more affordable. Future will entail writing apps that automatically customize to your device’s capability.

7:39 pm: Robbie’s off…Steve’s on!

7:36 pm: Little girl is demonstrating how to create your own game. Pretty awesome–and getting lots of laughs from the audience because she’s so fast!

7:34 pm: Another new XBOX channel called Community Games. Create your own games and play them with your friends over XBOX Live!

7:32 pm: Robbie’s having problems with his wireless controller–poor guy! No…nevermind, it’s fine. Showing off Netflix integration. New Windows Mobile Netflix Queue app coming out later this week on Windows Mobile Total Access.

7:26 pm: XBOX Live Primetime is a new channel with interactive games. Demoing “1 vs. 100″ game on Primetime. Sweet! This will be a hit…no question. Coming out Spring 2009.

7:25 pm: XBOX Live has had 10 billion hours of gameplay since its release. 10 billion!

7:23 pm: Halo Wars is a new strategy game. Expands the previous style of gameplay. February 28th Bungie releasing downloadable demo available on the 25th.

7:21 pm: Over 28 million XBOX consoles sold. Expecting even more sales momentum. 17 million active XBOX Live members. 70% growth in 2008!

7:19 pm: Microsoft Mediaroom is expanding by partnering with SingTel to view previous shows that you have not recorded on your DVR.

7:18 pm: Claims Zune a great success in 2008. Doubled Zune social network. 10 million unique users a month using Windows Media Center. Average session time per WMC user is 90 minutes!

7:15 pm: Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment division, takes stage.

7:14 pm: “Tripod” band takes stage. Intermission tech-based music!

7:12 pm: Windows Live Messenger matches photo tiles to emoticons you type in IMs.

7:11 pm: Social features in Windows Live Hotmail.

7:07 pm: Internet Explorer 8 accelerators. Translating Russian to English inside the browser.

7:05 pm: Showing Flash on Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile panorama stitching coming soon.

7:03 pm: Using Lenovo touchscreen to demonstrate Windows 7 multi-touch capabilities. Surface Globe app on display.

7:01 pm: 50% of US households have more than 1 PC. Introducing HomeGroups (new home networking).

6:59 pm: Charlotte Jones demoing Windows 7 beta. Showing new UI features…peek to desktop, etc. Jump Lists let you jump to a specific area of an app.

6:58 pm: Partnership with Verizon Wireless to offer Live Search on all phones.

6:57 pm: 20 million Windows Mobile phones sold in the last 12 months.

6:56 pm: 3 things. Worldwide availability of Windows Live Essentials announced. Partnership with Facebook to sync with Windows Live social networking. Partnership with Dell to pre-install Windows Live Essentials on all consumer PCs. First OEM to do so.

6:54 pm: Windows 7 is available now to MSDN and Technet users–worldwide beta of Windows 7 Beta live on Friday!

6:53 pm: Windows 7 on track to be the best Windows ever. Reliability and speed. “Working hard to get it right and ready. Should boot more quickly, have longer battery life, and fewer alerts.”

6:50 pm: Ballmer exclaims: “I’m a PC!”

6:48 pm: Introducing new hardware–new phones and PCs.

6:45 pm: Internet cloud will be the future of sync across all devices–Live Mesh, anyone?

6:42 pm: Smartphones will make up more than 50% of the mobile phone market in 2009 and 2010.

6:41 pm: 1 billion people own PCs in the world. Netbooks and OLPC will spread computing for the next billion.

6:35 pm: Ballmer takes stage and credits Bill for his work at the foundation.

6:33 pm: Showing Microsoft intro video…

6:30 pm: Gary Shapiro, President of CEA, takes stage to introduce Ballmer.

6:28 pm: CES official beatboxers are on stage…rapping about all things electronic!

6:20 pm: We’re being admitted into the ballroom!

4:30 pm: Here I am, in the midst of all the people who bring you your oh-so-loved gadgets. So far, I’ve met the CNN crew, as well as other industry affiliates who will be in tonight’s audience.

I’m writing to you this afternoon via tethering on my HTC 8925 over at&t’s 3G network.

More updates soon!