Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft.’

Live From CES: 5 Ford Auto Technologies, From Voice Command to Configurable Cockpits

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CES sponsor logoFord CEO Alan Mulally recently wrapped up today’s keynote speech, an argument that the company is not only working hard to incorporate technology into its cars but also into its corporate DNA; “we are a car company but we are learning to think and act like an electronics company,” said vice president of product development Derrick Kuzak during speech time borrowed from Mulally. Emulating the successful tech industry could be an important move for the company, especially at a time when two-thirds of the Big Three require massive government intervention to stay afloat–a fact that was never mentioned outright but gave the talk a special relevance.

Whether Ford succeeds in its goal of creating a technology-oriented “new Ford Motor Company” depends on how good those technologies are. Mulally and other Ford officials mentioned 5 main information technologies that they said were making the company the hands-down leader in in-car information, entertainment, and connectivity:

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January 9th, 2009 Tags: , , , , ,
by Amos Zeeberg (Discover Web Editor) in Events | 1 Comment » | RSS feed | Trackback >

Live From CES: Steve Says Everything Is Going To Be Okay

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CES Sponsor LogoAt last night’s keynote kickoff to CES, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer took on the role of everyone’s kindly uncle, reassuring us that while things might be a bit tough right now, we should buck up, because the world will always need innovative new stuff. Which is fair enough, but I think what really cheered the audience up was a performance by Australian troop Tripod, who sang a song with a tale of Xbox-widowhood that was all too familiar, (”Oh get ready get ready/Ready for loving tonight Baby/Before we get down to love/Before we get down/I just gotta finish this level…”).

More substantively, Ballmer announced that the next version of Windows, Windows 7, would be available for beta downloads starting this Friday. The new interface looked slick enough in the demos, but as always the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, so I’m looking forward to seeing user reports following Friday’s release.

January 8th, 2009 Tags: , ,
by Stephen Cass in Events | No Comments » | RSS feed | Trackback >