Fox Sports, Microsoft  and major retailers are doing launch events across the country next week for the Windows Vista launch.  This is pretty cool as major sports stars will be on-hand to get your picture taken (I'm planning to get my picture taken in Bellevue, WA with Shaun Alexander).  There will be some great prizes and giveaways and possibly some amazing deals on PCs etc.  The events start at 10pm at retailers including BestBuy, CompUSA, and more. Learn more about what events are happening in your area here.

Now this is cool.  Between tomorrow and April 30th,  Microsoft and T-Mobile will be offering free public WiFi to Vista users.  That's at places including Starbucks, Borders, FedEx Kinko's etc.  If you're a business traveler, this is a great deal.  More details at www.skysurprise.com.   

Teaser site here. It will be built on the Flight Simulator X engine.  My son doesn't know it yet, but this is destined to be his favorite game, provided Thomas and Friends can roll the tracks in some mod. ;)

It may also give my father a reason to upgrade his computer (purchased at Windows XP launch).

I love my BlackJack and you can't have it back Steve. For those who enjoy frankenphones with unusual ringtones, you can have your very own iPhone ringtone courtesy of Gizmodo.com. 

Next time you start up Media Center, the Online Media strip should automatically refresh with the new content (it may take a few minutes). Additional partners will be filtering in shortly.  Looks like things are getting prepped for the Vista launch at the end of the month.

While on the show floor, I got permission from a friend to video behind the scenes at the Games for Windows Booth.  Unbeknownst to many, they were enjoying Halo 2 for Windows on DirectX 10-enabled NVidia cards, in some of the fastest PCs yet.  You'll notice a sneak peek of the Live for Windows integration announced, which will for the first time enable you to play on Windows against others.

Video: Vista Halo 2 with Live integration from CES 2007

No details on whether you'll be able to play Halo 2 on PC against users on Xbox 360, however I did notice a few maps I didn't recognize while playing, evaluating the platform.  Long Zheng has more on Live for Windows here.

I recently got my hands on the original source of the PC manufacturer's video shown in Bill Gates' keynote.  The first person to correctly identify all PCs models shown in the video (in order) will win a cheap tacky prize.  Submit via comments :).

Video: Windows Vista New PCs - CES 2007

I also have it in WMV-HD and will post later this weekend.  Perhaps we should do a mash-up contest for the best remix of the spot?  I'll pose it to some friends who could make that happen.

While at CES, I ran into the unusual problem of bleeding out not one, but two Samsung Blackjack batteries while at the Hard Rock Hotel sending/receiving SMS messages from pals trying to meet.  I was annoyed, but went back to my room and plugged the phone in to sync via USB, shunning travel with an AC power "Wall Wart" to keep my lifestyle streamlined.

When I woke up, I went from annoyed to cranky in realizing my phone batteries still wouldn't charge.  So, I grabbed a cab and went to a Cingular store to pick up a battery. Kept the meter running, it was only going to be a few minutes. 

Wrong.  They had the car charger, no batteries or AC charger.  Told me the corporate store would have one.  Interrupt my taxi driver's lunch and we're off to the "corporate store".  There I was being "helped" by a customer service rep who seemed to have his heart in the right place, but it was beating so slowly he couldn't risk moving very fast or he might pass out.  Batteries?  Nope.  AC charger? Nope?  Even a backup for a demo unit? None.  Call around other stores?  Radio Shack would have them.  Asked him to call. What about other stores?  (By now nearly 40 minutes have gone by and I'm still on the clock for the cab).  This is no joke- the closest store out of 12 that had said AC adapter was over 30 minutes away in the Vegas area.  My cab driver was getting ready to time out.  So I spent a mint on cab fare and had nothing to show for it.  I was more than cranky now.

So what did I do?  I went back to CES at the LVCC, straight to the Samsung booth and asked for the product manager for the Blackjack.  I talked to the PR folks and explained the situation, and was directed to the Product Manager, a nice, Korean gentleman who get this - swapped out his own, fully charged Blackjack battery with me, and then offered to let me use the demo bar to jumpstart my phone!  I was in shock.  The booth was packed, and he was bending over backwards, from his own personal backpack he pulled the battery.  He said he would have offered me a charger but it was back at his hotel.

Now that is customer service.  He could have said, "No, sorry, we don't have one" and moved on.  This is why my current TV was a Samsung (which I got the main logic board updated a few years back for only $200 as a special offer for early adopters wanting better controls).

So, a battery translated into a future purchase of ~$2500 for Samsung.  Sometimes it pays to pay it forward. 

As for Cingular, it's been a rocky road with them the second time I've tried switching to them in three years.  First I was overcharged over 2x for the first month, then they didn't give me the full employee discount.  I miss T-Mobile's service.  If only they had cooler phones and 3G, things would be different...

I'm somewhat ashamed to say that every new car I've ever owned has been a Japanese car.  Let's see- Mitsubishi Starion, Nissan 300ZX (80's), Honda Prelude, Nissan 300ZX (90's), Nissan Xterra, Honda S2000, and Toyota Prius.  I've been ashamed because in my experience, US cars have so lagged behind in quality, creature comforts, and digital technology that

Then, Ford announced the Sync platform with Microsoft, bringing digital nirvana to a broad range of cars, causing gaps from the audience when Ford's VP told BillG it will support iPod and Zune (of  course it will and should!). My father used to work for Ford, many many years ago.  I wonder how he took this news (or if he noticed- he still uses cassettes to listen to Pink Floyd in his car - sorry Dad).

Now, over at the "other" show in Detroit, beleagured GM unveiled the Chevy Volt concept car.  Zero to sixty in a respectable 8 seconds, top speed of 120mph, and most importantly, 40 miles on zero gallons (it's pluggable), and 60mpg on a small gas generator that powers not the wheels, but the on-board Li-ion batteries.

Apparently this technology will work it's way into mainstream cars over the next five years.  It's clear to me for the second time, Japan has jolted Detroit out of hibernation (no pun intended).  I'm looking forward to a test drive- you listening Detroit? :)

As an early adopter of NetFlix, I've written many times here about how good the service is was.  Over the holidays however, that all went horribly, horribly wrong.  My wife and I use NetFlix in spurts- some months we're busy doing something else and don't watch any, then when the TV season goes into hiatus, we catch up on movies.

I've done my part to help their ratings system- my wife and I have collectively rated nearly 400 movies over the years. 

So what did NetFlix do to cause me to switch to Blockbuster's Total Access? 

It started with two out of five discs rented in the last month being cracked.  We're not talking a little crack, we're talking a full 1mm from the edge. I reported both, and noticed it took a longer time than usual to get a replacement of one (the other I didn't request a replacement).  It's embarassing when you have to explain to your in-laws why at a key point in the plot of a movie, you can't watch the rest, nor get another disc during the remainder of their trip because NetFlix is too slow.

Prior to sending the movies back, I moved three movies to the top of my queue.  All were available and I had always received movies listed at the top.  What did I get in return?  Movies from the bottom of my queue.  We're talking over a dozen movies down.  There's no possible way all of the  movies above it were checked out, and I checked!  Like the lint that congregates under your bed, these movies had collected at the bottom of our queue and we had forgotten about them.

David Pogue wrote about NetFlix's great customer service last year.  It's true, I've had nothing but good experiences when reporting a lost disc (and returned later to be credited).  Then Michael Arrington wrote about how NetFlix's complicated algorithms punish frequent users of the service.  I rented more movies during the holidays (vacation?) after literally multiple months of not renting any. 

Somehow, like Arrington, I got "NetFlixed":

Netflixed  /netflicksed/  –adjective

1. punished due to regular usage of services paid-for

2. twisted; awry, as in the condition of discs when received

3. Slang. extracting highest possible profit out of customer by artificially adjusting service offerings to penalize usage.

It looks like the algorithm uses a 30-60 day usage window to enable throttling and doesn't take into account months of pure profit they reaped from me when I wasn't using the service.  Perhaps I'm being punished for reporting two out of three shipped discs being cracked.  How is that my fault?

I tried contacting NetFlix  and have yet to get a response other than, "Sorry, we get a lot of mail".  No problem.  Unsubscribed.

So I've dropped NetFlix as of today, and moved to Blockbuster's Total Access where I also get a free movie on the spot when I return a DVD in-store instead of via mail (we have one by our gym).  They also have a great selection of HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray titles.  Now I just need a Media Center-enabled UI for Blockbuster's service (as I have for NetFlix via the community) and my world is complete.

Congratuations NetFlix- by mis-managing customer expectations you've replaced my prior disdain for Blockbuster's glassy-eyed checkout clerk and late fees with a new disdain for your business practices.

Last night, I had the honor of attending the Technical Emmy Awards ceremony at CES to help accept the Emmy Award for Streaming Media Architectures and Components.  Afterwards, we went to the Vista party at the Pure Nightclub in Caesars and brought the Emmy for safe keeping and to take pictures with other team members. It was a hit with a number of old friends who helped us to get this win.  It was a shared win- there was a sense of surprise when I congratulated the Apple team on their shared win as well.

John Carmack, co-founder of iD, creator of Doom and Quake and founder of Armadillo Aerospace was one of the presenters.  When I get a chance, I'll post some video I took during the ceremony. The DirectX team was also on-hand to accept an award for their 3D engine.

Thank you to all the engineers, designers, bizdev, marketing, management who helped to make the win possible but most importantly, to our customers.

More pictures from the party on Flickr here

Well, no integrated TV (yet), but it looks like my other prediction specific to the iPhone in August may be at least partly right.  Remember how Apple last year made a big pre-order with Intel/Micron's IMFlash effort and everyone assumed it was for new iPods?   An intrepid analyst should ask Apple if they're going to use their 50nm NAND Flash in the iPhone.  I believe so, and that it's the secret to how they're getting it so small.  The 2nd manufacturing facility doesn't come online until oh, just about the time the iPhone will ship.  Most of the other players are still dealing with much larger (and bulkier) flash.

Anyone notice there was no announcement of iTunes Store in related?  I'd expect they'll do a deal w/ Cingular cum AT&T to provide free WiFi hotspot access to iTunes Store in public places.  Next up- direct billing of media purchases to your AT&T bill...

Apple's going to do it with iTV.  Intel's Viiv certifying hardware for it Sling Media is announcing the SlingCatcher.  Microsoft has been doing it with Media Center Extender and Xbox 360. NetGear is getting (back) into it.  Will this be the year of the DMR?  Probably not, but some big names are getting into the fray/renewing efforts.

The challenge is how do you get to a unified view of your family photos, music, video, and recorded TV regardless of which set your on in the home.  Lots of effort in the NAS server space, and I'd expect some additional announcements to make the content easier to distribute, including HP's new Windows Home Server. Still, there's a LOT of work that has to be done for setup and connectivity across the industry.  HDMI makes this much easier but not many consumers have TV's with HDMI, while others have to figure out how to route video to the TV and audio to the AV receiver while getting it all to work well together (hint: start with a Harmony remote from Logitech- I just got a Harmony 890 for the holidays, more on that later).

I'm pretty frustrated right now because BOTH of my Samsung Blackjack batteries fully burned out last night and won't trickle charge.  There should be an "emergency reserve" button on the batteries themselves.  Serves me right for forgetting my AC power cable...

My wild prediction for today: Apple will announce the iTV as an actual HDTV w/ the hardware built-in.   They'll do this before releasing a set-top style product.  That and perhaps Flash gaming support on the iPod.