Editor's Note: Senior writer Troy Wolverton attended the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. The following are
some of his closing thoughts and impressions from the conference.
If at first you don't succeed...
Intel CEO Paul Otellini seemed to be
following that familiar maxim last week, using about half of his keynote speech on Thursday to describe the company's new Viiv multimedia platform. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Otellini got to share the stage with
Yahoo! CEO
Terry Semel during the latter's own keynote on Friday, again to talk about Viiv.
Maybe I'm just dumb, but even after all that, it still wasn't clear to
me what Viiv was all about.
Sure, sure. The basics of Viiv are easy enough. Intel is
envisioning a PC-like device that will be at the heart of consumers'
living rooms. The device would be able to download movies from the
Internet and display them on TVs, pump digital music through
consumers' hi-fi speakers and be navigable with a simple remote control.
Of course, that sounds a lot like
Microsoft's Media
Center PC platform -- and dozens of other non-Viiv entertainment
devices that have been introduced over the last couple of years. But what makes Viiv different, of course, is that it is based on Intel's chips.
In this case, Viiv is based on the company's new dual-core
technology, which places two or more processors on one integrated
chip. Viiv devices will use the same chips that Intel will be
shipping for notebook computers, which will allow the new
entertainment devices to be smaller, quieter, cooler -- and much
faster -- than earlier products, according to Otellini.
But this is a new Intel. The company is no longer a mere
chipmaker but a platform producer. Thus, it wasn't the new chips behind Viiv
that were at the center of Otellini's presentation, but the content that
consumers will be able to get on their Viiv devices. Users
will be able to download and watch Bollywood movies outside of
India, watch classic TV shows, download millions of songs
instantly, choose their own Olympics highlights to watch, even watch
Hollywood movies at home while they are still showing in theaters.
Troy Wolverton
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