Keynote

At Google I/O, Larry Page preaches a tech fantasia

SAN FRANCISCO -- Larry Page spoke softly from the stage at the Moscone Center West on Wednesday morning, but the carrot he dangled in front of developers was accompanied by the big stick he brandished against his competition.

Page let his company do the heavy lifting of going after rivals with major product updates. Changes to Google+ aimed aggressive shots at Facebook and Skype. An overhaul to Google Maps pushed it far beyond what the nearest competition from Bing can bring. Meanwhile, the new streaming music service Google Music All Access served up scorching features that could undermine the very … Read more

Ouya's keynote conversation polarizes SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas--The annual South by Southwest conference here prides itself on being a place for "disruption," but the only real disruption during a fairly pedestrian conversation between the founder of crowd-funded Ouya and the editor-in-chief of The Verge today were angry tweets followed by empty seats.

Ouya founder Julie Uhrman got on stage with The Verge Editor-in-Chief Joshua Topolsky to discuss her company's enormously successful Kickstarter campaign and the product it funded: an Android-based, open-source gaming console. The torrent of Tweets that followed revealed the audience members to be critical of just about everything except the room … Read more

Samsung's Stephen Woo at 2013 CES: Join us Wednesday, 9 a.m. PT (live blog)

Join CNET for live coverage of Samsung Electronics' CES 2013 talk by company President Stephen Woo, which starts at 9 a.m. PT Wednesday. Our live blog will bring you news updates, photos, and running commentary.

Samsung says Woo's talk will bring a number of announcements related to its memory, display, and chip operations.

Woo will be joined by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who is also slated to speak. Samsung gave Clinton its Hope for Children Ambassador Award in 2011.

You can tune into the blog here:

CNET's live coverage of Samsung's 2013 CES press conference … Read more

Microsoft CEO crashes Qualcomm keynote at CES

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just can't stay away from the limelight at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Microsoft may have given up its coveted keynote spot on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show, but that didn't stop Ballmer from making a cameo appearance during Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs' keynote address.

Ballmer stole a few moments of Jacobs' keynote to talk up Microsoft's new Windows RT and Windows 8 Phone products. Ballmer called the Windows products "stunning" additions to Microsoft's line-up. He showed off two of the newest Windows RT devices, the Samsung ATIV and … Read more

Intel at CES 2013: Join us Monday, 1 p.m. PT (live blog)

Join CNET tomorrow afternoon for live coverage of Intel's keynote presentation at CES 2013, where the company is expected to talk about -- you guessed it -- chips galore.

The keynote kicks off at 1 p.m. Pacific from the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino. Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's PC Client Group, will be presenting, along with Mike Bell, general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. They'll include an "update" on the company's third-generation processors and its mobile device strategy.

You can tune in to the blog and video stream here: … Read more

Address document-handling frustrations in OS X

When using current programs on your Mac to manage files generated from an older system, you may run into some errors in which the libraries and services used in the current program cannot properly interpret details of the files. This usually results in a formatting issue similar to a missing font, but it can also result in crashes or hangs.

Recently MacFixIt reader John wrote in regarding such an issue:

I have been trying to work with some PowerPoint presentations in Keynote in order to covert them to a Keynote presentation. I keep receiving an error that PICTD has quit. … Read more

Qualcomm nabs Microsoft's CES keynote slot

The company lucky enough to nab Microsoft's keynote spot at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is ... Qualcomm.

Paul Jacobs, chief executive of the wireless chip giant, will give the coveted pre-show keynote at CES, filling the slot Microsoft vacated late last year. Jacobs, who also gave keynotes at the 2012 and 2010 shows, will speak at 6:30 p.m. PT on January 7. The show officially runs January 8-11.

Qualcomm may not be the most obvious pick for the CES keynote, but its selection is the latest sign of a shift within the technology industry. PCs have been … Read more

iPhone 5: No Steve Jobs, no sizzle

Apple's iPhone 5 launch with new iPods and an iTunes overhaul highlights the new era at the company that revolves around incremental updates, design prowess, and control of an entire user experience. But something is missing: the Steve Jobs reality distortion field.

Jobs' showmanship was brilliant. He could take an incremental update -- or a feature that has been seen somewhere else before -- and make you think it was brilliant, amazing, and beautiful. I knew it was a game, but it was one I played willingly. I'm going through Apple keynote withdrawal.

Now I'm beginning to … Read more

Can iWork on the iPad really compare to a Mac?

Apple offers versions of its iWork suite (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) for both the Mac OS and iOS platforms, and given that the new school year is right around the corner, students might be weighing the options for creating and managing projects using either iPads or Macs.

While having been a fan of Apple's iWork suite in OS X since its debut and enjoy having the apps available for other platforms, I have been somewhat skeptical of using the iPad or iPhone to write a full report, a formatted resume, or managing calculations in a spreadsheet. Being a touch-only device, I've considered the iPad in large part as a viewing tool where you can look up information and browse through it, rather than buckling down and creating intricate and detailed content, especially with regard to office-related tasks. While Apple's touch-based input panels in iOS have made entering strings of text relatively easy, and along with gestures it provides a unique approach to drawing and arranging objects in applications, the question does arise as to whether this approach is adequate for more-detailed work such as word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets.… Read more

Panasonic to deliver opening keynote at CES

The Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that runs the Consumer Electronics Show, announced today that Kazuhiro Tsuga, the newly appointed president of Panasonic, will deliver the CES 2013 opening keynote speech.

"Panasonic is one of the largest and most dynamic consumer-electronics companies in the world, and I congratulate Mr. Tsuga on his official appointment to president of Panasonic Corporation this morning," CEA Chief Executive Gary Shapiro said in a statement. "We are thrilled to have Mr. Tsuga take the stage for his opening keynote at the 2013 International CES, and we look forward to hearing his vision … Read more