Photos: CES 2008 starts up

From Bill Gates' final CES hurrah to Yoko Ono and Will.i.am, CES launched with a star-studded cast.

Lindsey Turrentine, Corinne Schulze

Nov. 20, 2008 3:32 p.m. PT

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The view from the central plaza on the first day of CES shows beautiful skies and bright green Astroturf for attendees to enjoy

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Sarah Tew/CNET Networks

BMW showcased its Formula One race cars on Sunday in the Gold Lot at 2008 CES. Attendees were allowed to change tires to get a taste of life in the pit.

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Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks

Gates hosted his last CES hurrah at Sunday's keynote, where he presented a video of his last day of work at Microsoft. Gates also talked about where technology is going after his retirement, including 3D environments for the Web and how image-recognition technology is going to change the face of Internet search.

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Intimidated by Gates' Guitar Hero moves, Robbie Bach brought in Guitar Hero champion Kelly Leone to take his spot playing Bill.

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Nervous that the Guitar Hero champion was going to wipe the floor with his guitar, Bill Gates decided to bring in guitar legend Slash to take Leone on.

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Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, introduced Monday's keynote address with a speech emphasizing the importance of free trade to the industry.

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Sarah Tew/CNET Networks

Toshihiro Sakamoto, CEO of Panasonic, gave a keynote presentation comparing the importance of the digital living room of today's family to the "hearth" of historical civilizations.

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Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks

The new state-of-the-art John Lennon Educational Tour Bus was unveiled on Monday. The bus is a nonprofit mobile recording studio created to expose students to the process of music-making. Giants such as Maxell and Sony helped create the program.

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Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks

Yoko Ono was on hand to talk about the merits of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus program.

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Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks

Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas is one of the celebrity musicians that is currently working on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. He spoke about how he would have loved this bus as a kid.