Unfortunately he can't get us a usefully specific release window beyond by "next summe,r" by which time Android, Windows Mobile and heck, maybe even the iPhone, will have been ridin' high on a wave of banner ads of choppy YouTube videos for months. But still, full Flash on BlackBerry!

Silverlight support is said to be in the cards too, though I'm pretty sure every suit with a BlackBerry would be a little happier if RIM just dropped that little project until Flash is done. Also, let's put this into a little perpsective: BGR is just claiming that BlackBerry will have Flash within the next year. Skyfire can already play back almost all Flash content on BlackBerry handsets, so it'd be kind of pathetic if RIM couldn't pull that off. [BGR]

• Media: GPU hardware acceleration, new codec support (H.264, AAC, MPEG-4), raw bitstream Audio/Video API, and improved logging for media analytics
• Graphics: GPU Acceleration and hardware compositing, perspective 3D, bitmap and pixel API, pixel shader effects, and Deep Zoom improvements
• Application development: Deep linking, navigation and SEO, improved text quality, multi-touch support, 60+ controls available, and library caching support
• Data: Data-binding improvements, validation error templates, server data push improvements, binary XML networking support, and multi-tier REST data support

That first one is far and away the most important, since high-bitrate HD streaming is well on its way to becoming the de facto standard for online video, and Flash kinda sucks at it. I still notice fairly high CPU utilization running their test video, but the instant skipping feature is definitely impressive. [Ars]

Click here and drop in the code GizmodoAUG. Let us know how it goes, 'specially the NBC Olympics stuff since Skyfire is pimping it pretty hard.

Skyfire Mobile Browser Satisfying Hunger for the Olympics with Live Access to Olympic Footage from NBC's PC Website

NBC-Universal is offering an unprecedented amount of video footage of the summer Olympics from Beijing on its website NBColympics.com. While Google, Yahoo and even NBC have limited mobile offerings, the Skyfire mobile browser, currently in private beta, has full access to all of NBC's full-PC site including access to full video. Skyfire users can not only see highlights of Michael Phelps' first medal-garnering performances, they can watch live as he swims toward his next gold.

In addition to being the only mobile browser that allows full access to the NBColympics.com site, Skyfire has also added a widget on its launching page, linking to video and picture slideshows of the latest from Beijing. This custom blend of images and video is updated through RSS several times a day, making Skyfire the best way to follow the Olympics from a mobile device.

Skyfire is the only mobile browser which supports full Flash, which is the most popular online video codec. Fans of the Olympics who watch the games at home on their desktop PCs, probably had to download the Silverlight plug-in in order to view the video. Skyfire added Silverlight support seamlessly, without its users having to install a new plug-in or even update the browser version.

The Skyfire browser is currently in private beta on the WindowsMobile and Symbian platforms.

[Skyfire]

Viewing Experience
The Silverlight-based player runs well—even on a Mac—but its interface has a few rough spots. When it comes to content, there is no comparison—the web player will stream 2,200 hours of live video, where for most sports, only glorified clip roundups will appear on the actual TV. Quality is a different story, as you'd expect. The streamed video is blurry no matter what size you watch it in, even though its at 720x480—a far cry from full HD your TV can get. Also, while it's understandable that NBC wouldn't provide announcers on their streaming player for a North Korea vs. Nigeria soccer game, they don't have announcers for any USA sports online, even big ones like basketball. Watching games without commentary can be painful, believe me. One more complaint: PowerPC Mac users are left out of the experience altogether, as Silverlight only supports Intel machines. [Thanks, downbythetracks!] Advantage: HDTV - Watch as much as you can on TV itself, but be aware of the delays.

Finding Content
When it comes to searching for live broadcasts, neither the streaming player nor HDTV are helpful at all. The TiVo guide says which sports will be shown, but doesn't say if they are tape-delayed. To find that out, you'll have to sort through NBC's schedule, which displays "(LIVE ET/CT)" next to anything broadcast in real time. And sorry West-Coasters; you're totally SOL when it comes to live HDTV—everything is shown for you on a 3-hour tape delay.Then again, seeing the streaming player for the first time may tempt you to bust out the Rosetta Stone. It's actually three players in one, starting with the standard player which is stuffed with ads, tabs, lists, menus and more. For this one, you're best off browsing by channel (#1 in the pic up top), clicking the sport you're interested in and seeing what videos are offered. A button in the corner of the video section (#2) directs you to the enhanced player, which is the best way to watch—it's got a bigger video screen and is so frill- and distraction-free even Frank Costanza would approve.

In the enhanced player, you can watch highlights (#3) and live content with picture-in-picture (#4), and swap between the two seamlessly. You can't search for content in the enhanced player, so you must find it elsewhere and switch over. Finally, a button on the left (#5) takes you to the "Live Video Control Room" which offers the most hyped way to watch the sports you crave—four-channel multi-casting. Advantage: Streaming player - It's very convoluted, but you can't argue with the amount of content on demand.
The Multi-Cast Experience
Gambling junkies and cubicle drones alike will love the streaming player's multi-cast, which allows you to watch up to four events at once. For people trying to actually enjoy sports, the largest video is still too small to see a score, and the other three are barely the size of postage stamps. Swapping between games is easy, but if you expand one to the full-sized player, you lose your other streams, and have to to add them all over again when you return to the multi-cast. Also, sifting through content is unbearable; you can scroll through six videos at a time, but there are almost 200 up there right now, and there's almost two weeks of competition left. Furthermore, you really need to make sure what you're watching is actually live—even though the player looks like it is telling you what's live, the schedule sometimes contradicts this.

HDTV has a multi-cast of its own, and it's called "jumping from event to event." Kudos to NBC's Olympic editors—they seem to have an uncanny idea of when I get sick of gymnastics and want to switch over to volleyball. It's not perfect, but it's effortless and they do a good job with it. Advantage: Even - The streaming multi-cast is great in theory, but execution is pretty weak, though the ability to pick what you want to watch trumps HDTV.

Live Action
Figuring out what is live on TV is harder than figuring out what is live online. You generally have to read the fine print of NBC's listings to find out what TV programs will be aired live. Helpful hint: If it doesn't say live, then it's probably not live. However, one advantage to HDTV is that you may have access to dedicated live basketball and soccer channels, depending on where you live. I just saw it for myself, and it's not airing anything right now, but I have 12 hours of basketball to wake up to tomorrow and I haven't been this excited in weeks.

You can sign up for alerts of both online and TV events via text message or email. Those alerts don't tell you which TV event is live. (On the flipside, alerts for online broadcast are mostly live, because otherwise they would already be available on demand.) The system sadly won't allow you to set a repeating event by team or sport, but if there are games you MUST see—like USA and Spain basketball for me—this is the safest way to make sure you catch it all.

As seen with the USA-China basketball debacle, NBC has no business delaying broadcasts for Pacific time. Thanks to the internet, this old broadcasting habit looks increasingly lame. After all, even those of us without the dedicated HD channels have TiVos and alarm clocks, right? Those who were shut out are not totally out of luck though—if you tell the online service that you have an East Coast cable carrier, it will stream broadcasts in real time to you at the appropriate Eastern Time. (If you are confused, just remember to say your zip code is 10001, and your carrier is Time Warner Cable.) Advantage: Streaming player - In some cases, the only way half the country can see things live is through the online system.

The Final Word
NBC's done a fair job with their streaming player and satisfied years of pent-up frustration by serving such an unprecedented amount of Olympic coverage. But by trying to make things easier, the network seems to have made our lives harder. Diehards of weird sports like fencing or those who need their content more live than Bill O'Reilly can get something from online that they could never get from the tube. But the quality isn't great and using it feels obtuse.

On the other hand, HDTV looks great and has announcers, which is crucial despite its lack of coverage and antiquated tape delay. While the streaming player is a revolutionary leap forward in terms of content, I can't help feeling that it isn't 100% ready for these Olympics, and that the games are still built around your TV set. To get the most complete experience you need to use both, but if you have a DVR and don't mind delay then stick to your HDTV as much as possible. [NBC Olympics]

By now you may already be an Olympic-level Olympics home viewer yourself. If you have any tips, tricks or usage scenarios that make watching the Olympics more easy or fun, by all means share them with us in comments.

Bill appears and after a brief state-of-the-industry intro, notes that this is his final CES appearance. He'll look back on some of his previous experiences, noting how far we've progressed since he declared the "Digital Decade" in 2001 for three reasons:
1. The promulgation of lower-cost HD displays and soon interactive surfaces.
2. Mobile intelligence - cellular and GPS enabled products that help us get through the day
3. Interaction with technology increasingly mirroring the way we interact with people

First announcement: NBC Universal is making MSN the exclusive home for NBC's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. It's the first "long tail" Olympics: there will be thousands of hours of content available at nbcolympics.com, ranging from the most popular sports to the most obscure—from basketball to badminton. The video will be both live and on demand, with over 30 simultaneous live broadcasts; 2,200 hours of live broacasting and 3,000 hours of on-demand content. All of the video will be shared in Silverlight format in "near HD" quality.

Hands-on: Never-before-seen demo of the Surface table. In this demo, Bill designs a snowboard for himself—yes, a snowboard—using multitouch technology to try out different designs, then save them to his Windows Mobile phone and share with his friends. I only wonder what his insurance company thinks about his snowboarding plans.

Robbie Bach, Microsoft's President of Entertainment & Devices Division, will take the stage to cover the bulk of the presentation, talking about:

• Xbox's banner year - 17.7 million Xbox 360 units sold; 7 titles surpassing 1 million sales mark; U.S. users spent more on Xbox 360 in 2007 than more on any other game console ever

• TV show deal with ABC Television and Disney Channel for Xbox Live programming, available for direct download to Xbox 360. It includes 500 hours of content, in standard and high def, available at the end of the month, with shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, plus Disney shows including Hannah Montana.

• Movie deal with MGM - Xbox will offer MGM films in standard def and high def including the entire Rocky series, Terminator, Dances With Wolves, Silence of the Lambs, Legally Blond, Barber Shop and the Bond franchise.

• New application for Microsoft's Media Room IPTV, distributed by AT&T U-Verse: On TNT, NASCAR fans can choose a view of the race from the camera inside their favorite driver's car via their set-top box; Showtime boxing will let you choose camera angle and audio feeds from the trainer, ref, or the commentators; in CNN's coverage of US presidential campaign, viewers can vote on issues, gauging voter opinion in realtime.

• Media Center Extender support is growing in the consumer-electronics industry, led by Samsung, which will be working on a connected TV with MCE capability.

• Zune 2 off to a good start, with 1.5 million people starting Zune social fan pages since the service began in November. Bach will announce the availability of the Zune in Canada, the first distribution outside the US.

When Bill takes the stage again, he will demonstrate a "device of the future," something that won't necessarily become a product sold by Microsoft, but still a good glimpse of things to come. The device will ostensibly store and catalog all of Bill's memories so that he can pull up a reel of all his past CES keynotes. At one point, he will snap a picture of the Venetian auditorium and the gadget will recognize the venue, proposing various recreational activities he might enjoy after the keynote.

This is a rough sketch of the proceedings, one that's bound to change considerably. I'm told there will be some surprises—maybe a celebrity guest or some farewell treat. Who knows? That's why we plan to catch the whole event, and fill in any gaps that may be missing from this otherwise thorough digest. (You're welcome.) [Microsoft at CES]

–Noah Robischon

Controversial Microsoft Silverlight Ad Campaign [theWPFblog]
Microsoft Silverlight [Product Page]

Their Silverlight plug-in, which works not only with IE, but with Safari and Firefox (ha ha, Opera users) and essentially provides a browser plug-in that lets everyone stream WMV files like they do with flash files.

The improvement upon flash—and this is why people would want to use this instead of Adobe's—is that it's high-def. We don't have to explain to you how much better it would be to stream high-def TV shows from NBC or ABC if you missed them when they first aired. And with MLB, Netflix and others already supporting the format, Microsoft may already have some hope of dethroning flash. – Jason Chen

Video introduction [on10]

Big names back Microsoft's Silverlight browser plug-in [Seattlepi]