The Vista-ready
Toshiba Portege R400

A feature-packed Windows Vista. Windows Home Server. IPTV-enabled XBox. Internet-connected Fords. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Sunday, Bill Gates showed some of his cards in the impending showdown with Apple in 2007 and beyond.

According to the Red Herring, Gates said Microsoft can deliver the ultimate digital lifestyle connecting people from mobile devices to the living room to the car, while Windows Home Server, out in the second half of 2007, will act as the central hub.

Microsoft’s Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) - which will rival Apple’s iTV set-top box - will connect people to the web through the Xbox 360 by the end of the year.

The bulk of Gates’s presentation dealt with the long-awaited Vista operating system. The Vista will feature video wallpaper, and brands will offer tailored applications - like Foxsports’s own version of Windows Media Player, and Showtime and Nickelodeon versions of Vista, according to the E-Commerce News.

Several new Vista-powered PCs were also shown off, including a Toshiba Portege R400 mobile PC with wireless docking capability and an HP model with touch-screen capability.

At last!

Just a day after Gates presented Microsoft’s grand plans, Apple chairman Steve Jobs showed off his vision of the future; and, as always, he did not disappoint in showing his Apple cult members cool gadgets for ‘07.

Retailing for $499 and $599, the iPhone will incorporate three functions into one seamless apparatus when it hits stores in June, reports psfk. It will serve not only as a phone but also a widescreen iPod with touch controls - and a breakthrough “Internet communications” device with “desktop-class” email, safari-powered web browsing, maps, and searching.

As an example, Jobs pulled up a pristine version of nytimes.com onto the phone. Cingular will be the phone’s sole US partner.

Apple also unveiled Apple TV, formerly named iTV and intended to rival Microsoft’s IPTV, and announced that Paramount films will be available for it via iTunes, according to CNN. The device has a wireless connection that will let up to five computers stream or download video content to a television. It will begin selling next month for $299.

But according to Steve Rubel, Apple TV - unlike the iPhone - will be a let-down for advertisers. The device is a media extender, meaning it’s streaming content people already have bought on iTunes, whereas Microsoft’s IPTV-ready XBox 360 already supports PC to TV streaming right out of the box.