Live reporting via iBurst

Blogging live from ARN’s whitebox seminar this morning in Sydney, thanks to the iBurst card I’m testing. I tell you it’s a completely different experience to walk into a hotel and not need to wonder whether they have Wi-Fi.

Anyway, we’re dissecting and analysing the convergence of consumer electronics and the PC-centric IT industry today. In the audience are more than 100 whitebox assemblers, or system builders. The opportunity for them is to counter the big brands out there and leverage relationships with their local community.

So far we’ve heard from Intel, Samsung, Microsoft, Gartner and my boss, IDG Australia/NZs Don Kennedy. A key theme I’ve picked up is that broadband is the fundamental driver. What we are waiting for are consolidation of standards and more product simplicity.

We’ve also got a bit of a first here: Microsoft is demo-ing the Windows Media Centre Edition. Microsoft’s Tim Schroder is showing how we can use a remote control to access pictures, DVDs, music, TV and Radio etc via the PC on a TV. In fact his demo includes a live TV feed and TiVo-like recording functionality. Very cool - can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Finally, the last plug for this event. We are going to turn today’s presentation into a webcast - the first one for IDG Australia. Exciting times.

UPDATE: Told you the Microsoft presentation was a first! Brian Corrigan, ARN’s editor, reports that Microsoft will start shipping the Windows XP Media Centre Edition on October 13.