Gates keynote speech at CES 2007

Microsoft has been promoting the idea of a connected home, where multiple devices can access and share multimedia content stored on a PC or a central server hub, for some time, but so far only the most savvy or wealthy technology enthusiasts have realized even a piece of that vision.

But Gates and Robbie Bach, the president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, who also appeared on stage Sunday, tried to show how Microsoft can help more people can get access to the technology and even expand ubiquitous digital connectedness outside of the home.

Gates presented, through his talk and a demonstration late in his keynote, a world where people are only a touchscreen or a device away from any information that can help them in real time -- from recipes that come up on a kitchen counter that is also a screen, to public transportation information that appears on a bus-stop kiosk while a person is waiting for the next bus.