Jason Jenkins

Sunday 6 January 2008, 8:27am

Handbags at dawn at the 2008 CES

Blimey. CES hasn't even started yet and already the arguments are in full swing. I'm in Las Vegas with the team to cover the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, the event manufacturers use to showcase all the kit they're hoping to sell to us over the year, and so far it's shaping up to be one of the most combative shows yet.

The most momentous news so far is that Warner has effectively spelled the end of the HD DVD format by deciding to support the rival Blu-ray format exclusively. The HD DVD camp is in shock and has cancelled the press conference it had planned for Sunday night.

Intel has also caused consternation by pulling out of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project -- the programme that hopes to sell $100 laptops to developing countries. Intel has a rival version to the OLPC laptop, and it was hoped that the company's involvement in the project would stop the chip giant from undermining the OLPC's efforts. Now that it's pulled out, those fears are resurfacing.

Finally, Bill Gates, who leaves Microsoft later this year, is set to deliver his final keynote speech to the assembled delegates on Sunday. He's been a fixture here for years, so there's even more interest than usual in what the billionaire is going to say about the electronics industry.

It'll probably end up being the same old flannel about Windows Media Centre controlling everything in your house, but perhaps he'll use this last opportunity to reveal he's been a secret Mac user all these years.

Whatever happens, we're here to cover the very best gadgets in detail, with tonnes of hands-on photos and videos of the coolest kit. To make it easy for you to find all our coverage, we've created a page that pulls everything together in one place. So bookmark ces.cnet.co.uk and make sure you come back to it every day to see what new stuff we've unearthed.

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