Bill Gates' final appearance at CES as CEO of Microsoft didn't turn out to be much of an event - not a single significant new product was announced.

From July, Gates will no longer have a day-to-day role in the running of MIcrosoft, but the thousands of CES attendees who had queued all afternoon to hear his final keynote speech were treated to little more than a humorous farewell video, demonstrations of previously announced products and a guest appearance from Slash from Guns 'N' Roses.

We'll be running videos from CES 2008 in Las Vegas on the site over the next week or so -- Dennis Publishing (publisher of Mobile Computer) has a bunch of reporters over there, all sending video back to the UK. 

Not all of the videos will make it to the front page of the site, but there's a new entry called CES 2008 under the News menu option that will show all of them. Or if you're not in the least bit interested in the goins on in Las Vegas, just click the main News menu option for a CES-free feed. 

So, until things kick off later today, here's a overview of the what to expect from the show.

Canon announced its 2008 camcorder line up this morning - there are nine new models that offer a mix of SD and HD recording, with a mix of tape, DVD and solid-state storage.

The entry-level MD205 and MD235 MiniDV SD camcorders use Canon's new Advanced Zoom that combines a genuine Canon video lens with the DIGIC DV processor to a give a digital zoom range of up to 45x. Prices start from around £190 for the MD205 and £220 for the MD235.

MD Series key features:

• 1/6" Interlaced CCD with DIGIC DV image processor
• Optical zoom 32x (MD205), 37x (MD235)
• Sub one second power-up
• LCD Video Light for filming close-up in poorly lit environments
• MD205 total pixels 800,000 (540,000 effective)
• MD235 total pixels 1.07 (710,000 effective)
• MD205 size: 68 x 82 x 127mm; weight: 380g
• MD235 size: 66 x 90 x 126mm; weight 430g

Available: February 2008

Details on the rest of the new line-up after the cut.

Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian smartphone users have been able to watch streaming video on their handhelds from a SlingBox for some time, but the BlackBerry has so far been denied. No more -- Sling Media will announce a BlackBerry version of its SlingPlayer Mobile application next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

There's no word on which BlackBerry models will be supported yet, but the application will be demonstrated using the Wi-Fi-enabled Pearl 8120 . SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry will be available later this year for £19.99 and a 30-day demo will be available.

[Sling Media]

Intel has pulled out of the OLPC project, just months after joining the board in order to contribute technical expertise and funding. The two teamed up last July after an ongoing spat in which OLPC founder, Nicholas Negroponte, accused Intel of trying to thwart the project's aim by launching its own low-cost Classmate PC.

Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy cited a "philosophical impasse" as the reason for the split as "OLPC had asked Intel to end our support for non-OLPC platforms, including the Classmate PC, and to focus on the OLPC platform exclusively. At the end of the day, we decided we couldn't accommodate that request."

The OLPC is powered by an AMD, rather than an Intel, processor, but Mulloy said that this had nothing to do with its decision to leave the project.

Around 170,000 OLPC XO laptops were ordered through last year's "Give 1 Get 1" deal in which customers paid $400 for two laptops, one of which was then donated to a developing country.

[Associated Press]

Hitachi has announced that it will be releasing a 500Gb 2.5in hard drive for laptops later this year. The Travelstar 5K500, which will also be available as a 400Gb model, is just 12.5mm thick and spins at 5,400rpm. The three-platter design has similar power requirements to the previous two-platter 250Gb drive, the 5K250 - 1.9w for read/write access and 0.7w while idle.

In addition to its low power consumption, Hitachi's 'Rotational Vibration Safeguard' technology makes the Travelstar well-suited to laptop use - it acts as an early warning system for impact shocks and stabilises the drive heads to prevent damage any data loss.  The Travelstar 5K500 will be available in February.

Asus will be the first manufacturer to offer the 5K500 drive in a laptop and it will fit a pair of them in its new M70 to offer 1Tb (1,073,741,824Mb, or 1024Gb) of storage capacity. The Asus M70 will be formally launched at the CES Show in Las Vegas next week.

[Hitachi]

The US Department of Transportation's new regulations governing batteries in airline luggage came into effect on January 1, so if you're thinking of flying into the US with a bagful of gadgets, you'll need to think about what batteries you pack.

In short, the new regulations prohibit the carriage of loose lithium batteries in checked luggage and batteries in carry-on luggage are only allowed if they're either installed in a device or carried inside a plastic bag.

The OLPC Give 1 Get 1 programme came to an end at midnight on December 31, so anyone in the US who didn't get their order in for an XO laptop before the new year now has no way to buy one through official channels.

Unfortunately, no one in the UK has ever been able to buy one through official channels since the deal was US-only, but that could well change this year.

Asus is planning to unveil the next generation Eee PC at the CES Show in Las Vegas next week, according to The Register. The launch will take place at a Wi-Max event co-sponsored by Intel and US mobile telecoms company Sprint, which suggest that Asus' next little laptop will be Wi-Max equipped.