2008: A year in review, January

CES, the MacBook Air and HD DVD gets put on death watch

26 December 2008 10:00 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Between now and New Year's Eve we are bringing you our now customary year in review roundup of the top tech news stories and events of the year.

Unsurprisingly we're starting with January, and will deliver two months a day until the 31st for your nostalgic perusal.

Never a quiet month in the tech world, January 2008 saw the usual double act of CES in Las Vegas and Macworld in San Francisco.

CES was all about televisions with the usual behemoth 100-inch plus showcase sets on the manufacturer's stands, as well as a few decent-sized OLED models making public debuts.

The 2008 show also marked Bill Gates' last keynote speech as Microsoft boss, with an indulgent star-studded video looking back at Gates' Microsoft years.

But, the real news on everyone's lips at CES came from outside the show grounds with Warner Bros' death blow to HD DVD as the studio announced it was going Blu.

HD DVD's press conference at CES was cancelled, and the show marked the start of the death watch for the format.

Macworld gave us (or rather at the time, the Americans) Apple TV 2.0 and saw the launch of the ultra-thin Macbook Air, instantly loved by Mac fanboys for its 0.16-inch skinny dimensions, and instantly derided by everyone else for its lack of spec and high price tag.

Other notable launches from the month were Canon's entry-level EOS 450D DSLR, and Garmin's announcement of its seemingly super-specced GPS-enabled "nuvifone" that we're actually still waiting for a year later. Hmmm.

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