Just the facts....

I just watched the CES keynote speech with Bill Gates. Some of the stuff was pretty neat: on the h/w side the big desk display and the airport table; on the s/w side the ease with which content can be shared across all devices you manage. The boxing match at the end with Steve Balmer was also quite funny (SB's behaviour fit with some of the things I have read about him).

However, I'm definitely the world's biggest disapprover of the extreme overuse of hyperbole that all the presenters seemed to use when introducing themselves/something. It comes across as very false and detracts (at least for me) from the things they are trying to show off. I know I am not the target audience but I would prefer it if they let the technology/scenarios sell itself/themselves - that shouldn't be impossible should it ?

It seems that some people are also (myself included) getting annoyed with the way most powerpoints are done. The 10/20/30 rule seems a step in the right direction: 10 slides in 20 minutes with 30pt fonts. Coincidently, I saw a mail from a board member the other day saying that he hoped that 2006 would be a year in which we wouldn't have to sit through a powerpoint presentation of more than 9 slides. Hopefully, this is the start of a trend (though having said that this presentation definitely has more than 10 slides, but I have no problem having my attention held by it).