Bill Gates announces new innovations

Microsoft has announced plans to tie together personal computers, televisions and its Xbox games consoles in a move into the rapidly-converging consumer electronics market.

In his keynote speech opening the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday, Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, announced a series of innovations designed to melt the dividing lines between PCs, internet entertainment and TV.

New gadgets from several manufacturers will take digital content from PCs - such as music, video and photographs stored on the computer or downloaded via broadband internet connections - and distribute them to TV screens and handheld devices around the home through a wireless network.