The last keynote of the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show came from Google. Just on the day of the keynote, its shares rose from $455 to $470 just before the start of the event. At the current rate, Google is valued at $137.62 billion.
Why is that relevant? It's valuation amounts to shareholder mandate to allow Google to do whatever it wants. Nobody can ignore Google, but Google can ignore everybody.

Google co-founder Larry Page enters the stage riding on the back of Stanley, the vehicle build by Stanford University that won the Darpa challenge last year. Page and his co-founder Sergey Brin were PhD students at Stanford when they founded Google. Page makes the point that great innovations have come out of universities (and will later add: corporations tend to focus on the commercial value too much, stifling innovation).

Page then goes on to demonstrate a project where Volkswagen used Google maps for a concept in-car navigation system.

He then kicks off a lengthy plea for open standards in consumer electronics devices. Pointing at the army of photographers taking pictures in keynote room, he suggests  that  cameras should be able to share content.

Open standards also could allow Page to create a custom alarm clock using just a touch display. The device would collect data from his calendar and use the speaker system to wake him up.

The point is: innovation happens elsewhere. Companies shouldn't try lock in their customers because that stifles innovation. The open standards of the internet and software have allowed for tremendous innovation, why not create the same for the world of consumer electronics?

An open standard for power adaptors could cut the clutter under Page's desk. And ours, and yours.

So open standards make everybody happy.

Having lectured the consumer electronics industry, Page moves on to Google's realm. Instant messaging, he points out, was largely developed by corporations. And so there is no interoperability that would allow MSN messenger to communicate with Yahoo Messenger or AIM. Google's IM client however is build on open standards and therefore doesn't lock in its consumers.

The open IM movement is collecting momentum, Page points out. Nokia has just decided to include a a messenger on its Nokia 770 Tablet that is compatible with Google Talk.

Even in software not all is well, Page argues. Users who are installing a new system have to go through an abundance of license agreements and configuration windows, as he himself experienced just recently.

So the first Google announcement of the day: Google Pack. A bundle of several applications including Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE (6 month trial version), Adobe Reader, Firefox, AdAware anti spyware and pretty much all Google applications (Talk, Desktop, Picasa, Earth). Users only have to do one download and agree to one unified license agreement.

After the initial download, the software will then download the individual applications in the background. The same goes for future updates.

Time to have some fun: Page brings actor Robin Williams on stage. 

The two make jokes (mostly Williams), but where is this heading?

Ah, back to business.

Page unveils the Google Video store, where content creators will be allowed to upload video content and sell it at whatever price they want to sell it at.

The store launches with 3,000 videos, including footage from the NBA, as former NBA star Kenny Smith (right) tells. Game footage will be made available 24 hours after the game is played.

CBS, owner of hit shows including Star Trek, Survivor and CSI too is on board. It will sell TV episodes for $1.99 each.

That's if for the news part. Page moves on to a question and answer session with the public, although most questions came from the media.

Williams came in handy to help deal with some of the harder questions. Most notably, he did a pretty good impression of a Frenchman when a French reporter asked about non-English content for the Video store. "And will it have a smoking section?" Williams responded.

The English didn't get off much better by the way. "English technology, be very careful," Williams warned Page when a reporter from the Observer took the microphone. "The English space programme has done so well. It's called: 'Man on a ladder'.

Tags: google, larry page, robin williams, google video store