Las Vegas is a city quite used to hype and hyperbole, so it was probably quite a fitting location for a conference on the future of consumer electronics. But if Mr Bill Gates is to be believed, the hype is all true and the digitally-enabled homes of the future really are just around the corner.

The founder of Microsoft was speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, where he unveiled two new technologies that are to make big strides in achieving his company's vision of turning homes into digital networks that are linked in to Microsoft software, game machines and Internet services. The dual technologies are currently going by the names Mira and Freestyle and both are based on the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

The first of these, Mira, is essentially a technology platform for wireless flat-panel touch screen technology. The example Mr. Gates gave is of a flat monitor that could be detatched from the PC and used as a portable touch-screen tablet, while still communicating with the main PC. A number of major corporations, including Intel, National Semiconductor, ViewSonic, and Wyse Technology are already working with Microsoft to develop Mira-based consumer products, which could hit the market within the next 12 months.

Freestyle, the second of the two new technologies that were on show, also has wireless networking at the core of its operation. The package will turn the PC into a complete home entertainment hub, with a single remote control used to play and swap video, pictures and music, download emails from the PC onto the television screen, record from the TV or video direct to the PC and of course change channel on the television. As with Mira, Microsoft has recruited some pretty big hitters to help with the development of Freestyle applications, including Hewlett-Packard, NEC and Samsung.