2:10 PM -- I know Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) had more long-reaching announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but what really got me interested was its deal to expand NBC's Web coverage of the 2008 Olympics. Two reasons to root for this development:

1. The Olympics have always been a good vehicle for showing off the capabilities of the Web, thanks to the mounds of information being delivered. There's potential here to show how thousands of hours of video can be made into a compelling Web presence.
   
   
2. NBC's Olympics coverage is wretched. Two minutes of competition followed by a 10-minute Vaseline-lensed profile of an athlete overcoming deep personal pain or hardship. Blink-length highlights of the sports you never get to see on TV, followed by two hours of gymnastics. The closer we come to select-it-yourself coverage, the better.
   
   

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading