Room for gadgets at Comdex

Reporter's notebook

By Daniel Sieberg
CNN Sci-Tech

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- The buzz that resonated most strongly throughout Comdex Fall 2001 wasn't about what was on the show floor, but what wasn't: the crowds.

By all accounts, attendance was down for one of the largest high-tech shows in the world, and estimates varied greatly depending on the source. Officials with the event pegged the number of people at about 125,000, but many service workers in the city scoffed at that figure, saying it was closer to 100,000, or even fewer.

Beginning with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' less-than capacity keynote address on Sunday night, it was clear that something was missing.

Taxi lineups were long at peak times, but the thousands of attendees had little to complain about in terms of waiting. Even security checks and food lines dwindled as the show wore on. And many people said they felt the security measures put in place were more of an inconvenience than a show of force.

COMDEXTERITY There's one called Scurry. And another none too modestly called Peerless. They're all here in our gallery of Comdexterity --  good gadgets from Comdex Fall 2001.

But whether it was the lagging tech economy or a fear of flying that kept people away, those who made it to Comdex were treated to a range of cutting-edge products and services.

While hundreds of consumer gadgets like digital cameras, graphics cards and MP3 players dotted the showroom floor, a few quickly became the most talked-about.

In the futuristic realm, Sony's two-way communicator wristwatch -- capable of sending and receiving video and audio messages in real-time (with a tiny built-in camera) -- caught the eyes of many. The wristwatch is currently only in conceptual form, and Sony representatives were reluctant to discuss any details about the device, including a possible price or release date.

COMPLETE COMDEX Get teched-up with our coverage of Comdex 2001  with reports from the floor. The people, the events, the machines, the scene -- it's all here in multiple reports daily.

Apparently closer on the horizon is Handspring's Treo, which combines the technologies of Web-based services, a cell phone and personal digital assistant (PDA). Available in the early part of 2002, the monochrome version is expected to retail for $399 with service activation. A color version will be available some time later, and will cost $599. Both will have 16MB of memory.

Wearable computers from companies like Xybernaut have been available for some time, utilizing compact machines fixed to pairs of glasses or headsets. Many of them were on display at Comdex, and some of them could be modified for portable biometric surveillance use at airports.

MORE STORIES The money behind the machines, the commerce of Comdex --CNNMoney's special report  follows the bytes and bucks.

Also in the human-cyborg category was a technology that initially puzzled most passersby.

Scurry, designed by Samsung, allows users to type without a keyboard. A hand-wearable device, Scurry works both on a desk and in mid-air, using inertial sensors and feedback schemes to detect the positioning of a person's hand. Its intended use is for PDAs and the type of wearable computer created by Xybernaut.

The current prototype can only be used with one hand and a wired connection, but future versions are to be wireless and available for both hands. The first Scurry device is anticipated for the Korean market in October 2002, and in the United States sometime afterward. No prices have been made available.

While the word was that Comdex security had been greatly stepped up this year -- and laptops weren't allowed in the show area -- many attendees said they felt the security measures were more an inconvenience than a show of force.

Personal data storage was also a hot topic at the show, since more people require expanded hard-drive space as they deal with multimedia material including images and sound files.

Iomega's Peerless base station and disk allow users to add a removable hard drive via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, with capacity ranging from 10GB to 20GB. The disk can be swapped in and out of the base station as the situation warrants. Data transfer rates vary depending on the specifications of the computer, and prices vary depending on the combination of disk and base station.

Whiz-bang gadgets are always a crowd-pleaser at any high-tech show, and this year was no exception. But most keynote speeches managed to attract only modest crowds. And even with the developments displayed at the massive show, Comdex Fall 2001 will likely be remembered for its dwindling numbers rather than its increasing innovation.