Gadgets galore gathered at Comdex

Alison Calkins

Monday, Nov. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

This year's 18th annual Comdex convention is being billed as the largest information technology gathering in history.

More than 210,000 professionals from the information technology industry are converging on Las Vegas this week for a close look at the cutting edge of the information age.

They'll be talking about:

* A way for computer operators to "speak" with their computers, allowing them to use it without a keyboard or mouse.

* An artificial retina chip that can be used for human-computer interface in a number of ways including medical, manufacturing and interactive games.

* Handheld PCs.

* A voice browser that opens the Web to phones and fax machines without a computer.

And oh what a difference a year makes.

A year ago, companies were looking for ways to make money on the Internet.

This year, they're still looking to make money, but are also looking for ways to save money with the Internet and integrate it into their businesses.

Internet-related exhibitors at Comdex have nearly doubled from 290 in 1995 to 550 this year and Internet-related exhibit space is up 340 percent according to Show Director Bill Sell.

"The Internet is driving the development of an entire range of applications, programming languages and even operating systems, marking a fundamental shift in the corporate computing environment," he said.

"The Internet is also driving the sales of hardware, primarily servers, that can effectively run those apps (applications) and operating systems, handle the demands of distributed computing, as well as store and deliver data both to employees and customers via 'extranets' like never before."

Which inspired Comdex organizers to create a first-ever Internet Innovators Pavilion, featuring privately held, first-time exhibitors, such as LinkStar Communications Corp.

The company will unveil a beta version of HotOffice, specially designed to turn the Web into a "virtual office" for small businesses, including publishing, package tracking and Internet phone capabilities -- yet eliminate the need for in-house Web servers.

Sells said that a year ago, companies announced their intention to build network computers (NCs) -- stripped down PCs that would rely on the Internet and servers for their applications and some of their processing.

Those intentions are becoming reality.

For example, Sun's JavaStation will be at work in the Enterprise@Web Pavilion, and IBM plans to introduce several models of its NC device, including a PowerPC-based configuration that will run Java OS and HotJava applications.

Apple will have its largest Comdex presence ever and as many as 10 Mac clone manufacturers are expected.

"Two years ago, Apple was the only MacOS vendor," Sell said. "Last year, there were four others, including DayStar Digital Inc., Pioneer and Power Computing."

Competition is also heating up in the Web browser wars and products aimed at making browsers more versatile will be introduced.

At Comdex 1995, there was talk of Web browsers that would be used to access Internet information, moving beyond text and data, according to Sell.

"This year, there will be browsers that handle sound, video animation and 3-D images. The next wave will also be on display -- environments that users "move" through, like those found in 3-D games," Sells said.

Iconovex Corp. will release a new version of its EchoSearch, a Java-based meta-search tool that allows simultaneous queries of Web search engines such as Lycos, Alta Vista, InfoSeek and WebCrawler.

And Communications Inc. will release its Web-On-Call Voice Browser, which allows users to access Web sites by telephone and fax machine.

PCs are on the move as well.

Predictions continue that PCs will become smaller, more powerful, more communicative, easier to use and cheaper.

Sell said that the debut of Windows CE handheld PCs will be a main attraction.

NEC Technologies Inc., Phillips Consumer Electronics Corp., Casio Computer Corp. and LG Electronics Inc. are all expected to introduce handheld PCs.

But while predictions call for smaller, cheaper PCs, multimedia computers remain the fastest-growing segment of the PC business, according to information from Dataquest.

Electronic Times reported that Intel and Microsoft will unveil ambitious multimedia strategic initiatives aimed at reshaping the PC, instead of the NC, as a viable platform for the home user in the late 1990s.

Those strategies include "souped-up chips," known as MMX-enhanced processors, digital-videodisk (DVD) players and Microsoft's DirectX -- a programming interface intended to help developers produce so-called "hybrid applications" -- DVD titles that encourage consumers to connect with the Internet where they can download updated video clips or interact with other users in multiplayer games and 3-D chat rooms.

And then there are PC/TVs -- the mutation of PC and televisions.

"Last year, there was talk of the convergence between the PC and the TV. This year, there are Web TVs in stores and on the Comdex exhibit floor," Sells said, adding that Hitachi and Samsung are expected to unveil their versions.

Another innovation on display will be Voice Pilot -- software developed by Richard Grant of Voice Pilot Technologies Inc. which uses speech recognition technologies to operate a computer instead of a keyboard or a mouse.

A new generation of notebook computers allowing for videoconferencing are expected to be shown by Hitachi PC, Fujitsu, Toshiba and others, according to Computer Retail Week. The high-end notebooks are expected to sport tiny video cameras mounted above the system's LCD screens.

Keynote speakers are Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Netscape CEO and President James Barksdale and Intel Corp. President and CEO Andrew Grove.

Gates will discuss challenges to the PC industry, Barksdale will examine online issues and Grove will reflect on the microprocessor's influence on the computer industry and speculate on future advancements.

Comdex will conduct hold several sessions on multimedia and videoconferencing. Digital videodisk will be the subject of a "hot technologies" session. Intranet technology, the mobile worker and wireless technologies will be discussed as well.