First 1GHz PC leads new product parade at Comdex

Comdex may have lost some of its former shine, but the event remains the premier launch point for new product and technologies related to the personal computer industry and ­ increasingly ­ to the Internet. Still the number of product launched was way down from past years. Ironically, for much of the past decade, one of the last things that draws any interest at the world’s largest personal computer show are desktop personal computers. Significantly higher performance is pretty much expected, and few PCs offer features that truly distinguishes one from another.

But each year too, there are some machines that do attract a crowd. This year, that certainly was true in the KryoTech booth where the company put its new Super G system on display, the first PC with a 1 GigaHertz microprocessor. The Super G system combines the practice of "over-clocking" the microprocessor and a heavy doze of cooling technology. The Super G is powered by a 700 MHz Athlon processor from Advanced Micro Devices that is encased in a hermetically enclosed cooling system that brings the temperatures around the chip down to 40 degrees below Celcius. As a result, the system operates at clock speeds averaging more then 1000 MegaHertz.

The AMD Athlon processor also earned a key Comdex award when PC Magazine awarded it top honors for Technical Excellence in the "Best Hardware Component" category. Reportedly, AMD will launch a new 750 MHz Althlon in the first quarter ti take the performance lead back from Intel which recently added the 733 MHz Coppermine line of Pentium chips. Another class of PCs that drew some attention are those featuring following in the footsteps of the Apple iMac by using innovative design styles away from the stale beige PC box. Korea’s Daewoo introduced a line of visually interesting machines with names like "Luxor,’ NetTeen,’ and "Argo." The machines use Intel’s FlexATX motherboards and offer USB.

• The WizCom (www.wizcomtech.com) and Sweden’s C Technologies (www.cpen.com) launched pen-like scanners that allows user to move the tip of the pen-like devices over lines of text on a page which are then scanned into memory and converted to text via built-in OCR. The data can then be transmitted into a personal computer via cable or infrared wireless connection. The C-Pen 200 and QuickjLink Pen from Wizcom will retail for around $150 in the United States. The QuickLink Pen can store up to 1,000 pages worth of text.



• LapStand introduced a $79 "LapStand," a metal tripod for notebook computers that let travelers set up the highly adjustable device and key in data from a steady base (www.lapStand.com). the device folds up into a small package that can easily fit into the same briefcase carrying the notebook computer.



• Veridicom (www.veridicom.com) showed off its "5th Sense" personal authentication peripheral for fingerprint-based authentication. The device is about the size of a computer mouse. It will enable computer users to grant access to a computer system or individual files based on matching the user’s fingerprint with one stored in memory.



• Altec Lansing (www.altecmm.com) showed off its new VoicePod ($99) that acts as a voice liaison between the user and the PC. The hockey puck-size device features tape-recorder type buttons for adding or playing back voice annotations to a word processing document or e-mail message. A small-built-in speaker lets the user play back and edit annotations and also listen to comments from others.



• Modem Cord Minder ($7) from Power Promotions (www.pwrpromaol.com) winds a telephone cable around a built-in spring-operated reel. Much like variable-length dog leashes, notebook users won’t have to deal with tangled phone cords when connecting to a phone jack in a hotel room.



• Almost two decades after the PC mouse made its entry, companies continue to find new ways to design the cursor-pointing device. The $40 Tel Mouse from Americomm Innovations (www.americomm-innovations.com) combines the telephone and the mouse. The device has a small numeric keypad and microphone/speaker so you can pick make or receive calls.



• Faster, quieter, and cheaper are what have driven computer printer business. But Financial Literacy Center made a big splash at Comdex with the slowest, loudest most expensive printer at the massive show. FLC introduced a replica of the Edison Universal Stock Ticker. It was Thomas Edison’s first invention that was actually a commercial success. The $3,500 working replica can connect to the Internet and print out stock prices.



• Metamail unveiled the industry’s first e-mail system that lets computer users make their e-mail appear like regular company stationary and add photos and other graphics images to their correspondence without significantly increasing the size of the e-mail message. The patented technology also gives the recipient of the e-mail the ability to download a plug-in that allows for correct viewing of the e-mail message. Senders can chose from up to 100 digitally textured paper formats to give a more realistic real paper-like look to a document.

Web Innovations:

Although Comdex is mostly hardware and software oriented event, a number of Internet companies made use of the high concentration of media and corporate buyers to promote a variety of innovative new Web services. Some of the more notable ones include:

• Novica.com promoted its site where art collectors can purchase hand-made art, textiles and furnishings directly over the Internet from a network of some 5,000 artists that are offering their work through Novica.com which has set up offices in Europe, the united States, and in South America.



• In similar fashion, bargainclothing.com (www.bargainclothing.com) came to Las Vegas to hype its Web site that lets consumers purchase items of clothing directly from leading New York and other fashion manufacturers through the bargainclothing.com Web site. Besides convenience, especially for consumers who live in rural communities far away from the nearest high-end fashion outlets, bairgainclothing.com also achieves considerable savings for shoppers.



• Addressing the growing concerns of parent over the places their children can visit on the Internet, Cyber Sentinel (www.securitysoft.com) launched a software program that sends an e-mail or page message to a parent when their children contact or are contacted by adult-oriented and other not-for-kids Web sites. The company’s Cyber Sentinel 2.0 ($35) also lets parent specify what hours a child can access the Internet, which type of Web sites are allowed or forbidden, and control which Internet services are allowed, such as instant messages, e-mail, chat rooms, and online shopping and stock trading. Unlike other site blockers, the Sentinel 2.0 has a site analysis function that reviews a Web site on a page-by-page basis rather then block an entire site even if only a single page contains undesirable information. The program also scans information exchanged in incoming and out-going emails or in char rooms for certain words and phrases and can break the communications when a violation of the rules is found. The program them also alerts the parent by e-mail or page and details the content of the objectionable material involved.



• Several companies, including Conversa (www.conversa.com) showed voice-activated Web browsers that will let users surf the Internet without the need for a keyboard or mouse. The Conversa Web 3.0 voice-activated browser was shown in a new line of Wintech (www.bananaPC.com) "Edge Systems" personal computers that range from $600 to $1600. Dutch electronics giant Philips introduced its Philips FreeSpeech Browser that offers a continuous speech recognition product measuring just 10 megabytes, making it suitable for download from Philips’ Web site at www.speech.philips.com. Philips is distributing the browser at no cost and little or no training is required to use the browser. The browser will also be bundled with a variety of Philips products. Users can speak commends like "Go Back," "Refresh" to browse the Internet.



• BlackICE Defender from Network ICE is an intrusion-detection and protection system that shuts down access to networked computers at the point where it matters most -- the individual computer on the desktop. It installs on any system of the network, where it will wait, watch and close down the ports if an intruder is detected.