James Harding - View from the Valley

Ah, Comdex. The airport was an over-flowing nightmare. The flight was an overbooked disaster. The hotel was an overbearing eyesore. Comdex was an overgrown mess and Las Vegas was an overwhelming hell-hole. I had a great time.

Of all the meetings I had at Comdex, my favourite was with Larry, a guy who founded a company called Neo Planet that is making an alternative Web browser to Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. He told me all about almost getting to bed before being asked to escort three women around Las Vegas until 5am, then we argued about who was the most drunk the night before. Eventually, he told me about his product.

But Larry was the refreshing exception to the rule. Most people were under pressure, only interested in selling whatever it was they were selling. Most had the help of a big stage show. Vendors hired all sorts to help them promote things - there were dancers, scantily-clad women, Jay Leno and blow-up blue fishes. It was glamorous, but if you weren't there, you only missed a lot of waiting in queues.

Comdex was too big. There were 220,000 people there and all of them wanted to find taxis. The 3,000-strong press corps was the largest number of hacks at one event, with the exception of the 1996 Olympic Games. With 2,100 exhibitors, to see everything on the floor I would have to spend all my time there and I would have 17 seconds to spend on each product.

All clogged up and little to show

Almost all of Silicon Valley relocated to Las Vegas for the week, clogging up mobile phone lines and city streets. All this for very little news - the keynote speeches were not ground-breaking, the few product launches were dull and everyone hated the show. A few handheld computer launches and the odd clever gadget were all that Comdex had to offer.

Interactive TV is one of the topics that everyone seems to be discussing now. In the US, everyone talks about the ways people can improve their viewing experience and the debate has now moved to what form of interaction to use - Web TV, cable or digital TV.

But the UK is ahead in this area. Interactive TV is being used all over the UK at this very minute. Old people and young people use it and the US lags way behind in acceptance and content. The UK has had interactive TV for years. What am I talking about? Teletext, of course.

Apparently, Teletext was tested here in the US about 12 years ago, but was not launched. So next time some Silicon Valley type mocks Europe's slow acceptance of new technology and the way we follow the US trends a few months later, mention interactive TV.

Comdex interruptus

Cisco CEO John Chambers was interrupted during his keynote speech at Comdex by a man who rushed up to the stage and started shouting at him. He asked that Chambers to reconsider a decision to lay off 1,000 workers in San Jose. But, Chambers handled the situation well and it failed to interrupt his flow. I was hoping the guy was a heckler who wanted Chambers to tell some jokes, but after Bill Gates' attempt at humour during his speech, perhaps we should be grateful that he didn't.

No need to wait for Bygraves reissues

First it was the Web-based company that allowed you to make up your own compilation on compact disc and buy it; now, Philips has found an easy way to transfer vinyl records and cassettes to CD. This used to be a time-consuming and frustrating task for anyone brave enough to do it - you had to record using a Wav file and then use complicated software to transfer the files onto a blank CD in a CD-recordable drive.

Easy CD only costs $99 here and it's simple to use. Great. But why bother?

CD-recordable drives cost $199, even in Silicon Valley electronics stores.

But the main problem is that the CD version can only be a slightly inferior digital recording of the analog tape or vinyl original, so the only reason to do it is to make a copy of a particular tape or record just in case.

It is an expensive audiophile's gift and until recordable CDs are commonplace, it seems to be a waste of time. DVD or Mini-disc will take over in 10 years' time and CDs present no opportunity for scratching.

Quick as a flush

The techies of Silicon Valley would like to think they can improve every facet of life. The local invention of the computer has done wonders for many aspects of day-to-day existence, but some things should stay private and personal and untouched by clever inventions. Using the toilet, for example, should be a time for contemplation, reflection and self-assessment - no gadgets should be involved.

But of course, even the sacred throne is fair game for technology. No less than three companies have found computerised ways of improving that special moment of movement. For $600 you can buy a chip-infested loo, which lowers and raises the seat, warms it, kills odours and uses a cleaning nozzle to perform a bidet function for you, without the need to even get up from your seat. One even analyses urine and blood pressure, presumably to tell you if you are about to die.

I understand that soon the computer toilet will talk. How uncouth. I think most people will find they cannot perform when someone is talking to them during the event. It is my belief that computers should not interfere with the experience - a newspaper, humorous book or spider on the ceiling is the only acceptable companion for anyone in that room.

James Harding is US Editor of VNU Newswire, based in San Francisco.

He can be reached at [email protected] or on 00 1 415 306 0879.