Comdex Report

LAS VEGAS Every autumn, as sure as leaves fall and sitcoms get canceled, 200,000 geeks descend on this city for COMDEX, the biggest high-tech trade show of the year, to get a preview of next year's whizzy gadgets. We tagged along, and here's what we saw.

Samsung put a new twist on the MP3 player with its innovative Photo YEPP ($399). In addition to playing digital music, which is pretty cool in itself, the Photo YEPP has a color screen for displaying text and pictures. It's so nifty, Bill Gates was spotted admiring it on the show floor. In the "old dog, new tricks" department, Sony unveiled the next generation of its Aibo robotic puppy ($1,500). The new pooch--full name ERS-210 (we've come a long way since Rover)--can learn 50 distinct words. Tell it to "take a picture," and it snaps a photo with a digital camera in its nose.

Many companies showed off Internet appliances--devices that browse the Web and send e-mail, without the complications of a full-fledged PC--but the Gateway Connected Touch Pad ($599) drew the biggest crowds. It has a touchscreen, so you can pick it up like a notebook and write directly on its screen with a stylus. While it's easy to use, it's also technologically cutting edge: a low-power Crusoe chip gives it extra-long battery life, and instead of Microsoft's Windows it runs the crash-proof operating system Linux. Needless to say, Bill Gates was not spotted admiring this one.