Summary - One Must Have Product

In addition, we visit Imation, and are just going to say that Rip 'n Go is a hot ticket item. It's probably one of the coolest storage products around, and yes, we're well on our way to give it a run through our labs. Our take on it is that it is a portable CD burner that functions as a portable music player. The reason we say that is that we'd hate to see this product pigeonholed in a category like portable music players. Sure it is cool enough, but it's much more for the average road warrior.

You can take it with you on the road, burn CDs of files and distribute them, whatever you need it for, but it doesn't then end up sitting in a laptop case or bag, or on a desk somwhere. You can actually use it on the go. Very cool product.

This isn't really a Comdex of high drama or surprises. There's every indication that there's more going on in the marketing of Comdex to people who are not here then actual stuff on the show floor. What is clear is that the networking space looks like it has a lot to offer the visitor, and that off the show floor a lot of companies are positioning themselves for the new refresh in PC systems in January and February timeframes.

So, you should start checking in with your local dealer this Christmas time because, we expect to see the channel stocking up on new goodies from Intel, AMD, and all the Taiwanese board vendors, in anticipation of some major launches in the New Year.

In the meantime, we have our hands full with what might be a turning point in high performance networking, wireless networking and portable storage. The prices on this stuff is just going to be amazing. And that not only means that traditional buyers in the corporate world are going to be happy, but it is sure as heck going to make home networking ideas a lot more ambitious and a lot more cost effective.

Where's Tom?

Because we're kind of fed up of trying to answer this question everywhere we go, we're going to answer it here - Tom is alive and well and doing stuff that even we are not allowed to know the full extent of and what we know we can't tell you about.

We actually have to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and we actually like to stick to our word, legal document or not. So, stay patient, some cool things are going on with our very own Pabster.

The good Doctor has had some things to do recently and one of them was the first real vacation he has had in six years. We kind of think he deserved it, but that didn't stop him from getting on email and ICQ to us so, even on this, his first real vacation in years, he is still checking in on the benchmarks the guys are doing and giving us feedback on his perspectives. You know, you got to cut the guy some slack, and let him have a break too. Did we mention it was his first real vacation in six years?

As for what Tom is going to be up to now that he is back - well, all we can tell you is that it's going to be heck of a busy December, January, and February for the guy, and then....... the world's biggest computing show, and the whole cycle begins again.

Next week - we unlock the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle and ask, "Where's Waldo by the way? "

Please follow-up by reading Comdex 2001 Day 3: Affordable DVD-R .