COMDDAP, which stands for Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines, decided to hold its 15th annual show at Makati Shangri-La’s different ballrooms that could not hold the volume of visitors who wished to see the exhibit area. Fortunately, the registration process was very efficient and the only hassles visitors had to contend with were the tight spaces and the huge crowd.
The show, however, was worth the trouble, not only did it signify a growing interest in technology products but also showcased many of interesting computers, peripherals, audio and video gadgets that will soon be available in the market.
The real showstoppers at the Sony Pavilion were the Aibo robots that people crowded around to see. The Aibos are sophisticated robot dogs that can communicate with each other, play with rubber balls, react to voice commands and express any of four emotions as well as take photographs. The featured Aibos were the older, generic looking models. Newer, more dog-like models were released recently. This didn’t matter to many who had never seen this advancement in consumer robotics before; to the visitors, these metallic pets were all the rage.
Aibos seem to be a testing platform for mass-produced robotics that many expect to take the form not of animals but of humanoids. Sony’s Aibo as well as Honda’s ASIMO robots can be considered the early stages in the evolution of robotics. These advancements are something we can all look forward to in the very near future.
New portables from such makers as Asus, Compaq, Mitac, Twinhead, Toshiba, Sony and Compaq range between under P50,000 and P180,000 but their specs rival those of desktop systems. The demand for portables is certainly increasing specially since the newer machines carry powerful Intel Pentium III or at least downtuned Celeron chips. This new hardware can easily handle all but the most demanding applications. Some of the notebooks on display also carried alternate AMD K6-2 chips that help keep prices down.
It was also a good thing that many of the display units were running and accessible to the visitors. This allowed hands-on interaction from possible users who wanted to test the machines first-hand and many responded positively to this, saying that trying out the machines would help them make a better purchasing decision.
The concept of PCs becoming the hub of people’s digital lifestyle has never been more viable than now. Some of the more exciting exhibits were Sanyo’s wall of large video and TV screens. Numerous DVD devices and sound processing equipment were on display as well. Digital cameras from such makers as Canon and Sony drew interest from many who considered digital photography a future option but were still put off by the prices. A 2 megapixel camera with zoom lens can easily cost up to over P25,000 which can buy you a pretty decent desktop PC with the latest specs and a large monitor.