Vendors vie for attention at Comdex

For those that couldn't get tickets to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates's packed out keynote at Comdex on Sunday, an army of vendors were out in force to provide alternative entertainment.

Inside a nondescript tent outside Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, the vendors fought for valuable space to show off their wares ahead of the official opening of Comdex on Monday. Among these was Yahoo, which demonstrated Yahoo Photos, a digital photo developing service which it is about to launch in the UK along with high street retailer Boots.

Users will be able to upload digital images onto their personal space at uk.photos.yahoo.com, and arrange for them to be developed by Boots. The retailer is also expected to be able to transfer images from traditional camera film onto the site.

Customers can create photo albums and send pictures to their friends and family, and are given 25Mb of free space on the website.

UK personal digital assistant (PDA) manufacturer Psion demonstrated a Bluetooth modem card for Net Book, an enterprise version of its Series 7 PDA that was released this week. Net Book is aimed at corporates and is a half-sized but fully functional laptop. Psion executives said the company can ensure that the device supports any business application customers may run in their organisation, including Lotus Notes.

Net Book also features the first PDA version of Opera's secure browser which is traditionally aimed at the financial community. Psion is also adding the browser, which offers 128bit encryption, to its range of consumer devices to offer greater security for ecommerce transactions.

Also on display was Ericsson's Smartphone, which integrates wireless web technology with a combined PDA and mobile phone. The device, which weighs 168 grams, can work in 120 countries and allows users to send and receive email, and access maps and weather reports.

It also includes PDA features such as contacts, audible calendar and notepad, and has a built-in modem and infrared port to offer PC synchronisation for applications such as email, calendar, contacts, notes and to-do lists.