Comdex 1996: Day 1
Before there was CES, There was Comdex. In 1996, Mike had his first book signing at Comdex and I gave myself permission to take as many pictures as I wanted with my 110 camera. This was unprecedented in my days before digital and I have scanned in the old photos and am sharing them with you over the next few days.
The photo on the right is me back in 1996. I remember thinking how cute I looked and how I hardly looked fat at all. I look so different now. Is it wrong to feel like you look better at 38 than you did at 27?
This is a photo of the Sands Expo Center. I had never seen the Expo Center covered with so many advertisements. Now, EVERY hotel is covered with advertisements for various companies when CES comes to town, but this looked unique to me. It felt like Las Vegas had been taken over by the computer geeks. The casinos and the strip clubs had to move over for the computers and software. It was a very exhilarating feeling.
This is a rare sighting of the Energizer Bunny in the wild. Actually, it was a balloon flown over the Las Vegas Hilton during Comdex, but I LOVE this photo for its Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom feel.
Let’s start out with the worst. This was hands-down, the most disappointing booth at Comdex in 1996. I remember looking at this booth, saying, “Wow, Mike! Look, it’s like virtual reality! We should try that one!” There was a long line and Mike replied, “They don’t really look like they’re having fun.” I made him stand in line anyway and sadly, Mike was right. It was just an advertisement for the company. I don’t even remember which one now, although I think it was for computer storage or something boring like that. I kind of expected it to act like a video game and move around when I moved my head or hands. Instead it was like wearing a TV on my head.
Here is a copy of Mylex’s webpage from 1998:
Here is the story of what happened to Mylex:
Tune in tomorrow for more Comdex 1996 reminiscing.