For a while I thought I was thrust into a British Airways commercial, where my lament of "where is everybody?" resulted in utter silence.

But I wasn't.

Instead, I was attending PC Expo (which is now part of TechXNY), standing in the middle of the main exhibit floor of the Jacob Javitts Center in New York. But the lament was the same!

We've all been reading about the tough times the computer hardware and software industries are going through, but it never seemed real -until now.

Where were the bone-crushing crowds?

Where were the three floors of exhibitors?

Where were the small, innovative companies?

Where were the free T-shirts and hats?

Gone! Merged! Exiled!

What had become the Mecca for high-tech wizards in the Northeast was reduced to a one-floor exhibit dominated by manufacturers of pocket and handheld devices.

But the most depressing thing was the fact that you could walk the floor without being jostled, kicked or run down by other attendees. Show officials estimate that about 50,000 people attended the three-day event, way shy of the 75,000 to 100,000 it had attracted in the past. About 55,000 attended last year.

The Expo wasn't the only victim. The satellite shows, Mobile/Digital Focus, PCExpress and Showstoppers, also showed signs of attrition, reflecting the sad state of the industry.

What's a geek to do?

I strolled the exhibit floor, ready to pounce on the one thing that would make me break out in a sweat and cause my hands to shake. But, alas, that didn't happen.

But there were a few items that did cause me to raise an eyebrow:

- Iomega has developed the Peerless drive that can handle cartridges of up to 20 gigabytes.

- The folks at Handspring have finally come through with their promise of accessories for their Visor computer, ranging from games to wireless Ethernet devices.

- ViewSonic, Fujitsu and Toshiba have thrown their hats into the handheld-computer arena with several impressive devices that can run Windows 2000 at high resolutions.

- Software developers such as Bachmann and DDH have finally developed a way to transfer Microsoft Access files to a Palm-style device.

- USB 2.0 comes closer to reality with CD writers that can burn disks at speeds up to 24X.

-The introduction of DVD-R and DVD-RW drives at affordable prices, boasting data storage of 4.7 gigabytes on one CD.

- The simplification of video editing for the home user on new Sony Pentium 4 computers.

- Software from Connectix that allows you to run several operating systems in virtual windows.

I plan to take a closer look at these things and others in the coming weeks. But don't expect to be blown away. Maybe you'll just raise an eyebrow or two.