(CBS) There were two tech conferences in the West this week. The DEMO show, in Scottsdale, Arizona, showcased new innovative new products. The RSA Conference, in San Francisco focused on security issues. The Scottsdale conference was a lot of fun. The San Francisco confab of mostly security professionals dealt with issues that are, sadly, increasingly relevant.

Both conferences were important but even with modern technology, I can only be in one place at a time. So I went to the fun conference.

One of the more popular exhibits at DEMO was a body scanner from Intellifit of Philadelphia. The walk-in scanner doesn't determine whether you have a disease or a syndrome but instead uses low-level radio waves to take 180 measurements of your body to determine exactly what size clothes you should buy.

The idea is to have stores pay to install these machines in malls so that shoppers can get clothes that fit them perfectly. As an incentive to try it out, the company was giving away a free pair of Levis jeans. After being scanned for about ten seconds, I logged on to the company's web site and was told which jeans to order.

In my case, they happened to be exactly the size that I usually buy. But a colleague of mine got some bad news. He thought his waist was 36 but the machine said it was 40. He argued, but the folks that run the company insist that their machine doesn't make mistakes. Even if that's true, I know of another technology that's also very accurate and a lot cheaper. It's called a tape measure.

I'm not a big gamer, but I was impressed by Novint Technologies' Novint Falcon, a 3D touch device that provides a realistic sense of touch when interacting with computer games.

The consumer device is an offshoot of research conducted in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories. Like a joystick on steroids, the Falcon can not only move objects about the screen, but it gives you a sense of what it would be like to hold those objects in your hands.

When I used it to try to sink some baskets, the ball actually had weight to it, like a real basketball. I tried putting on a golf course and felt the weight of the club and the feel of hitting the ball. The unit on display at Demo was a prototype but the company plans to ship the real thing early next year for under $100.

Like last year, blogging was all the rage at Demo. In fact, several people were writing blogs - "web logs" - directly from the show. A web log is typically just a web page that's updated regularly, but one Demo company came up with a way to update blogs even faster.

Bubbler is a combination blog and instant messenger service. The blog is updated in real time as soon as its creator hits the Enter button. In addition to text, you can blog photos and audio. The product is already available for a free 30-day trial. After that, it's $4.99 a month.

Keeping up with all the blogs can be as taxing as creating one, but there are a couple of companies offering help with that as well. Pluck is a tool for reading and sorting all of the RSS (really simple syndication) feeds that allow you to keep up with blogs and news websites without necessarily having to visit the site.

There are many flavors of RSS readers but what's nice about Pluck is that it combines it with a bookmarking service as well as a way to keep up-to-date with persistent searches that are updated as new information - such as news or auction items on eBay - become available. Because Pluck works from within your browser, it's able to consolidate all your information into a single interface.

Onfolio is another product that helps users find and organize news, blogs and other web-based information. This Windows program, that works with both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers, allows you to collect and organize blogs, news sites or any other web information into folders that appear to the left of your browser window.

You can create dynamic folders that can be updated automatically or manually and you can then publish those folders to a web site or your own blog to share them with others. It's designed for researchers and others who need to make sense of a great deal of web-based information. You can also use Onfolio to capture pages or entire websites to your hard drive for off-line reading and, if you have your own blog, you can upload links to these pages to share with others.

While I didn't attend the RSA conference in San Francisco, I did follow news from the show, most notably Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' speech in which he announced that the company will give away free anti-spyware software and will offer a new version of Internet Explorer (probably this summer) with better security.

It's hard to get excited about security products but they are becoming increasingly necessary, especially for Windows users who are plagued with all sorts of problems including spyware programs that not only rob their privacy but slow down their computers. This is on top of an increasing number of viruses and other attacks.

Microsoft's decision to give away anti-spyware software is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it's great that the company is finally addressing this important problem but I worry that the free product could have a negative effect on other companies that are developing what are likely to be far more robust anti-spyware programs.

The worst situation would be for Microsoft to be one of the only anti-spyware vendors around. That would not only hurt competitors but offer fewer choices to consumers and, worse, create a single target for hackers to attack. Users are better off being able to choose from several excellent security programs - even if they have to pay for them - than being stuck with a single program from Microsoft.

Based on published interviews, executives from security companies seem pretty certain that Microsoft won't destroy their market due to their perceived superiority of their products. Indeed, there are a number of excellent anti-spyware programs already available so, once again, Microsoft will have to play catch up.

My favorite anti-spyware program is Spy Sweeper from Webroot Software. The program, which costs $29.95 to use, not only roots out existing spyware but prevents new spyware programs from invading your PC. The free Spybot Search and Destroy program and the free version of Adaware from Lavasoft are also very good.

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A syndicated technology columnist for nearly two decades, Larry Magid serves as on air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."

By Larry Magid
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