DEMO

Day 1 DEMOfall thoughts

Keith Shaw — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:16:30 -0400

In this world of six-minute product pitches, it seems only natural that most of the real-time analysis of those pitches are done in 140-character squirts on Twitter. The DEMO trade conference has become the equivalent of the Hollywood pitch meeting, where new concepts and ideas are squeezed into short, pithy and hopefully easily understandable sentences. So in the tradition of "It's like 'Welcome Back, Kotter' meets 'Scooby Doo'", I'll try to present my Hollywood pitch-like analysis of some of the companies from Day 1 at DEMOfall 08. PlasticLogic: The Amazon Kindle e-book reader meets business documents. Clearly the hardware hit of the show so far, this prototype shows off that "e-paper" can be aimed at a horizontal business market. I can't wait to see where this product goes in the market.

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DEMOfall: Lots, lots, lots of companies

Keith Shaw — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:31:16 -0400

We are coming to you live from San Diego as the DEMOfall08 conference kicks off with 72 companies bringing brand-new products to the world at large. Watch this space as well as missives from Jason Meserve and Paul McNamara to see our thoughts and perspectives from the show. Jason and I will also be Twittering (tweeting) from the show, so if you have Twitter be sure to follow @jmeserve, @shawkeith or @demofall08 (the aggregate feed for people attending the show. The action begins in about 30 minutes or so, but if you want an audio preview, check out our audio podcast interview with Chris Shipley, executive producer of the show.

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Study: Chinese are getting taller

Keith Shaw — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:41:12 -0400

If you've been watching the Olympics, you've probably noticed that the Chinese have been doing really well in several events (diving, gymnastics, etc.); now comes news that Chinese people are getting taller, too. Alvanon, which studies global size and fitting for the fashion industry, yesterday released results of an extensive body scan study done in China. More than 28,000 people were scanned in four key regions of the country at urban retail shopping centers, using scanners from Intellifit (which appeared at DEMO a few years ago). Through these results and other size studies, Alvanon says that over the past 10 years, the average height of Chinese children (age 2-18) has increased by almost 1.5-inches, nearly twice as high as the increase among U.S. children. The average Chinese female is now 5-foot, 4-inches tall and weighs 125 pounds; the average Chinese male is 5-foot, 8-inches and weighs 145 pounds (left image). To contrast, the average American female is 5-foot, 4-inches tall and 155 pounds; the average American male is 5-foot, 9-inches tall and 191 pounds (right image).

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See all the DEMO 2008 demonstrators

videonet — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:08:26 -0500

Couldn't make it to Palm Desert, Calif. for DEMO 2008? Check out all the stage presentations from the show:

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Live from DEMO 2008

videonet — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:45:37 -0500

Keith Shaw and Jason Meserve are busy capturing all the cool new technologies being unveiled at DEMO 2008 in Palm Desert, Calif:

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DEMO 08: John Oates, the singer, the teacher … the mustache with superpowers?

Paul McNamara — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:07:34 -0500

I'm sitting here at DEMO 2008, a hardcore technology conference, listening to a nostalgic on-stage performance by John Oates, he of Hall & Oates fame, who's here pitching for a new learn-to-play-from-the-pros service called iVideosongs. (Oates beats last year's awkward celebrity cameo by Barry Bonds.)

IVideosongs seems like a fun learning tool for those of you who have musical abilities.

And you remember which one is Oates, right? The shorter fellow with the mustache.

Well, I've got shocking news about that mustache - perhaps one of the most famous celebrity mustaches of 1970s-80s popular culture: She's gone ... gone, I tell you ... and fans of the singer - and the stache - had better learn how to face it.

That's not the shocking part.

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Flash apps without the messy programming

Keith Shaw — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:05:25 -0500

Three companies that stood out during the afternoon session will allow regular people (you know, the ones who aren't in the IT department) to create rich media and visually interesting messages. These tools will help bring Flash-like animation and rich media environments beyond the programming arena. The good news: this opens up rich media to new applications and messages. The bad news: like the early days of bad PowerPoint presentations, this could also mean a lot of bad animations in the years to come. Focusing on the good, however, were three companies that I want to learn more about: Flypaper, which admits that it "bridges the gap between PowerPoint and Flash." Its application lets "everyday business professionals" to develop multimedia content, including Web presentations, e-learning courses and other messages. The drag-and-drop interface looked amazing, and easy to learn. Once you've created your message, it's easy to modify, share or send over the Web. GoldMail, which launched its Business Mail offering, allows marketing departments and salespeople to add multimedia (photos, videos, audio) to the typical e-mail message. The system uses voice narratives over a slideshow of images to create a new message, which can be branded and customize for each business. Tracking, direct-response features and reporting add to the benefits of the platform. I'm a little bit concerned about getting rich media spam messages (I'd hate to receive one of these for Viagra or other such offers), but hopefully this will only be used for good purposes, not evil. Likewise, I'm a little afraid of some PR colleagues getting a hold of this for some of their product pitches. Sprout launched a widget building application, which allows regular users to create Web-based widgets and gadgets in a very cool drag-and-drop interface. Content creators who are struggling with ways to distribute their widgets to many different sites and locations should be very pleased with Sprout, as it looks like a "build once, distribute anywhere" type of app. In addition, there are templates for novices (like me), and more advanced features to the more professional types (artists, Flash programmers). With all of these apps, I'm not suggesting that normal people completely get rid of their artists and Flash programmers, but the average person can use these tools to create their vision of the message that they want to create, and then toss it over to the programmer or artist for tweaking and advanced work, as opposed to asking them to create something from scratch.

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DEMO 08: Blist brings databases to the masses

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:59:51 -0500

If you need to throw together a database but don't have time to learn SQL or even Microsoft Access (does anyone still use Access?), Blist is the application for you. It's got a nice drag and drop interface for creating data tables and queries. Plus there's a lot of easy layouts for displaying data. Questions I have for them after seeing the Demo: 1. Is it completely hosted? Or can the data be stored on a local server? 2. Cost? 3. Storage limits? 4. Sharing and access? Are there roles and permissions for sharing limited data sets?

DEMO 08: Ewww moment of the show

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:49:07 -0500

Acesis is showing off its Point-of-Care healthcare application which has a drill down of symptoms. One symptom in the demo had to do with what one might be coughing up during a bout of bronchitis: Yellow-green thick (purulent). Thankfully, we already had lunch.

DEMO 08: Three questions for Vidyo

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:02:12 -0500

Vidyo looks pretty cool. It's a Web-based video system that can mix HD room systems with VGA web cams in a single call. And their using a subscription model to lower the capital costs. Questions for them after seeing the Demo: 1. How much? A: There's a wide range of pricing depedning on the number of end users being service. But the company says enterprise customers can expect to pay about $100 per user per year in a hosted model. 2. What's the multi-point control (MCU) system? Is it hardware, software and do you need to host it locally?

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DEMO 08: Avistar's C3

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:28:19 -0500

Avistar is on the stage now, demonstrating their new C3 software-based desktop video conferencing app. They've got a pretty cool system for managing data on the network, which makes for a better videoconferencing experience. Here's a podcast I did with them that explains the tech:

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DEMO 08: Four questions for SpeakLike

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:52:59 -0500

Wow, guess I didn't need to take Spanish in college. SpeakLike is an IM client that does on-the fly translation between multiple languages. The company demoed an IM conversation between an English and Spanish speakers and English and Chinese. SpeakLike uses an automated translator for most conversation that automatically passes through the translation when it has a good confidence rating or sends it to a human translator if confidence on the translation is low. Obviously, when the human translation is required, things aren't instantaneous. SpeakLike claims to work with slang, idioms and even IM shorthand. Four questions for them after seeing the Demo: 1. How big is the translation staff and is it 24x7?

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DEMO 08: Who had 9 companies in the pool?

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:51:47 -0500

Took only 9 demonstrators today to get host Chris Shipley in a demonstration. Same for the first mention of winning a DEMOGod award.

DEMO 08: Get paid $500 for your next job interview. Honestly.

Paul McNamara — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:39:39 -0500

You say you wouldn't interview with Company X if they paid you?

A startup called NotchUp is betting that's a bluff.

Debuting this morning at Network World's DEMO 08 in Palm Desert, Calif., NotchUp founders Jim Ambras and Rob Ellis tell me that 15,000 people a day are signing up for their new eBay-like employment service - based solely on word of mouth. The founders are convinced employers will pay hundreds of dollars directly to people they would like to interview -- especially those not actively in the job market -- because it will bring them better candidates faster.

They're also convinced that once job seekers start getting paid for interviewing that they'll never go back to giving their time away for free. Almost 100,000 have already signed up, says Ellis, including "10,000 or so software engineers working mostly for top companies." Almost 1,000 companies have registered to participate in the NotchUp pilot, they say.

The viral deluge literally overwhelmed the Notchup site.

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Skyfire leaps forward with mobile Web browser

Keith Shaw — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:36:47 -0500

If you're fed up with crappy Web browsing on your mobile device (including Mobile IE, Opera Mini or other such mobile browsers), you'll definitely want to check out Skyfire, which demonstrated its mobile browser, which gets you much, much closer to PC Web browsing than ever before. The browser looks a lot like the iPhone browser, in that you can scroll around the page, click links easy, etc., but it goes a step further than the iPhone browser by supporting video and slide show content, as well as Facebook integration. I can't wait to try this at the demonstrator pavilion.

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DEMO 08: Two questions for Iterasi

Jason Meserve — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:28:50 -0500

With many Web 2.0 applications, saving a search result say from a Google Maps mashup application can be a challenge. Bookmark the URL and you usually end up back at the beginning of the search query, not the intended result. Iterasi is hoping to change that with its browser plug-in for Firefox and IE that lets you capture the dynamically-generated search result as you see it. Two questions I have for Iterasi after seeing the Demo: 1. Results locally captured or hosted somewhere (ie. like del.icio.us)? A: Results are stored at a central location. Right now, the service is free but at some point the company will limit the amount of free storage and begin charging for more storage and features.

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Place your bets on DEMO demonstration themes

Keith Shaw — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:58:34 -0500

The first demonstrator is on the way here in Palm Desert, and it has me thinking about what overall themes we'll see at the show. Having not seen any of the demonstrations yet, I'm still pretty confident that at least one of the demonstrators will use one of the following themes: 1) Reference the upcoming Super Bowl, or either of the teams playing (Patriots or Giants) 2) Will show a Facebook page -- Facebook integration will be the biggest social network app used. 3) Reference the presidential elections in some way, and Democratic candidates will dominate the demos more than the Republicans. We'll keep score to see which theme wins. Any other themes you think will be out there? Morning update: Iterasi had a candidates reference, when the speaker mentioned she wanted to use the bookmarking service to keep track of all the candidates' Facebook pages (2 points). Skyfire mentioned all three themes, with a Super Bowl reference, New York Giants video, candidates reference and Facebook integration. And Ribbit had Facebook integration during its demo as well. I probably should add a fourth category, people who either show or reference the iPhone, which of course is always ubiquitous at a show like this.

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Get a head start on DEMO with these podcasts

Keith Shaw — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:07:04 -0500

The show doesn't officially begin until Tuesday morning at 8:30 Pacific time, but if you want to hear about some of the companies debuting at the show, head no further than clicking on some of the links below to hear some preview podcasts. Jason Meserve and I pre-recorded some interviews with four companies who will hopefully be wowing the crowds with their new services and products. Check out: Fabrik, which is launching a new service that aggregates all of your digital media files (music, videos, photos, etc.) from across different PCs into a central location, and can do this whether you're online or offline. Listen here. SceneCaster, which debuted its service at DEMOfall 2007, returns to DEMO 2008 with SceneWeaver, an additional tool for its 3D virtual room creation offering. Listen here. Toktumi, which is aiming to provide SMBs with enterprise-class VoIP service at a much more affordable cost and ease of use. Listen here. Avistar, which is providing software-only videoconferencing for Windows desktops. Listen here. With 70-plus companies at the show, be sure to stay tuned to this blog and other Network World blogs for continuing coverage, especially once the show kicks off.

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Covering DEMO 08 without underpants

Keith Shaw — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:53:59 -0500

I've arrived in Palm Springs, ready to begin my coverage of DEMO 08 over the next few days, where 70+ companies plan to debut their products upon the world. That is, if anyone can get here, and when they do, whether they have any clothes. Apparently with some of the weather affecting Southern California, Utah and other locations, several flights have been delayed, re-routed, or otherwise jumbled. On the plane arriving from Denver today, one of my colleagues spotted them taking luggage (and golf clubs) off of the plane before takeoff. Wouldn't you know it, my luggage and the luggage of my colleague, Jason Meserve, was part of the missing luggage (several other angry passengers were also in line with us). But at least we're here -- we've heard that some demonstrators are not here yet, which means they don't get practice time -- yikes! Should be a fun show moving forward. I'm off to search Palm Desert for some skivvies, pants and shirts (luckily, the hotel has a "survival bag" with things like toothpaste, mouthwash, a razor, etc.) Update: The luggage has arrived as of 8:10 p.m., of course after we went to the mall and bought some new clothes.

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A DEMOgod award is nice, but...

Jason Meserve — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:54:17 -0400

My favorite moment from this week's DEMOfall 2007 event: Patriots owner and matchmine backer Robert Kraft comparing his 2004 Super Bowl ring to a DEMOgod award:

Um, not quite! You can see the video of matchmine's technology and Kraft's comments here.