25 awesome tech products at DEMO

More than 60 start-ups will unveil hot new products at DEMO Spring 2010 in Palm Desert, Calif. Web TV, smartphone apps, cloud computing and security will feature heavily within a mix of consumer and enterprise technologies. Here's a look at 25 of the coolest companies at DEMO.

View slideshow of this story featuring product screenshots 

View slideshow

Company: VenueGen
Product: VenueGen
A browser-based three-dimensional virtual meeting platform, VenueGen lets business colleagues meet in a variety of virtual settings, from a board room to a yacht to the Roman Colosseum. A user's avatar can display a variety of hand gestures and facial expressions, and the platform allows sharing of media such as streaming video.

Company: GlideTV
Product: GlideTV Navigator
GlideTV is debuting a new software application for its handheld device, which lets you watch video from the Internet on your high-definition television. Navigator has a new interface that makes it easier to locate content with a "TV friendly gallery of cover art that lets users instantly see what movies and videos are available across multiple sites in a single glance," the company says.

Company: Fliptop
Product: Fliptop for Publishers, Fliptop Browser Button
Fliptop is debuting two products at DEMO. Fliptop for Publishers lets Web sites and blogs create multiple subscription options, including e-mail, RSS, Twitter, Facebook and text messaging all tied to a single subscribe button. The Fliptop Browser Button lets consumers create real-time, filtered alerts for any site they visit, with notifications based on keywords they are interested in.

Company: Cloudscale
Product: Cloudcel
This cloud-based service lets anyone familiar with Microsoft Excel build data-intensive applications. "Users can build their own 'big data' applications in minutes, and instantly run them in the cloud, entirely from within Excel," according to DEMO. "With Cloudcel, anyone can now develop data-intensive applications, with no need for additional hardware, software, IT staff or teams of programmers."

Company: Gwabbit
Product: Gwab-o-sphere
Gwabbit unveiled an e-mail contact management add-on for Microsoft Outlook at DEMO last year, and is making a second appearance at DEMO with a cloud service that "automatically monitors contacts for changes, maintaining the most current and accurate source of contacts available," and syncs with key contact repositories such as Salesforce.com.

Company: InfoDome
Product: InfoDome
InfoDome is an online database that "runs in a browser, but feels like a software application," according to DEMO. "Spreadsheet users and database authors can import their data, visually design forms and relational reports with drag-and-drop ease, share these selectively or embed them in a Web site with a few clicks, and drill into data for business intelligence. Developers can automate importing and reporting."

Company: Genieo Innovation
Product: Genieo
Genieo gives users a personalized Internet experience with a newspaper-like homepage, with news, blogs and social networks tailored to the user's interests. Genieo automatically adapts to a user's changing interests by studying browsing activity and forming connections with sources of information from across the Web. Genieo's personal home pages are accessible on the iPhone and Android mobile devices.

Company: Hillcrest Labs
Product: Kylo Browser For TV
Kylo, a Web browser for your television, is "simple yet spectacular, bringing the Internet conveniently to your living room," according to DEMO. Kylo comes with a handheld pointer and is designed to let users visit any Web site from an interface that is optimized for TV and meant to be viewed at a distance. "The Kylo browser … has an onscreen keyboard, large buttons, screen zooming, and quick links to popular Web sites."

Company: Democrasoft
Product: Collaborize
"Collaborize is an affordable online community creation and hosting service that lets large and small groups organize conversations, capture and sort ideas, collect votes, streamline decision-making and get real-time feedback on any topic," according to DEMO. "It helps business, nonprofit, government and education decision-makers take action based on the wisdom of customers and constituents."

Company: ABJK NewCo
Product: Zosh
You won't want to miss the Zosh presentation at DEMO: The product creators plan to destroy a fax machine, Office Space style, right on stage. That's because Zosh will render the process of signing and faxing documents obsolete with a system that lets workers sign documents with their fingers on a touch screen. "Zosh is a mobile document execution platform that lets mobile workers complete, sign and return forms from their mobile phones," DEMO organizers say. In other words: No more printing out and faxing every time you need to sign a document.

Company: Rebtel
Product: Rebtel Android app
This new VoIP application optimized for the Google Nexus One device "is the first app of its kind for the Android platform," according to DEMO. Rebtel offers free international calling with great voice quality, without need for a Wi-Fi connection. The service works in 51 countries free of charge.

Company: MEDL Technology
Product: The Panel
This multipurpose 13.3-inch LCD screen designed by a Hong Kong start-up is a portable monitor designed for both consumer and business users. Weighing 2.2 pounds, it's designed for people on the go. "Students, road warriors, and telecommuters alike can add more screen real estate to their computer's desktop, travel without bulky peripherals and enhance productivity at home with the slim design and high-definition performance that's perfect for desks, conference rooms or to slip into a laptop bag," according to DEMO.

Company: Phone Halo
Product: Phone Halo
Admit it: You're terrified of losing your iPhone. That's why Phone Halo has developed an alarm system that notifies you any time you leave home without it. Phone Halo, which also works with BlackBerry and Android devices, consists of a Bluetooth sensor that can be attached to your wallet or keys, and an app downloaded to your phone. When the sensor and phone are separated, you receive an alert. And rush around like a madman trying to find your iPhone.

View slideshow

Company: Pi Mobility
Product: PiMoto
PiMoto is likely the best electric motorcycle you will see presented at an IT conference this whole year. A special design reduces the battery weight of this vehicle, while a patent-pending propulsion system makes it efficient. "PiMoto is a two-wheel drive light electric motorcycle with a 30-mph speed and 100-mile range," according to DEMO. "PiMoto's unique patented arched 'backbone' design delivers superior performance, durability and cost."

Company: ViaCLIX
Product: ViaCLIX
Another option for bringing Internet content to your television set, ViaCLIX lets you watch YouTube, Hulu and NetFlix movies on your TV, as well as e-mail, chat, join a videoconference, and play games. "ViaCLIX's patented technologies provide a revolutionary model for combining traditional BroadcastTV with InternetTV in a simple and easy-to-use channel based navigation system that the mass market comprehends," according to DEMO. ViaCLIX leverages content from the Web, allowing it to "offer the widest choice of content limited only by what is available on the Open Internet."

Company: Visiarc
Product: Mobile Documents
Visiarc's goal is to bring the desktop experience to mobile phones. Its latest creation lets mobile device users read and interact with mail attachments without downloading them. "Today mailboxes have become document repositories too, but downloading attachments is an awkward option on the mobile," according to DEMO. Conference organizers say Visiarc will unveil an "unconventional use of streaming technologies" that provide a must-see experience.

Company: MightyMeeting
Product: MightyMeeting
MightyMeeting is a mobile collaboration platform that lets users do conference calls while sharing rich media presentations using mobile devices such as the iPhone, Android phones and the iPad. At DEMO, MightyMeeting creators will demonstrate the application running on an iPad using Apple's SDK simulator.

Company: Value-Centered Solutions
Product: InOutMoney
Most people wish they were better at managing finances, but it's so boring, isn't it? That's why InOutMoney was created to make personal financial management an easier process. The online service gives users a secure place to view all their financial accounts and create budgets and set goals. "InOutMoney.com is designed to deliver a convenient platform for real-time views of all financial accounts in one location, financial health score assessments to rate users' progress against their financial goals, and a video coaching and point system to help users reach their ideal financial health," the company says.

Company: NetToons
Product: Tooncast reactor
This cloud-based animation platform lets users create and share branded animations, which NetToons calls "Tooncasts." The service will help media companies and other brands reach their fans with professional-quality animations viewable on smartphones, Web browsers and television.

Company: ThickButtons
Product: ThickButtons
Typing on an iPhone isn't always easy, but ThickButtons says it has a way to make using a touch-screen keyboard a whole lot easier. "As you type a word, ThickButtons enlarges useful buttons by shrinking useless ones," according to DEMO. "The beauty of this idea is that it's much easier to predict which letters are unlikely to be used than to guess the full word, as other predictive typing technologies do."

Company: Network Hippo
Product: Network Hippo
Network Hippo is a new way to manage your social and business networks. The subscription-based service aggregates and organizes contact information from e-mail and social networking sites and helps users build a larger, more useful network. "We help professionals and small businesses build their network, identify their most valuable contacts, remind them when somebody needs a call, and track deals for their business," the company says.

Company: Voxofon
Product: Voxofon Ambit
Voxofon Ambit was made because kids and teenagers are using smartphones more often, often to the chagrin of their parents. "Ambit is essentially an ecosystem planted on the phone, allowing parents to personalize and monitor the contacts and services that their kids can access," according to DEMO. For example, the service lets parents limit access to apps and features, monitor the time and place in which the phone is used, protect kids from inappropriate contacts, know where their kids are at all times and even have remote control over the child's phone. Children may not want parents to limit their use of phones, but hey, that's life. Now go to your room, you ungrateful rugrat!

Company: Flinc
Product: Flinc
This dynamic ride sharing service lets Internet users find rides, from their laptops or mobile phones. "Flinc utilizes mobile phones' location based capabilities and navigational software to connect between passengers and drivers, offering a customer to customer (C2C) interaction, used both for ride coordination and the financial interaction taking place," according to Flinc. "The system analyzes real-time traffic movements and brings riders and drivers together to those routes, eliminating the need for cumbersome coordination methods, such as telephone calls, e-mails, or text messaging."

Company: Invested.in
Product: Invested.in
This Web-based service manages the process of raising money for various types of grassroots projects, taking advantage of existing social media networks. "Anyone, in any country, can raise money for anything by promoting their projects to friends, family, and social connections worldwide," according to DEMO. "Invested.in facilitates the promotion of the project via social media, the collection and disbursement of funds, and finally, the goods or services (not cash) that are returned to each investor."

Company: R3 d.o.o.
Product: Mmatcher
Mmatcher is a "hyperlocal" classifieds listings for your mobile phone. No matter where you are, Mmatcher will help you sell a car, find a tennis partner, or even a date. "If two nearby users express the same interests ('A: want to play tennis', 'B: looking for tennis partner') or maybe more commercial ('A: selling a red bike', 'B: buying a bike') we will match them in real time. Mmatcher works through various mobile platforms – text/MMS, mobile apps and social networks."