Seventy-two new digital technology products from 11 countries will be introduced at DEMOfall 08 in San Diego starting Monday. A "record crowd of more than 800 people have registered as of today," said Mike Garity, DEMO's vice president of marketing and business development.
"Every DEMO we strive to identify the companies that will defy all the odds and have significant impact in the
technology markets," said Chris Shipley, product analyst and executive producer of the DEMO conferences. "Ours is a year-long process that culminates in 72 hours of products that are more than disruptive; they change the rules of the game as we know it. They are innovative, they are important, they are fun, and they represent the future products and solutions we all will be using soon.”
Some of the products launching at DEMOfall 08 are:
- products that help you manage, deliver, and socialize your mobile phone, and content;
- tools that enable you to personalize, navigate, and deliver rich-media presentations and television programs over the Web;
- an RFID solution for consumers;
- an application for keeping spam out of email inboxes for good;
- a tool that takes the mystery out of eating healthy wherever you are;
- services that take personal finance management to a new level;
- a solution that lets anyone develop games;
- tools for selling and sharing professional and amateur photos; and
- products focused on reducing people's impact on the planet from energy consumption to traffic congestion.
Some innovations are products built on earlier concepts that have been re-invented with new technology to create an entirely new experience, Shipley said. These include:
- Adapx, Inc.; Seattle, WA
- Alerts.com, Inc.; Bellvue, WA
- Fusion-io; Salt Lake City, UT
- Plastic Logic, Ltd.; Mountain View, CA
- tikitag, an Alcatel-Lucent Venture; Antwerp, Belgium
- Telnic, Ltd.; London, England
As the line between on-demand Internet video and high-definition television blur, viewers are expecting more and six companies represent innovations to improve the watching experience, Shipley said. They are:
- Awind Inc.; Junghe, Taiwan
- beeTV; Milano, Italy
- ffwd.com, Inc.; San Francisco, CA
- Invision TV, LLC; Bethesda, MD
- RealNetworks, Inc.; Seattle, WA
- RemoTV, Inc.; New Haven, CT
Other companies will launch products that make creating and sharing digital content easier and more enjoyable, Shipley said. The companies are:
- Blue Lava Technologies, Inc.; Honolulu, HI
- Kadoo Inc.; Washington, DC
- MeDeploy; Hamden, CT
- MixMatchMusic, Ltd.; Burlingame, CA
- Photrade, LLC; Cincinnati, OH
- The Echo Nest Corp.; Somerville, MA
- Trinity Convergence, Inc.; Durham, NC
- UGA Digital, Inc.; Taipei, Taiwan
The conference also will have a focus on technologies that enable individuals and enterprises to better protect and manage digital assets. Companies launching next-generation security products are:
- CoreTrace Corp.; Austin, TX
- Enterprise Informatics, Inc.; San Diego, CA
- Fortressware, Inc.; Mountain View, CA
- Paragent, LLC; Muncie, IN
- UbiEst S.p.A.; Treviso, Italy
- Unity Solutions, LLC; Clearwater, FL
- Usable Security Systems, Inc.; San Francisco, CA
While some social network Web sites are becoming destinations, the next wave will thread social networking into a wide variety of applications, Shipley said. Introducing new ways to integrate social networking will be:
- Accordia Group, LLC; New Rochelle, NY
- Arsenal Interactive, Inc.; Mountain View, CA
- Best Buy; Minneapolis, MN
- Familybuilder; New York, NY
- Koollage, Inc.; San Jose, CA
- Paidinterviews, LLC; McLean, VA
- TravelMuse, Inc.; Los Altos, CA
- TurnTo Networks, Inc.; New York, NY
Shipley said that while some products "wash themselves in green paint, hoping to capitalize on the eco-IT movement" products from Mapflow, Ltd. of Cork, Ireland and Microstaq, Inc. of Austin, TX "really do stand to make an impact."
Social activism will be addressed by Zazengo, Inc. of Santa Cruz, CA.
Two companies launching "fresh thinking" to financial management beyond checkbook balancing, Shipley said, will be Green Sherpa of Santa Barbara, CA and Rudder, Inc. of Houston, TX.
Business applications from social applications to software-as-a-service are being influenced by "Web 2.0" functionality. Companies launching innovations for enterprises will be:
- BizEquity Corp.; Spring House, PA
- Momindum; Paris, France
- PlanDone, Inc.; Petaluma, CA
- Qtask, Inc.; Burbank, CA
- Quantivo Corp.; San Mateo, CA
Shipley believes the next generation of Web innovation will focus on "transparency, distribution, and pro-active smarts" that are focused not so much on audience aggregation as distributing data and applications as widely as possible to other Web sites and other outlets. Companies launching "next Web" products are:
- Cerego; Tokyo, Japan
- Infovell, Inc.; Menlo Park, CA
- Intelius, Inc.; Bellevue, WA
- iWidgets, Inc.; San Francisco, CA
- SitScape, Inc.; Vienna, VA
- SpinSpotter; Seattle, WA
- Radiant Logic, Inc.; Novato, CA
- Rebus Technology, Inc.; Cupertino, CA
- Semanti Corp.; Alberta, Canada
- TetraBase, LLC; Boothwyn, PA
With the mobile telephone becoming how people access the Internet, high-value applications that made juggling life's tasks and having fun will be coming to market, Shipley said. Companies launching new products for mobile phones are:
- Asyncast Corp; Campbell, CA
- Clintworld; Boenningstedt, Germany
- Dial Directions, Inc.; Alameda, CA
- G.ho.st; Ramallah and Modin, Palestine and Israel
- Maverick Mobile Solutions, Pvt. Ltd.; Maharashtra, India
- Message Sling; Worcester, MA
- SkyData Systems, Inc.; San Mateo, CA
- WebDiet,Inc. of Henderson, NV
- Xumii, Inc.; San Mateo, CA
Collaboration - whether for building a game or building a business - is a common thread in products that will be introduced by:
- Cinergix, Pty Ltd.; Melbourne, Australia
- crowdSPRING, LLC; Chicago, IL
- DesignIn, Inc.; Marblehead, MA
- DOCCENTER; Omaha, NE
- MeWorks, Inc.; Taipei, Taiwan
- OpenACircle.com; Dallas, TX
- Sim Ops Studios, Inc.; San Francisco, CA
- Toolgether; San Mateo, CA
Also technology companies from Taiwan and Israel will be demonstrating their products in the conference's pavilion.
The 19-year-old conference is drawing "the largest group of technology press since the pre-bubble glory days of the late '90s with nearly 100 registered," Garity said.
Sponsors and partners of DEMOfall 08 are Angelsoft, LLC, Arx, Atlanta Venture Forum, Band of Angels, BoogarLists, Comerica Bank, Conference Guru, Connect Public Relations, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, Cornerstone Angels, Data Essence, Digsu.com, Ethos Networks Ltd., Eye-to-Eye Communications, Financing Partners, Funding Universe, funP, GigaOm, Golden Capital, GoldMail, Granite Financial Group, LLC, Guidewire Group, HomeIt.com, IDC Israel, IDC, IDG Ventures SF, Institute for Information Industry, Institute for Information Industry, Israel Venture Association, jMap, Keiretsu Forum, Mashable, memode, Merrill Corporation, MicroArts, Microsoft Corporation, Missouri Venture, mPortico, Ltd., myownrealestate.com, National Science Foundation, NEC Corporation of America, Nokia, Inc., NVCA, OCVG, OpSource, Plug and Play Tech Center, Inc., Porter Novelli, ppolis, PR Newswire, QUALCOMM, Inc., ReadWriteWeb, Rocky Mountain Venture Capital, Sentrigo, Inc., SFNewTech, Silicon Valley Bank, Start, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Tech Confidential, The Deal, Tufin Technologies, Ubergizmo, UBS, VCNetwork, Venture Capital Journal, VentureBeat, VentureDeal, Wacanai.com, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
