A harbinger of how U.S. consumers may access the Web for entertainment and information, Roku, Inc. of Saratoga, CA. (DEMOfall 05) today introduced the first player that streams movies from the online, subscription service Netflix to televisions using open source software. Roku's Netflix Player, about the size of a paperback book, cost $99.99 and is available immediately from its Web site.

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Business information search engine ZoomInfo of Waltham, MA (DEMO 07) has spun out its six-month-old business demographics ad targeting business as an independent company called, Bizo, Inc., which expects to introduce a business-to-business ad network for Web publishers this summer.

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Tungle, the free business-class meeting coordination services for software calendars, today releases a version for owners of BlackBerry® smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM).

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Re-invention is in Zodiac Interactive's genetic make-up. What began as Zodiac Gaming in 2002 as a division of Sky Enterprises recently spun off its mobile content search engine, Zodigo, as an independent business, and zeroed in on inventing enabling technologies for cable television operators just as new life is being breathed into the staid industry.

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New Orleans, LA. - Bucking the old practice of telephone-controlled home security systems, uControl, Inc. of Austin, TX (DEMOfall 06) today at The Cable Show introduces a seven-inch, touch screen computer-like device and monitoring software that cable television, broadband, and telephone companies can offer as a new service to their customers.

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One of the side benefits of the DEMO Road Tour has been the opportunity to reconnect with so many past demonstrators.

In Seattle, for example, I met up with Kris Kelsey, a long-time DEMO supporter who helped Earthmine launch at DEMOfall 07. The company, she says, is doing very well. They’ve just released their APIs and have hired location-based data pioneer Paul Smith as chief strategy officer.

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San Francisco, CA. - Toktumi Inc., (DEMO 08) a new  small business telephone service, today announces its first distribtuion deal with giant office supplies retailer Staples. Toktumi's computer-based service is a enterprise-grade, hosted office telephone system for small businesses that can be set up in five minutes and supports the use of any regular corded, cordless, or speaker phone via Toktumi’s Phone Adapter.

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Boston, MA. - Dimdim, (DEMOfall 07) a free open source Web-meeting company, today launches a version of its Web meeting softwre designed for the open source community called Eagle (Dimdim Open Source Community Edition 3.5) for Linux, Windows, and Macintosh operating systems.

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The quality of existing mobile games and the expense of porting high-quality games to mobile handsets have impeded the growth of mobile gaming. Vollee is taking a new approach by streaming top-tier personal computer and console games from its data center to 3G telephones, delivering an always-on experience much like mobile television.

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Boston, MA. - Aternity Inc., (DEMO 08) which gives IT management a view of employees' computers to improve service, has won three Israeli insurance company deals sealing about 70% of that market in Israel. Menora Mivtachim Group, Israel's leading pension insurnace company with about 500,000 customers, has signed a deal with Aternity.

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