In rapid-fire Demo-style, sixty-seven tech companies, over two-days, used their rigidly-enforced six minutes and pitched their company, product or service in front of a full ballroom of their peers, press and potential investors. Overall, I thought it was another successful Demo conference, with just the right mix of innovation, entertainment and networking that makes these trips worthwhile. Although I couldn've done without the bout of flu that kicked my butt after day one and put me out of commission until late yesterday, but that's just whining.
With so many driven entrepreneurs doing their best to make a lasting impression, it's a challenge to rise above the noise. And after a few presentations, the rhythm of "ajax-this" and "mobile revolution-that" can blend together and sound pretty much the same. That being said, I had some favorites that were memorable for me (although memorable doesn't necessarily equal quality):
Dash Navigation. Given that my favorite gadget of 2005 was my Garmin Forerunner 301, it was natural that I would like a similarly cool GPS device and service. The Dash device is a smarter, more internet connected auto navigation system that promises to reduce the amount of time you spend stuck in traffic, and completely eliminate the problem of getting lost in your car. Dash competes with Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. The product provides real-time alternate routes due to traffic congestion or can guide you to the nearest Peet's coffee. This was the first demo of the conference, and it was a solid choice to lead off the program. I have no idea if this is a good VC investment (hardware supply chain issues, pricing and big competitors have been the downfall of lots of great consumer product start-ups), but I want one.
Pluggd. I'm not a big podcaster. I listen occasionally, but I mostly prefer text-based information because finding what I want is much easier using Google. Pluggd is promising to make searching audio and video as easy as a google text-based search. They use a "heat-map" UI to show exactly where in a podcast a specific keyword, or related content, occurs within the audio file. So no more listening to a twenty minute podcast for the three minutes you really want to hear. Now whether or not the podcasting market is big enough to matter is a central question, but perhaps better search technology will be the catalyst to boost this heavily hyped, but under-performing segment. Plus, they are a Seattle-company and I'm now a biased north-westerner.
System One. This company from Austria showed a slick enterprise collaboration service. It reminds me a lot of what Trimergent pitched last year at DEMO, but with a more intuitive UI. But I mostly remembered the CEO dropping a well-placed jab at Senator Stevens for his "Internet is a series of tubes" remark that was lampooned by Jon Stewart and elsewhere. Great to see that Austrian humor is inspired by the American political process.
Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm CEO, gave a keynote on the first day. He did a fine job, but it was hard not to be distracted by the pigeon that had flown into the ballroom and perched directly above his head in the light scaffolding. It was an accident waiting to happen, that fortunately, never did.
USBCell. I like gadgets. I hate the tangle of electrical cords that nest inside my computer bag. Batteries have too short of shelf-life. And rechargeable batteries necessitate bringing a recharger unit with you wherever you go. So some clever engineers invented batteries that are recharged using a gadget everyone travels with: your PC. Just recharge by popping off the top and plugging the battery into the USB connector. Simple. Clever. I hope it works.
Mvox Technologies. Wins points simply for dressing up like characters from Star Trek, and actually pulling it off. I can't believe Ms. Li never broke character.
Violet. Certainly the most memorable demo of the show for me. Who doesn't love two comedic geeky Frenchmen playing with colorful ambient robot bunnies. Video here.
Zing. It's a portable Sirius Radio / wi-fi music player. I want one.
Retrevo. The CEO boldly promised to buy everyone in the audience a new blackberry Pearl if they could find better consumer electronic product information using Google vs. Retrevo. I like free stuff, but I think his service actually backs it up. Retrevo indexes deep web info inside manuals, reviews, etc. Now when my slingbox craps out during a big EPL game, I'll go to Retrevo to figure out how to fix it. This is useful, the highest compliment I can give to a product or service.
Grandcentral. Unified messaging has been an ongoing theme for years. So why do I still have a home phone, work phone, mobile phone (work & personal) as well as fax, etc. And separate voice mail systems for each? Several email addresses, IM usernames, etc. Grandcentral seems like a simple solution, with one central phone number and totally web controlled.
i-lighter. huh? come on. really? isn't this a browser feature? yikes.
To all the "group SMS" companies that were at demo. TechCrunch sums it up better than I can. Not all of the companies on the Techcrunch list were in San Diego for the conference, but it felt that way.
from the course, but to my pleasant surprise I found one of the best live race-day applications I've seen since the old Quokka-days of the late 90's (certainly much better than the disappointing Tour de France site). The Tour Tracker app integrates flickr feeds, real-time GPS tracking of specific riders plotted on a scalable satellite map, the current MPH for the peloton, time gaps, and best of all, live streaming video from the course with commentary. This is a great example of live IPTV. Check it out if you like cycling or just like cool sports-related web apps.
