16 Feb Entrepreneurs Preview Liberating Technologies
Scottsdale, Ariz. — The DEMO 2004 Conference kicked off today with a high level of energy and enthusiasm among the 600 attendees who traveled to Scottsdale for this event which is serving as a launching pad for 67 of today’s best new consumer and enterprise technology products.
The conference, now in its 14th year, attracts international media, venture capitalists, and veteran technologists who come to see spirited entrepreneurs introduce new products, and technologies in fast paced demonstration sessions that last 60 seconds to six-minutes in length.
This years conference features products that liberate users from the desktop computing environment and allow bloggers to post instantly to the Web using cell phones and other mobile devices. In addition, new communications, collaboration and security offerings as well as a glimpses into Internet TV and new digital photo services, were demonstrated.
Reknown technology journalist and DEMO 2004 Conference Producer Chris Shipley commented on the current state of the technology market. “I have a strong sense that after a long economic winter that we are coming out again,” she said.
The liberated user
“We are on the brink of something new and fresh … there are signs of rational momentum,” Shipley added. “Money is going into smart new ventures. We are back to business and where we should be.”
Today’s morning sessions featured new solutions that allow computer users to gain increased mobility and portability in secure environments. KeyComputing introduced, XKey, a USB-enabled device that turns any PC in a private workstation, complete with personal settings, data and applications. The product, featuring up to one gigabyte of storage in a very small form factor, contains a full suite of software including a database and application server as well as Microsoft Exchange client. Users simply plug in the device and launch their personal desktop on any PC running either Windows 2000 or XP operating systems. After the user removes the device, the PC is restored without a trace that XKey was installed.
Vulcan, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen premiered a new mobile device called FlipStart. This mini-PC combines the computing power of notebook computers with the functionality and portability of cell phone and PDAs. FlipStart runs Microsoft XP Professional, has 30 gigabyte of storage, contains integrated wireless connectivity, high-quality HDTV-like screen resolution and weighs less than one pound, FlipStart is now the smallest, most portable and powerful mobile computing device.
Power to the people
The rapid proliferation of Web blogs has created a new class of tools that allows users to instantly post photos, audio and text to blogs from cell phones, PDAs or any browser without requiring users to understand HTML or Web design. Six Apart introduced TypePad, an automated personal publishing system that allows users to post to the Web from any mobile device. In addition, WaveMarket introduced WaveBlog, a location-based blogging tool that allows clients to quickly post blog updates from a photo-enabled cell phone. Users can instantly post the location of the latest party, speed trap or traffic congestion with images and text, all viewable on a map displayed on a cell phone or Web-enabled PC.
Challenging Microsoft
For those who want to be liberated from the world of Microsoft applications, several companies introduced products that offer an alternative. Evermore Software, an upstart software company from China, introduced a fully integrated software suite as an alternative to Microsoft Office. In addition Stata Laboratories debuted Bloomba 2.0, an e-mail program created for those wanting to move beyond Outlook. Bloomba provides group calendaring capabilities, support for the Palm operating system, integrated anti-spam filtering, rapid mail search and allows users to import their Outlook data.
DEMO Links
DEMO 2004 Photo Site
DEMO 2004 Blog