Global Neighbourhoods

Addendum: eJamming

I thought we were out of here, but I missed eJamming and that would be a mistake.  This was tres cool.  A young guitarist came on the dais and collaborated musically over the Internet and produce CD quality music to share, sell or audition..  With ejamming they can collaborate with their online software from as far away as 200 miles. This is timely.  one of the hoaxes du jour was recently on YouTube where it appeared musician from all over the world assembled to back up a singer spontaeously.  It never really happened.  This was a good close out when founder Gail Kantor closed out with a Jopliesque rendition of Piece of My Heart. I like this one.

Demo in the afternoon

I liked the afternoon considerable better than the morning sessions, as did the people sitting near me. Perhaps that goes along with my personal interest in social media and end user products.  But an energy that seemed flat in the morning, was stronger in the afternoon.

Support.com's  Solutions Toolkit tunes up a PC in about five minutes over the Internet. A completely automated system.  Cleans up your desktop, optimizes the disk and lets you shut down your Windows-based computer faster than a speeding iceberg.  Provides a "non-geek" language report so you know what they actually did.  I know a couple of car mechanics that should use it as well.

Sailpoint Technologies, my favorite of the enterprise presenting companies address the $27 b spent on compliance risk management and reporting.  Product is Compliance IQ, which eliminates all the spreadsheets and database reports and produces a single screen Risk scorecard, letting the manager figure out where the greatest problems exist.  He or she can drill into the information to get more and more information as needed. Contains tons of data that can be accessed in seconds. This may be a huge solution for a major corporate headache all of whom need to manage measured risk situation.

Panjea introduced Panjea TV. It pulls clips from YouTube or Google and remixes them into a personal Panjea channel. Was the 9th presenter to say "it's really that simple," but as Dan Farber, sitting next to me said--no it's not."  This product to me seemed promising but not quite ready for prime time.  The uneven presentation was also not quite ready for dress rehearsal.

Magnify.net  of NYC, lets you keyword search for videos. Had audience shout out keywords and came up with 1000 in about ten seconds.  Went to weather video channel.  Lets you discover video all over the web and integrate it into your own site. One of the favorites among salty media folk sitting near me. This was a favorite of people I asked.

Yodio, is an online destination community for for audio and video sharing.  Demo called in an audio to the community by phone to recommend his visit to Big Sky Montana. This was a second strong demo in a row. They also can geocode all content that comes in. So somebody can call in from Paris and Yodio can sent that person geographically relevant content, almost instantly. They also said they accet Paypal tipping.  My tip: Buy low. Sell high.  These guys had good energy and just talked to the audience.  this was a personal favorite.

Live Square--Media 2.0 security companies.

Ink2 Corp.  of Emeryville is old-fashioned print shop, who I also consulted on their presentation  introduced a web-based service that produces print on demand cards, calendars and other items you select from affiliate web-based content providers. CEO Mark Rinella showed how he created a greeting card from an online vintage comic book cover.  He then entered a personal message to a friend, selected a stamp and mailed it off, all within 24 hours. It was well-received.

VuVox--let's customers pull in video, audio and photos.  Let's you choose a whole bunch of styles.  using artists around the world for special unique looks. Goes into a teen room and creates an MTV like  screen.  Did it in seconds. You can create a visual environment, then publish it on your own site or on a Vuvox channel and share it with friends on MySpace. They are a potential competitor to my client Scrapblog and their presentation was well received. Vuvox was among the day's favorites.

Splashcast--is a multimedia syndication platform that let's people creat and syndicate  and syndicate online channels of mixed media content.  Far and away one of the day's best technologies and presentations. Among Sharpcast team members is Marshall Kirkpatrick, formerly of TechCrunch.

SharedBook, Inc.  let's you collaborate online to jointly create a hardcopy book for personal publication.  Company is doing this with several API partners. Demo showed how a Soccer mom would create a team book. It can be ad supported for a business.  No bad.

OurStory--Andy Halliday, founder and a former client of mine, let's you tell the stories of family members with photos and text.  At anytime you can download it into a book.  A key feature is the timeline.  You drag and drop photos and text onto the timeline and they automatically arrange chronologically. Show photo story of family members and use as a Christmas present. Can also make video entries.

Mixpo of Seattle, whom I consulted for DEMO, can combine media onto a single card that can replace a small business website. Describing the service  for "everyday people,"  Glenn Pingul described how a destination travel agent, a designer and a restaunteer could all use the "mixcards," to create always current multimedia displays.

It's half time in DEMO land as far as the dais presentations go. The winners of the day from where I sit, were Vuvox and Magnify. The other gods selected today, will be of a lesser level or so it seems to me.

I'm now doing the other yhing people at DEMO doing lots f.  I have a series of three private meetings, before a dinner for members of the press and DEMO sponsors. I look forward to the free meal part of it.

DEMO opening presenters. Corpspeak on the dais

The session opened with a potpourri of 15 consumer, small business, enterprise, online, on-computer software and hardware, about half from large public companies.  No one hit it out of the park at least from where I sit behind home plate.

Speakers seemed to me to be generally less well-prepared than in recent demoes, some reading from Index cards.  There was also a notable incursion of the dreaded "corpspeak," using overworked cliches such as, "really it's that simple."

Still, there were several winners in my view, and many of them in tech categories where I spend little or no attention.

A few of them:

Qtech, Inc. reQall.  Notes to yourself can be stored on a phone.  Sort of letting you send voicemail to your self.  It makes a nice list that you can call in to hear.   Very simple, easy and useful product. It reminds me of something I was ... but I forget.

Eyejot of Seattle is a video messaging platform. Extremely easy to use. You can take a clip from camera photne or dig computer.  Send it off to anyone else on the eyejot network. Can watch it on your iPod via iTunes, MySpace.  Consumer apps, but is also compatible with mobile devices for the business user. Trying to combine video chat and email. 

Honeypitch of San Francisco gave a somewhat goofy presentation that shows how you can create an almost instant customized, personalized proposal for clients.

Mission Research, of Lancaster, PA,  who already produces successful CRM software for nonprofits announced a simpilar on-computer software for small business called SalesWorks. CRM is not my personal favorite app, but this seemed incredibly easy compared with the Salesforce demos that I have suffered through in the past.

Ceelox  introduced Scram which lets you send encrypted messages for greater security. You can send it not just by email but also via Instant Messenger.  It can also send ads that when downloaded have special messages behind them.  These could be sweepstakes numbers, etc.  The Ceelox folk say they turn spam into Scram. I am not so sure.

Symantec introduced their Identity Initiative, which the company says will allow users to use their identity online more securely. The company claims that "security 2.0" protects both identity and security.  Used old cartoon of a puppy on a PC, boasting that on the Internet, no one knows your a dog." Let's you check out unknown vendors online before you give them you credit card info.

Jaman.com, showed 25 award winning film synpses, none of whom made it into general distribution.  They offer a growing library of such films online to subscribers.  Uses compacting technology to send you full screen video in "better than DVD quality." Lets you have in-movie commentary and discussion--or without them if you choose.  Still in beta, they have 200 films available, with 1000 more coming.  Charge $1.99 to rent and $4.99 to buy.  This was my runaway favorite in the segment.

Total Immersion, the French Virtual Reality advertising firm who in 2004 gave my lifetime favorite Demo of  a helicopter that wasn't there hovering over attendee heads when they inroduced D'Fusion. They were back to show  their mobile and consumer   version, which this time did not work on the first two tries.  The third time we watched a video car chase with Thomasville type cartoon charaters running about.  This was actually just a cardboard model brought to life.   Then we saw a cartoon charater popout of the presenter sweatshirt. Then the speaker's head got replaced onscreen by Arnold Schwarzennegar. Despite the glitches, it unquestionably brought  the most favorable response of the day. Extremely cool.

DEMO Opening Session

NOTE: I forgot my camera-to-PC wire.  I'll add photos later.

Zink Imaging--Name stands for Zero Ink.  Demo person takes a picture of Shipley sends wirelessly to ZINC printer, which is about the size of a Blackberry.  Device can be embedded into digital products. Uses a scifi-type process of melting microscopic crystals to produce colors for seemingly vivid output. The prints are also heat resistant and waterproof which is pretty cool.Seems to me this is the Polaroid Camera for the Information Age.  Partnering  with companies to make mobile printers, digital camera with ZINK printer built directly into them.

Shipley kicks off DEMO

Chris Shipley has just walked onto the stage.  She comments on the great energy in the room. "We are at the center of an exciting shift," she tells us, and in this shift the individual is becoming all powerful.  She has struggle with terms to describe it but the right words have eluded her. Web 2.0, she tells us, has traction for the term.  "It is a condition in the marketplace, and has become a trendy presence.

Chris wants to shift to a model that puts people at the center rather than the technology. We've moved beyond consumer generated content.  Tools that allow us to customize & personalize our own experiences ar now coming into the workplace. This is not just consumer, but includes empowered individuals in the enterprise as well. User want usability and ease even when interacting with enterprise data. The enterprise, too is being driven by individual influence.

The theme for DEMO this year?  The user is at center and consuer/enterprise definitions are getting less relevant.

Then she moves into the opening segment with 15 companies representing a mix of enterprise and consumer companies.

MIXPO: Sitting & Hoping at DEMO

[Mixpo's Glenn Pingul and PR VOIP Maven Andy Abramson at DEMO reception]

Mixpo is one of three companies I coached for DEMO.  My pal, Andy Abramson brought me in and I had a ball working with them. Mixpo, is designed for small business users who want to take advantage of social media very easily, to create modern web pages, portfolios, resumes and other professional materials.

This morning when I staggered down for an early morning shot of Starbucks I found co-founders Glenn Pingul and Anupam Gupta, huddled on a couch, going over theri presentations, tweaking their technology and looking like a couple of kids awaiting Santa Claus on New Year's Eve. It was 5:45 a.m.

You could tell they were just tickled to there.  They showed no signs of fatigue.  As I chatted with them, I looked around the lobby of the JW Marriott here in Palm Springs. There were at least another dozen pairs of entrepreneurs doing the same thing. I'm sure in rooms throughout the hotel, there were dozens of others doing the same thing, not to mention a few of us insomniac bloggers.

Now it's 7 a.m., time to get ready for the breakfast and opening remarks by executive producer Chris Shipley. Then, it's showtime folks.

Experts: Don't upgrade to VIsta

One thing I love about DEMO is that I get to rub elbows with some of the world's savviest tech press.  All the product guys are here. Hanging out in the lobby with them yesterday, I asked the question that is on the mind of 90 percent of all computer users:

"Should I upgrade my computer to VISTA?"

I received a resounding "NO!" in three-part harmony.

It seems that Vista is great if you are buying a new PC, but right now there are all sorts of incompatabilities with legacy software, the stuff that's already in your computer. This will get worked out, one app at a time, over the coming months, they speculate. But chances are you should just wait to have Vista in your next machine--and the one I have right now works just fine, thank you very much.

DEMO reception is energy charged

[DEMO Mob. Photo by Shel. Additional DEMO photos available here.]

In the years that I reviewed conferences for Conferenza, I always used the opening night reception to gauge the mood of attendees, and almost invariably that gave me a sense of what we would be in for at the conference.

If last night's DEMO reception is any indicator, we are in for one Hell of a high energy time. Originally planned for a casual outdoor industry schmooze, the threat of rain over the Palm Spring Desert drove 600 people into the overly intimate JW Marriott lobby lounge where we rubbed elbows at extremely close range and shouted greetings toward each other. Remnants of the party were still going on when I crawled off to be after midnight, about five hours ago.

What dominates this conference are the start up teams, 67 of them, who have invested a good deal of money and time to be here.  They thought they were here to meet the media, investors and big company dealmakers.  At last night's reception, they found each other.  They chatted and realized they were not alone in the extraordinary effort that goes in to succeeding at this conference.

As I went for an early morning Vente coffee from Starbucks, the lobby was sparsely populated with young people typing on laptops, chatting intensely.  Many of them will present this morning.  They will stand on the dais in front of 700 people from all over the world.  Several of us bloggers will report to the world not in attendance as these companies present. A few stars will be born here. 

Other will go back home, take a couple of days off to relax and reintroduce themselves to spouses and have painful meetings of how their companies need to adjust course. Most all of these companies will be changed after havingg had their first shakeouts at this conference.

Gawd, I love this show.

I'm at DEMO, my favorite conference

I'm at DEMO where 67 companies, mostly startups will be strutting their stuff for six minutes each tomorrow and Thursday.  It is my favorite conference.  I see people who I only get to enjoy at this conference, twice each year. I get the big picture on what is happening in innovation.

I'll be blogging as much of it as I can over the next few days and beyond.  I'll also be linking to other bloggers who are here.  If you are blogging from or about DEMO, please send me a link and I will post it.

I am using the tag demo07--unless a different tag is named from the dais.

Krypronite 2: a new twist to the Lance Dutson story

Back when Robert and I were writing Naked Conversations, we wrote about the Kryptonite lock mess. It seems you could pick a Kryptonite lock with a 19 cent BIC pen and bloggers had something to do with making this information public. The 23 employees at Kryptonite stayed steadfastly mute on the topic--until we posted about it some nine months later. Then Donna Tocci, Kryptonite's PR person spoke out with passion and credibility about the company's side to the story, one which made many of us rethink our perceptions of the blogosphere's role, and one that changed what we wrote about Kryptonite in our book. 

Had bloggers been vigilant or vigilantes?   The question remains unanswered and still debated. Forbes magazine called us a lynch mob. Many of us consider blogs a way that the people can speak up. But is that what happens when a blogger takes on people who are clueless on blogs and what to do about them.

Now comes the story of blogger Lance Dutson who took on the Maine board of tourism and it's advertising and PR firms.  He was tireless in charging wrongdoing, nepotism, arrogance and lack of response.  he was threatened by a lawsuit, he reported on how his wife was intimidated on her job. He kept blogging atnd the other side kept silent, until this morning.
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For more details, including the who's who of it all, check out Jim Turner, an extremely thoughtful blogger, who points out much of the history along with how bad organizations opposed to Lance looked to those of us who investigated.

This week end, while I was blogging ardently about the need for greater blogger ethics, I learned from Lance that Dann Lewis, the director of the board of tourism had been fired.  According to Lance this was because of Lewis' attempts to intimidate him through litigation.

Now, just like the Kryptonite saga, nine months after it began, the other side has now decided to speak out in the form of Sherry Lewis, who charges Lance Dutson "is a liar" who got away with it because he caught the other side by surprise, and like the Kryptonite folk, this other side was clueless about how to deal with the blogosphere.

In a lengthy comment on my earlier post, she wrote this morning :"...the dozen or so individuals involved had no idea what had hit them. The attacks were becoming relentless and very personal. After the meeting with Cone, Dann made it clear that engagement was the only way to go.

'Talk WITH us.'

Dutson could not handle such an approach."

In short, Sherry Lewis contends, Dann did not want to sue Dutson and had nothing to do with it. She further charges that Dann wanted to engage Dutson in conversation, and when the met, it was Lance who was accompanied by a lawyer and it was Lance who got up and inexplicably got up and left the room after about five minutes. (BTW, the "talk WITH us," line is an apparent reference to Naked Conversations book's promotional material.)

So who should I believe?  I haven't a clue.  In this case, I've tried to just be a reporter.  I've been speaking with Sheri by email for the past couple of days and she seems pretty creditable. It took her two tries to successfully post her email, which implies she may be new to this communications form. She was forthcoming in revealing she is Dann's spouse.I think I would enjoy meeting her.

The trouble is, I found Lance to be creditable as well. I was diappointed not to meet him when I canceled a trip to Maine last October.

I imagine that the absolute truth lies somewhere in between the two versions. I lon ago learned that even those who were in the room have sincere differences of opinion what transpired.

Bloggers are also less experienced than traditional journalists in managing the  hearsay of "he said/she said" reporting.

My lesson in all this is that in the future I will be more conservative in covering disputes that do not directly concern me. I will remember that most people in the world still don't get blogging, how it works and the power it holds.

We bloggers have become a powerful lot. But we are inexperienced with that power and we need to learn that with it comes increased responsibility.