Getting Searches and Media under Control

There were several predominant themes at DEMO. Many of the presenters were showing variations and add-ons for the booming social networking segment.  Several others focused on the ever-popular video craze that has us searching for everything from the News to the latest cat playing the piano’. 

ClipBlast, for example has amassed a huge database of online videos that they make available to you through a desktop widget. The widget contains its own viewer so you no longer have to search for a clip, click on the site, and finally play the video. With the ClipBlast widget you just type in the search info, click and play any of the displayed results immediately.
You can find more about ClipBlast! on their website.

A different approach to dealing with the masses of information was demonstrated by SpaceTime. SpaceTime offers a free download for consumers, which turn browsing into a 3D experience. Its unique approach to search results actually addresses two problems that face every desktop user; screen space and search results management.

By moving the browser experience into a 3D environment, SpaceTime allows the user to manipulate an infinite number of search results in a fully three-dimensional space. This means that instead of just seeing a listing of search results on a flat page, you now have all those results available to you in a cascading 3D desktop format. The display allows you to select, view or move any of the resulting pages instantly, without having to click on a link, see if it is of interest and then move on. The outcome is not only a fantastic browsing/search experience, but a tremendous savings in desktop space and your time. This was one of my DEMO favorites and to truly appreciate it, you should watch their video.

If you’re looking for a 2 dimensional cross between ClipBlast! and SpaceTime, check out another DEMO exhibitor, MetaRadar and their new ‘media masher’ Radar. This is probably one of the best tools for a generation that suffers from chronic A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder).

And Speaking of Generation Video

There was a time when our telephone was our phone and if you wanted to take home movies you took out your camcorder. Yeah, well that was sooo yesterday! With the lines between camera, phone and video capture becoming so blurred you never know what device will be in your hand at the particular moment you want to record the ‘man bites dog’ moment. The problem is that the magic moment is what ends up getting blurred.  FixMyMovie from MotionDSP , Inc. can help solve that. 

Using patent pending video forensic technology, the good folks at MotionDSP will let you upload your fuzzy, jagged, pixilated movie to their website, and, using the same technology they supply the government, will clean it up to a state that is reasonably viewable. I say reasonable because it can’t raise unviewable video from the dead, but it does a very good job of administering CPR.


From the Practical to downright Frivolous

The Medical Office

My favorite product at DEMO was from Phressia, Inc. This is the next step toward bringing the doctor’s waiting room into the 21st century. Phressia supplies a bacteria resistant touch pad computer free (yes, free) to all participating doctors offices. It eliminates the repetitious filling out of paper forms that are always awaiting us when we come to see our physician. The patient simply enters the information on a touch screen pad and the information is then available to the doctor and can be integrated into the practice’s software.

The cost for all of this is borne by the sponsoring companies who will be offering commercials for medical related products during the intake process. Phressia is careful to strip out all personal information from the data that is forwarded to their computers and uses only the demographically pertinent facts to offer up its advertising.

The upside to this product is quicker, more accurate intake information as well as much more efficient return visit experiences. The only downside is from those that feel this is another way for ‘big pharma’ to get involved. Those people will be happy to know that doctors have the last say on content so as to avoid conflicts of information or appropriateness to their practice.

The Business Office

At some point in time every small business wishes they could set up a quick web meeting like the big boys do. They often wish they had the money to be able to afford it. Dim Dim, Inc. lets you do it for free. They have developed free, open source software, which gives you all of the basic functionality of the pay-per-view competitors. The real beauty of this (as if ‘free’ wasn’t enough), is that there is no software to install. You go to the Dim Dim website , set up the meeting and go. This may well be the next Skype for the web-meeting marketplace.

By the way, if all you want to do is share you desktop and collaborate, check out Yuuguu, Ltd. It’s specifically designed to allow you to share your computer screen in real time.

The Frivolous

Are you stressed out? Anxious? In need of a game fix to calm your nerves? Check out Vyro Games, Ltd. Their PiP (Personal Input POD™, Bluetooth enabled GSR device), a biosensor held in between your fingers will give you a quick biofeedback session to help you relax. By playing one of the mobile phone games; you can win a race, control the weather or get to the truth all by focusing on relaxing. But beware, if you don’t get control of those pesky emotions you will lose dreadfully and become more stressed from the overwhelming embarrassment.

Those are the highlights from this seasons DEMO. If you’re interested in more of the innovative products they previewed check out their website at www.demo.com .

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