DEMO Spring 2010 Launches Exceptional Crop of New Emerging Technologies

PALM DESERT, Calif., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The technology industry's elite DEMO Spring 2010 conference kicked off this morning with a state-of-the-industry address given by Matt Marshall, DEMO's executive producer. Now in its 20th year, the semi-annual DEMO conferences serve as global launching pads for the newest and most significant new products in emerging technology today.  Over the next two days, the DEMO Spring 2010 stage will host the launch over 50 demonstrators' new technology products as well as 14 early stage and pre-launch mode AlphaPitch companies. Live broadcast over the web is also available via BitGravity for registered, qualified members of the press. Qualified members of the press may request live viewing access via www.etouches.com/demovideo.

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Additionally, for the second time at the DEMO Conferences, DEMO Spring is showcasing its AlphaPitch program, where 14 early stage entrepreneurs and pre-launch mode companies have 90 seconds to share their prototypes to the critical DEMO audience.

This year's DEMO Spring product debuts include everything from a funding platform for promoting projects via social media, to a device that keeps track of personal valuables like keys, to a real-time ride sharing system that connects drivers with passengers who need a ride, to the world's first automatic contact cloud, to a Web browser for one's TV and a two-wheel-drive light electric motorcycle.

Today's introductions included technologies designed for:

• Delivering ground-breaking mobile advancements to increase accessibility and communication while on-the-go
• Providing collaborative, social tools and technologies for today's increasingly online world
• Driving innovation in cloud computing.

Highlights from today's technology introductions include:

Tools for the New Mobile Age

Demonstrators:

• ABJK NewCo, Inc.'s Zosh – a mobile document execution platform that lets mobile workers complete, sign and return forms from their mobile phones.
• AppWhirl, Inc. – a tool that manages app store submissions, facilitates app updates and enables monetization through app purchases, advertisements or tip jars, allowing anyone to make their own mobile application in less than five minutes.
• AppVoyage – a SaaS platform to publish rich mobile apps to multiple app stores and allow marketers to create engaging mobile apps, augmented reality experiences, and mobile campaigns.
• my6sense Inc.'s Attention API – a content/stream-agnostic API that can automatically rank information from all types of sources and enables third-party application developers and publishers to offer hyper-personalized content streams.
• Voxofon LLC's Ambit – a mobile-based communication software allowing parents to personalize and monitor the contacts and services their kids can access.
• VISIARC's MOBILE DOCUMENTS – solution offers remote real-time reading, viewing and interaction with mail attachments without a download.
• Zerista, Inc.'s Zerista Mobile Community Platform – platform enabling users to create a custom mobile community around a specific group, club, association, business or event.

AlphaPitch Companies:

• Flinc's flinc-move together – a real-time ride sharing system that connects willing drivers with passengers in need of a ride via Internet-enabled navigation systems and mobile phones.
• R3 do.o.'s mmatcher – a mobile classifieds service that connects local users with similar interests in real-time.
• ThickButtons – a technology that makes it easy to type with fingers on any touch-screen phone, even small ones.

Collaborative Tools for the Social Side of Business (Part 1)

Demonstrators:

• Bloson.com – a social platform where users, nonprofits and companies converge to change the world for the better.
• BrandFolium Corporation's NavID – an endorsement advertising marketplace application that connects publishers ready to endorse marketing messages with advertisers looking for relevant social media advocates.
• Closely, Inc. – a product that puts live local marketing into the hands of small businesses, empowering them to deliver personalized, real-time offers to followers and groups of friends.
• Democrasoft's Collaborize – an online community creation and hosting service that lets large and small groups organize conversations, capture and sort ideas, collect votes, streamline decision-making and get real-time feedback on any topic.
• DigitalScirocco MarketPlace – a real-time, auction-based marketplace for users to buy and sell Web content.
• Everloop.com – COPPA-compliant private label social networking for tween-centric brands.

AlphaPitch Companies:

• Immitter.com – Web-based technology that combines user-generated capabilities and music matching engine to help independent artists distribute their content to targeted audiences.
• UppyMedia.com's TAGtheLOOK – a Facebook application that lets users tag their own or their friends' outfits in existing social network photo albums and share with friends in real-time.
• neverend media's Neverend books – subscription-based electronic books with social media capabilities allowing users to read on their device of choice, share notes, links and chat with the author or other readers.

Collaborative Tools for the Social Side of Business (Part 2)

Demonstrators:

• Fliptop's Fliptop for Publishers, Fliptop Browser Button – tools that create real-time alerts for websites, allowing consumers to get the information they want while providing publishers great insight into what users are searching.
• Genieo Innovation – a singular smart digital assistant designed to adapt to user's interests and accordingly manage all their preferred web content.
• Invested.in – a funding platform that facilitates the promotion of projects via social media, allowing users to leverage their social capital to raise financial capital.
• MiniMash, Inc. – a service to create and share short movies online anywhere over social media using simple drag and drop tools.
• Sharetivity – a service that allows sharing of Web content by any method chosen by the user, including email, Facebook, and Twitter, while saving that content for future reference.
• SocialWish – a crowd-sourcing tool that enables users to make wish lists universal and collaborative, allowing donations to be made publicly or privately.
• ViaCLIX – a simple and easy-to-use channel-based navigation system that combines traditional BroadcastTV with InternetTV to offer the widest choice of content limited only by what is available on the Open Internet.    

AlphaPitch companies:

• SocialOrbits, LLC – a travel and leisure web application that turns travel and entertainment research and decision making into a collaborative experience.
• TicketPlayGround.com – a user-friendly secondary ticket marketplace with the ability to handle multiple numbers of transactions between buyers and sellers.
• Yumit.com – A social network about gastronomy.

The New World of Cloud Computing

Demonstrators:

• AirSet – a personal cloud computer that allows for easier management and organization of important groups and information.
• Cloudscale, Inc.'s Cloudcel – cloud computing for Excel users that enables the development of data-intensive applications within minutes.
• FathomDB – relational databases-as-a-service in the cloud that changes how databases are run, featuring better compatibility than standard relational databases.
• gwabbit's gwab-o-sphere – the world's first automatic contact cloud that receives contacts from gwabbit's contact capture products and then syncs with key contact repositories to maintain the most current information.
• MightyMeeting, Inc. – a mobile collaboration platform allowing users to start or join web meetings, manage and access a cloud-based rich media library as well as share content via email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, all from a mobile device.
• Infusionsoft's Email Marketing 2.0 – an on-demand solution targeted to small businesses, offering targeted email marketing that automatically responds and adapts to customer behavior, increasing sales and customer satisfaction.

DEMO Explores Funding Landscape of Mobile, Social and Media, and Cloud Technologies

On Monday, DEMO Spring featured multiple panel discussions focused on hot technology categories and the specific funding challenges and opportunities that exist within each today. Moderated by Matt Marshall, DEMO's executive producer and VentureBeat's editor-in-chief, today's discussions included:

DEMOfocus on Mobile Technologies: Panel Discussion on Funding Challenges and Opportunities:

• Wesley Chan, Partner, Google Ventures
• Nagraj Kashyap, Vice President, Qualcomm Ventures
• Lee Williams, Executive Director, Symbian Foundation
• Rich Wong, Partner, Accel Partners

DEMOfocus on Social and Media Technologies: Panel Discussion on Funding Challenges and Opportunities:

• Mike Brown, Manager, Corporate Development, Facebook
• Paul Buchheit, Co-founder, FriendFeed
• Christine Herron, Principal, First Round Capital
• Seth Sternberg, CEO, Meebo

DEMOfocus on Cloud Technologies:  Panel Discussion on Funding Challenges and Opportunities:

• Satish Dharmaraj, Partner, Redpoint Ventures
• Peter Fenton, General Partner, Benchmark Capital
• Mike Maples, Managing Partner, Maples Investments
• Nancy Schoendorf, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures

DEMO After Dark:  Networking Lounge & DEMO Idol

The DEMO program continues this evening, introducing Karaoke to this year's DEMO After Dark party for the first time. Taking place at Costas Nightclub, the evening will offer attendees an opportunity to mix and mingle with fellow entrepreneurs, press, and demonstrators while bringing some healthy competition to the table as well. This year, a winner from Monday night's karaoke participation will be selected and presented a special prize during the closing DEMOgod awards.

The DEMO Spring 2010 conference continues throughout the day tomorrow with more product introductions and more in-depth discussion around the biggest trends in technology.

DEMO Spring 2010 Sponsors

DEMO Spring 2010 Platinum Sponsors: BitGravity, BluePoint Venture Marketing, Boston Interactive, the Institute for Information Industry, Microsoft BizSpark, PayPal, Porter Novelli and Qualcomm.

DEMO Spring 2010 Gold Sponsors: Comerica Bank, Connect Public Relations, Cooley Godward & Kronish, National Science Foundation, NEC, NYSE Euronext, Silicon Valley Bank, Symantec, TriNet, VCNetwork, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Strategic Partners include: VentureBeat, GuidewireGroup, IDG Ventures and The Demo Coach.

The official DEMO Spring Live Broadcast Sponsor is BitGravity BG Live™.

About the DEMO Conferences

Produced by the IDG Enterprise events group in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO conferences in the United States and China focus on emerging technologies and new products innovations, which are hand selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. For more information on the DEMO conferences, visit http://www.demo.com/.

The DEMO community also benefits from the award winning DEMOletter. A weekly e – newsletter designed to reach the people who are creating companies, building products and launching new ideas, DEMOletter provides smart insight and analysis of entrepreneurial business issues. To subscribe, go to: http://www.demo.com

About International Data Group (IDG)

International Data Group (IDG) is the world's leading technology media, events, and research company.  IDG's online network includes more than 450 web sites spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment and video games worldwide.  IDG also publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers.  Media brands are in more than 90 countries and include CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld/TechWorld/TecChannel, ITworld, Macworld, Network World, and PC World.  The company's lead-generation service, IDG Connect, matches technology companies with an audience of engaged, high-quality IT professionals, influencers, and decision makers.

IDG is a leading producer of more than 750 technology-related events including Macworld Conference & Expo, OpenSource World, E3 Expo, DEMO, Storage Networking World, and IDC Directions. IDC, a subsidiary of IDG, is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events.   Over 1000 IDC analysts in more than 100 countries provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends.

Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at http://www.idg.com

All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.

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