Demo conference intrigues, but doesn't electrify
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- The Demo tech conference I'm attending has lived off its well-known alumni for years. If history is any judge, just a few of the 77 new products and services showcased here have a chance to become as famous as the PalmPilot or TiVo. Some start-ups (or their technologies) will get gobbled up by bigger enterprises. Some won't see the light of day.
Still, many potentially useful products were on display, though none knocked my socks off. Continuing a trend in recent Demos, most are not physical gadgets, but rather services delivered in cyberspace or on phones. Standouts: a better cellphone browser and an instant-messaging translation service. Among intriguing demonstrators:
Tap into your PC from your cellphone
You may know such services as GoToMyPC or LogMeIn. They let you remotely access your home computer from another PC connected to the Web. The PCMobilizr service from Rove lets you access and control your computer desktop through a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile smartphone. You download software onto your PC or phone, then enter a user name and password to log in remotely.
Rove says that the connection is secure and that you need not muck with your PC's firewall or router settings. Rove charges $9.50 a month after a 30-day trial. Major constraint: the cellphone's screen size.
Getting paid for a job interview
I've seen several online job sites. Only none quite like NotchUp. It can match you up with a company that will pony up cash just to interview you. Qualified candidates set the price at which they'll agree to an interview; NotchUp says $300 to $600 is typical, but you'll be paid only if you take the job opportunity seriously.
You'll have to be invited or submit an application. NotchUp prescreens candidates. Just out of its beta, or test phase, NotchUp says it is working with such prospective employers as Microsoft msft, Amazon.com amzn and PepsiCo pep.
Texting shopping tips
You're buying a book, digital camera or bottle of wine but aren't sure what to buy or how much to pay. Review2Buy can send shopping recommendations on the fly to your cellphone via text message. You text the product name or shopping code — and your location — to 738439 (review). Moments later, a message arrives with a brief review of the product from Amazon.com and a sample of prices. You have an instant bargaining chip to show the salesperson.
Alternatively, you can get the same information at www.review2buy.com.
An iPhone-worthy browser
Apple's aapl iPhone set a high bar on what a mobile Web browser ought to look like: a browser like the one on your computer. But the iPhone browser doesn't support the Web video standard known as Flash. Skyfire demonstrated a speedy PC-like mobile Web browser that supports Flash plus other Internet video technologies, including QuickTime, Windows Media and RealPlayer. So you can watch slide shows on Facebook or videos on YouTube and listen to music at sites such as Last.fm.
Still in invitation-only test mode, Skyfire will launch on Windows Mobile phones, followed by a version for Symbian smartphones.
Speaking the same IM language
You must communicate live with customers in China but don't speak Chinese. SpeakLike is an instant-messaging service that will translate the conversation, including slang, in real time. The invitation-only beta service initially will be available in English, Chinese and Spanish, with more languages to follow.
SpeakLike combines human and machine translation — the human translator corrects the machine as necessary.
The result is that when you type in your own language, the person you are conversing with sees the words in his. Users have access to transcripts. Free in beta, SpeakLike expects to charge about a dime a message, with some services costing extra.
Green power
How many power adapters do you travel with? For starters, one each for your cellphone, iPod and laptop. And how many different chargers are in your home and office? A component company called Green Plug questions why every device needs its own charger and unique connector.
Green Plug is selling its chips to manufacturers who will place them in universal power devices capable of charging all your devices; it intelligently figures out the voltage required for each device.
Moreover, Green Plug hopes electronics and computer companies will also standardize on a single connector that is compatible with USB. The company says Green Plug-ready chargers will be out this year.
Helping the kids read
LeapFrog lf hopes its chunky new digital stylus — the $50 Tag Reading System — will prove as popular as its aging LeapPad educational toy. Targeted at 4- to 8-year-olds and coming in June, the device lets kids tap every word in special Tag-ready versions of popular children's books (Fancy Nancy, Olivia, etc.) to hear the words spoken aloud. The books will cost $14 each.
Tag, which can hold audio for up to five books at a time, has an infrared camera at its tip. It's more portable than the LeapPad. The smarts are in the pen itself, which isn't tethered to a plastic case like LeapPad. Moreover, parents can use Tag to upload data to the Web to see how junior is progressing.
Learning music from the pros
Would you like to learn guitar from Graham Nash of Crosby Stills & Nash or John Oates of Hall & Oates? These and artists from The Allman Brothers and other bands teach you to play in high-definition videos. It's part of music-instruction service iVideosongs. Oates helped promote the beta launch at Demo.
You choose your musical level and select $5 to $10 videos in the genre you want. They can be downloaded to a PC, iPod or other devices; iVideosongs negotiated licensing agreements with music publishers and artists. You can sign up for the beta at www.ivideosongs.com.
Conversing by video
The online community called Seesmic has been called the "Twitter of Video." Unlike, say, YouTube, it's more a place to post instant videos of what you are up to or thinking and have others respond in kind. Conversations do not take place in real time. Seesmic is about to open up the service to all comers and make it available on mobile phones.
E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com