DEMO show unveils new technology

WASHINGTON POST

PALM DESERT, Calif. — The DEMO technology show may have little of the glitz and glamour of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but to industry insiders, the three-day show reveals clues about what’s on the cusp of being the next hot thing.

Past alumni presenting at this show included TiVo and Palm. This year’s hit company could be one with a new online video idea or something that ties mobile more into your life.

The show, which kicked off last week, featured 77 young companies handpicked by organizers for their innovative potential. The participants hailed from places far and wide, including Israel, Taiwan, New Zealand and Washington. During the show, each firm has six minutes — not a second more — to present its wares before a smallish audience of several hundred investors, technology executives and journalists.

A new virtual dimension

Last fall, SceneCaster launched a program for creating 3-D images of games, abstract art, animations or home interiors. Just as people share photos, users can share their scenes through social-networking sites like Facebook.

This year, the company took this a step further with a new product called SceneWeaver, which stitches together a person’s 3-D model with the Web.

So, for example, if you’ve created a scene of your apartment with an entertainment center, wall posters and furniture, those can now be linked with outside Web sites. Click on a flat-panel TV, and your favorite YouTube video will pop up. Look in the closet, and your favorite brand of shoes pops up. Click on the leather armchair, and eBay will display its chair selection — and SceneCaster will get a cut of the revenue if you register on the site and even more if you buy something.

The idea is to be able to create life-like scenes anywhere on the Web, embedded in blogs, social networks or even on an iPhone browser. Online retailers can use the technology to create virtual storefronts.

Paul Lypaczewski, SceneCaster president and chief operating officer, says he thinks it’s “the next stage of contextual advertising that has more depth, quite literally.”

Get paid to look for a job

NotchUp.com is a new job-search Web site that helps companies find talented workers who might not be searching for a job.

At the right price, a sought-after worker might be willing to listen to an offer. To avoid seeming disloyal to their company, workers can post their résumé and current projects on the site while staying invisible to their current boss. In fact, workers can stay anonymous throughout the entire process, up to the point of a serious offer. They can even import LinkedIn profiles to show off a wide network of industry connections.

The prospective employee can name the price it would take to accept a phone interview. Workers can name a pretty high price — $500, anyone? — just for listening to the company’s pitch.

NotchUp.com is self-funded and, according to the company, growing fast. A few days after it launched its test service about a week ago, the site had about 200 members. But once members started inviting other companies and employees, it took off. At the time of its presentation Tuesday, NotchUp.com said 50,000 employees and 400 corporations had signed up in the past 36 hours.

Merging mobile, online

A handful of companies here are trying to find ways to use video and voice to communicate across computers and mobile devices.

One is Ribbit, a Mountain View, Calif., company that introduced a product called Amphibian, which lets you merge your mobile phone with your online world. The technology allows a cell phone to sync with a computer, making it possible to make calls over the Internet. It then transcribes voice messages into text messages so you can search through the messages without ever picking up your cell phone.

One of its features blends Web applications with caller ID. So when someone calls, it not only displays their name, it also pulls in images from their Flickr photo-sharing account, their Facebook page, messages from their LinkedIn profile and any other online social-network account. That makes it possible to know not only who’s calling, but what they’ve been up to online.

The service allows its users to download an image of a phone — which might look like the iPhone, for example. That phone is an online proxy for a real phone; it can be used to dial a number.