At DEMO, Innovations With High Aspirations

Firms Get Six Minutes To Shine at Tech Show

NotchUp.com, a job-search Web site, was shown at the DEMO tech show in Palm Desert, Calif. (/None)

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By Kim Hart

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 30, 2008; Page D03

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 Monday evening, features 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.

The following are excerpts from the Post I.T. blog about some of those companies.

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."

About 250,000 people have used the technology to create their own virtual scenes, Lypaczewski said.

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