Like would-be singers or dancers given the length of a song to woo the public and the judges, about 60 tech firms received six minutes each at Demo 2004, held this past Monday and Tuesday, to present their "can't miss" products to an audience of 600 editors, analysts, venture capitalists, and corporate investors.
The products demonstrated ranged from IT-centric security and productivity tools to the latest in home-entertainment gadgets. Although some face a decidedly uphill challenge, some will
surely become stars. Let's survey the field.
For me, the most compelling demonstrations involved new computing and entertainment devices. These products have the potential to chalk up huge volume sales, and the winners will consume scads of chips—both high-end processors for handling digital media and the analog goodies that handle power and connect to the real world.
Content caches I was especially impressed with the Akimbo Player (below) and service from Akimbo Systems. A hard-disk-equipped device resembling a PVR (personal video recorder), the player downloads content via a broadband Internet connection rather than relying on a cable or satellite-TV feed.
You'll quickly spot the biggest challenge: Broadcast TV isn't available via an Internet feed. However, the Akimbo service offering does include content from more than 20 content partners. Some clearly cater to extremely narrow interests (Billiard Club network, anyone?), but the offerings also include mainstream movies from CinemaNow and others.
Ultimately, the Akimbo concept is where PVRs must head. Down the road you'll be able to download the latest version of a hot sitcom on demand rather than programming the PVR to record it. The company plans to begin selling the player late this year through national retailers, priced at $199 with 200 hours of storage capacity. The Akimbo Service will cost $9.95 per month.
Another living-room entertainment device, the Molino Media Mogul from Molino Networks, also made an impressive d