The best, and worst, of Demo Fall 2008

It isn’t something you’ll see on a server rack, but a product from a fabless silicon design outfit could help you cut down on air conditioning costs at work or home and help save energy. What’s more, Microstaq’s Silicon Expansion Valve (SEV) illustrates innovative thinking, and after all, isn’t that what the Demo show is all about?

The valve on a chip is one of the relatively few products that got my attention at this fall’s innovation showcase. Some of my favorites, like a SAN on a card from Fusion-io, fit squarely in the wheelhouse of IT pros. Others, like the notepad-sized e-reader from Plastic Logic and a music mashup service that lets composers collaborate over the Web, are simply cool.

[ One conclusion from Demo 08: Web 2.0 may be on its last legs. | See all of InfoWorld’s Demo Fall 2008 coverage in our special report. ]

Here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order), plus one that was simply the worst demo I’ve seen in a long time, not just at this edition of the Demo show.

Take the heat out of air conditioning bills Consider the compressor, the really key part of any air conditioning system and the part that consumes most of the electricity needed by the system. In a conventional air conditioning unit, a valve regulates the flow of coolant into an evaporator. Pumping just the right amount of fluid is the key to efficient operation of the compressor. But conventional valves, says Microstaq co-founder Steven Booth, don’t do the job very well, because they only check the pressure and temperature of the coolant outside the evaporator. Changes that occur inside are not noted.

Enter Microstaq’s SEV, a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device that acts as a controller for the valve. The chip is wired to sensors just beyond the compressor, collecting real-time data on temperature and pressure. More accurate data means that the valve will send the optimal amount of fluid into the evaporator, which in turns optimizes the work of the compressor. Bottom line: An energy savings of 20 to 30 percent, the company claims — or about 5 percent of global energy consumption if all air conditioners used the technology. I guess you’d have to say that’s pretty cool.

New e-reader challenges Kindle I’m no fan of the Amazon.com Kindle, but that doesn’t mean I’d give a thumbs down to any electronic reader. Indeed, a forthcoming, as-yet-unnamed device from Plastic Logic could well be one I’d pack in my bag.

The breakthrough that could make this reader successful is a screen and backplane made from plastic instead of glass. The circuits are also printed on plastic. As a result, the device will be larger, lighter, and much less fragile than Amazon’s or Sony’s readers. A prototype of the device has a black-and-white screen that’s just under 8.5 by 11 inches, is about as thick as a legal pad, and weighs a little more than a legal pad. The screen display uses electronic-ink technology, and the reader will likely be loaded with content via a wireless connection or by syncing with a PC.

The reader is aimed at businesspeople who carry around reams of paper content. The device will support a number of document formats, including Microsoft Office and Adobe’s PDF.

It’s obvious that a lot of design decisions have yet to be made, and I wonder if the device will really hit its launch deadline of the second quarter 2009. Even so, this is one worth keeping an eye on.

World’s smallest SAN As far as I know, the ioSAN is the world’s first networked enterprise solid state drive, and it’s really cool. Developed by Fusion-io, the ioSAN can be deployed as networked, server-attached storage or integrated into networked storage infrastructure.

Each ioSAN card can hold up to two memory modules for up to 640GB of flash memory storage, yet it fits into a standard PCI Express slot. CTO David Flynn says that the cards can transfer up to 1.5Gbps with up to 200,000 IOPS. Smokin’. It’ll be available next year. Meanwhile, Fusion-io plans to announce shortly a developer forum to encourage third-party developers to use the platform.

Buddy, can you spare a bass line? If you’re not in a band, finding musicians to jam with isn’t always easy, let alone getting ahold of someone to help complete an arrangement. MixMatchMusic has a cool service that allows musicians to collaborate over the Web.

An amateur pianist, for instance, could upload eight bars or so to MixMatch, and then hunt for a compatible riff from a bass player or drummer. You can search by key, tempo, genre, instrument, and — soon — by key signature. The snippets are automatically mixed and ready to play.

Ah, but there is a catch. You can stream them off the Internet for free, but should you choose to save the file to a device, such as an iPod, you’ll have to pay something to the composer, with MixMatch taking a small cut. Musicians who live far from each other could collaborate and jointly sell the song as well. The monetization/community aspect is a good idea; most musicians need every chance they can to earn a little money.

The worst of Demo I don’t like to pick on small companies, but sometimes you gotta say what’s on your mind. And in this case, I’m here to tell you that HeyCosmo by Arsenal Interactive needs to die a quick death.

The premise is this: You want to hook up with a group of friends for a vacation or dinner or some such thing. You could call or e-mail or tweet them, but no, HeyCosmo wants you to set up a series of robo-calls — you know, those infuriating messages you get around election time or from some bozo holding a sale on carpet cleaning.

The Web-based software lets the initiator spell out a number of questions you specify, and the recipients (if they haven’t already hung up), must answer by pressing the appropriate number on their keypad. I suppose if they have questions or need clarifications, they can subject you to this same impersonal service.

But, wait, there’s more! HeyCosmo’s business is being a concierge, so its goal is to take these interactions and convert them into a business referral, such as finding a plumber or getting reservations at a restaurant. So, HeyCosmo will find all suppliers in range of your location or where you want to be, and robo-call all the providers it finds for you. Imagine 20 Las Vegas steakhouses getting robo-calls asking them to press 1 if they have a table for 4 at 7 p.m., 2 if they have a table at 8 p.m., etc. And then if they do enter an answer rather than just hang up, they’re told you’ll call back to confirm the reservation — once you’ve seen all the responses and know who’s got a table at your desired time. Yeah, I’m sure they’ll welcome those calls.

Sorry, HeyCosmo. I’m hanging up now.