VaporStream offers no-trace e-mail

Anyone who has seen the Mission: Impossible TV shows or movies will remember the ominous “this message will self-destruct” bit that began each installment. Now, a company is promising to bring that kind of high-tech service to e-mail.

VOID Communications’ VaporStream is a Web-based hosted message service that eliminates all traces of a message after it has been read; readers can’t even print it out or perform a screen capture, said Joseph Collins Jr., CEO of VOID.

“The user now actually has real control,” over a message, Collins said. VOID has 100 users already signed up since debuting Monday, he said. “The idea is we want to make a record-less message system” for the Web and for mobile systems, said Amit Shah, CTO of VOID, which displayed VaporStream at the Demofall 2006 conference in San Diego.

“You want to be able to send private and confidential information to people electronically,” and have closed-door conversations, Shah said.

VaporStream uses a “closed network of servers” to manage communications between senders and recipients, then deletes messages from both client and server after they are read, according to the company’s Web site.

VOID doesn’t see its system replacing corporate e-mail systems, but it does see applications for legal or HR matters within companies, Shah said.

Self-destructing e-mail was just one of the technologies on display at Demofall, an annual event that gives small and startup companies a stage on which to pitch their technology.

Koral showed its Web 2.0-based content collaboration system for managing company information in e-mails, Web pages, documents, and folders.

RingCube showed its MojoPac technology, which transforms an iPod or other USB storage device into a portable PC. Users can link the iPod to any PC available and begin working on their applications.

Following in Google’s footsteps, ThinkFree showed its online office suite, which features multiple office applications accessible via the Web.