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 COLUMN
Bob Metcalfe's report from DEMO The first thing to report from DEMO in Indian Wells, Calif. is that, while a lot of other people are going to regret it later, technology companies are enjoying the Internet stock bubble now. Let the good times roll.
Not to be systematic or anything, but three new products stood out for me. They were: the StoryBox Connected Digital Frame, the Third Voice distributed portal, and the Intellon Integrated PowerLine Network Controller. The StoryBox (www.weaveinnovations.com) is an Internet appliance that begins looking like a picture frame on your desk. It dynamically displays your photo albums. Next thing you know, it's sending them to grandma. After that, well, your Internet stocks portfolio. Third Voice (www.thirdvoice.com) is among several companies introducing variations of a powerful new idea for the World Wide Web. They call their browser plug-in and service a distributed portal -- I suggested "distal" for short. View a page anywhere on the Web and Third Voice makes its every word active with associations and displays related information in an adjacent window. You can comment on the pages, see comments of other viewers, and get Web search results starting from anywhere in the page. Then there are the targeted advertisements underlying Third Voice's business model. Intellon (www.intellon.com) is an old company (1985) taking another shot at the LAN industry's Holy Grail. The company has developed very clever chips and is working with PC, appliance, and networking partners to get the Internet delivered to every room in your house at Ethernet speeds through its power wiring. In a few years, if all goes well this time, when you plug some appliance into a power receptacle anywhere in your house, you simultaneously will be plugging it into the always-on Internet. Or, as Intellon puts it, no new wires. Now, I know it will take a few years, but what I want from these DEMO debutantes is convergence -- all three in one hot new product. I want my Web content in Third Voice context on StoryBox frames plugged into Intellon's powerline Internet. Technology pundit Bob Metcalfe invites you to bookmark his column archive at www.infoworld.com/metcalfe .  RELATED SUBJECTS  Web TechnologiesMORE > SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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