Hello from DEMO 2007

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on January 31, 2007

PALM DESERT, Calif. — I’m here at the DEMO 2007 conference, and I just saw a terrific demonstration of Eyejot, a video messaging product that is pretty cool. If you have a Web cam like an iSight, you can record a video message that you can easily email to anyone. But here’s what caught my attention: While you can see your Eyejot messages when logged in at the Eyejot Web site, you can also view them in iTunes and send them to the iPod.

Another Mac-friendly company that just demonstrated during the morning session was Jaman.com. It’s basically an online movie distribution company with a focus on international cinema. Here’s a stat that I found somewhat startling: Less than 1% of movies made around the world ever see distribution in the U.S. market. What it means is that if you like movies and you live in the U.S. you’re probably missing a lot. Now in my humble opinion, much of what Hollywood is turning out these days is disappointing schlock. The movies I have most enjoyed in recent years have been filmed in other countries. One that comes to mind is Deepa Mehta’s “Water” which I happened to catch at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan. Now if you don’t happen to live near a cinema as good as the Angelika, a service like Jaman could give you the ability to see International and independent films that you would never get the change to see at the local multiplex, nor even on cable TV. I just saw the presentation and the firm as a library of 1,000 movies so far, and that’s four times the number of films you can find on iTunes. You can rent one for $1.99, and buy one for $4.99. And you can watch using the player software on a Mac or PC or on a home theater system. I just saw Jaman’s stage Demo and am eager to get close-up look down at the Pavilion area later.

I’ll write more as the day goes on!

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