Bring The Bling

Feeling the need to defend myself, err, shed some light on what is really happening at DEMO 2007 – the coming out party for a number of promising companies and cool applications – there is simply no truth to the Jay-Z sighting rumor. Other than some big name journalists and tech industry luminaries, there wasn’t a “celebrity” in sight. Late in the day, however Bling Software (gotta love the name right now, but wonder if it has staying power and will sound very 2005 in a few months) demonstrated some very visually compelling applications for mobile phones. Bling’s CEO Roy Satterthwaite and Vice President, Products, Mike Uomoto conducted the demo and showed an application they have built for BarryBonds.com. They were joined by Bonds’ Web designer Anthony Phills. Near the conclusion of his six minutes of fame, Satterthwaite paused somewhat awkwardly and welcomed onto the stage, not Jay-Z, but the embattled Mr. Bonds himself. Barry strolled on stage, gave a big smile and a wave to the crowd and thanked Bling for bringing his application to market. I have it on very good authority (Bling’s PR guru Christine Cefalo, a former colleague and a friend of mine) that Bonds spoke with AP, BusinessWeek and Forbes about his work with Bling prior to going on stage. I’m sure Bonds felt relieved to be talking to technology reporters and for once, did not have to answer the dreaded steroids questions or make predictions about how many “dingers” he will hit this year. Either way, Bling looks like one of DEMO 2007’s home runs.