Demo preview: Five launches to watch for

The biannual start-up fest Demo kicks off Sunday in Palm Desert, Calif. There will be somewhat fewer launches--only 40 -- at this show than at most previous Demos, but the lineup is interesting. Here are the companies whose pitches I am most looking forward to, based on public information about them. What actually happens at the show may make this list irrelevant, but this is the early take. The full rundown of presenters is after the jump.

Rafe's five preview picks for Demo 09

Avaak has DARPA mesh radio technology and has applied it to video for its military contracts. Its entry into the consumer market will be a personal video system. Interesting.

Ensembli will be trying--as so many have before--to apply some AI to finding content on the Web and in RSS feeds for individuals.

Desknet, it appears, is trying to build a desktop client that aggregates all your social network activities.

Qualcomm MEMS Technology may be talking about some cool new display technology.

Transformyx makes software for corporate crisis management. There will be a lot of corporate crises this year. Looking forward to seeing what it's introducing.

Demo 09 presenting companies

Consumer Devices
Always Innovating, Inc.
Avaak, Inc.
Coveroo, Inc.

Consumer Software and Services
Asurion Mobile Applications, Inc.
Cc:Betty, Inc.
deskNET SA
Ensembli, Ltd.
Evri, Inc.
Gazaro, Inc.
HAM-IT, Inc.
Home-Account, Inc.
Jadoos, Inc.
Kutano Corp.
Primal Fusion, Inc.
Promptu Systems Corp.
Qubes, Inc.
Skout, Inc.
SmartyCard
Symantec Corp.
Vokle, Inc.
Xandros, Inc.
XMARKS

Enabling Technology
bluBuzz, LLC
eFormic, Ltd.
HowSimple, LLC
Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc.

Enterprise Software and Services
7 Billion People, Inc.
BitGravity, Inc.
Document Depository Corp., LLC
Ontier, Inc.
Purewire, Inc.
Silverstone Solutions, Inc.
Transformyx, Inc.
Zuora, Inc.

IT Management and Infrastructure
AppZero Corp.

Small Business Software and Services
Citrix Online
Liquid Media, LLC
Technicopia, LLC
Zipadi Technologies, LLC