There was no doubt, given the continuing economic collapse and all the joy that brings, that Demo09 was going to be a much tamped-down and sober affair this year.

But there were still a lot of interesting start-ups being featured in the main ballroom and demo “pit,” such as a cool “touch book” offering, a strange hooking-up-in-a-bar smartphone app and a plethora of ideas that obviously got their inspiration from the iPhone from Apple.

As in: touch, swipe, interact! (Which is the official BoomTown motto, in point of fact.)

Here’s a video I did of Demo09, which ends today.

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This past weekend, BoomTown revved up the Mini and headed out in the pouring rain to a Peets Coffee in Fremont, Calif., to the exact spot where Demo Executive Producer Chris Shipley proposed that VentureBeat founder and Editor-in-Chief Matt Marshall take over the longtime bi-annual conference where several dozen start-ups strut their stuff in front of an industry crowd.

Shipley will still be running the show at Demo09, starting Sunday in Palm Desert, as well as the next Demo this fall, with Marshall working alongside until he takes over fully in 2010.

Here’s a video of the pair talking about the changeover.

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Another day, another tech blog eruption featuring Michael “The Volcano” Arrington of TechCrunch and, this time, Wired’s Betsy “Ain’t-Backing-Down” Schiffman.

When last we checked in with Arrington, he was elegantly telling Chris Shipley that her longstanding tech conference might want to take a dirt nap. Specifically: “Demo needs to die.”

But that’s not all!

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“Demo needs to die,” said TechCrunch Editor Michael Arrington yesterday.
Oh, my. Oh, dear. Not more bloody tangoing!?!
The pugnacious tech blogger–who was last seen slapping around other tech bloggers who deigned to also raise money for their ventures, much as he has been doing–made this classy statement in an interview with Daniel Terdiman of CNET’s [...]

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I was down in San Diego last night for the closing panel of DEMOfall, which took place after two days of wall-to-wall quickie presentations from scads of tech start-ups.

After all of them showed off their latest wares, the panelists and I were charged with telling the crowd what’s next.
Besides me, the motley crew included: [...]

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