Remote controls for your life

Some companies are betting that people will use their PCs as a sort of home base for content that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, through a mobile phone.

Software created by Orb Networks Inc., based in Emeryville, turns the PC into a personal network server that can stream video files and music to handheld devices.

"We think the reason you invested in broadband is so everything you own is available to you at any time," said Ian McCarthy, vice president of product marketing at Orb, which was founded in 2004. "You have a blurring of the lines between the stuff at home and stuff in your hand."

Orb also recently launched TiVo Anywhere, which lets handheld users watch shows they've recorded on their TiVos as well as program their TiVo set-top boxes from their smartphone.

Avvenu, a Palo Alto startup founded in 2004 and backed by Motorola Corp., intends to challenge Orb on both fronts, said spokesman David Trescot.

Starting next week, Avvenu will match Orb's network server functions and soon thereafter will launch a service bringing TiVo to smartphones, said Trescot, whose company is a DEMO alumnus.

Several companies have developed smartphone applications that leverage Global Positioning System technology, which pinpoint locations anywhere on Earth through satellite triangulation.

Last March, MapQuest and Nextel Communications launched the "Find Me" Service, which uses MapQuest's digital maps, on GPS-enabled mobile phones.

At the DEMO conference, MapQuest is expected to announce a similar service for the BlackBerry.

A rival company, Destinator Technologies Inc., is unveiling software for GPS-enabled smartphones and handhelds that automatically updates a route based on the device user's location.

The Destinator platform, which has been available in Europe for more than two years, also allows friends and colleagues to spot each other's locations on a map in relation to their ultimate destination and send directions via instant message.

Destinator also includes a real-time traffic-monitoring feature. Few U.S. companies aggregate traffic information but this is expected to change soon.

"We're going to automated-live navigation," said Jeff Kukowski, senior vice president of marketing. "Your printed directions from Yahoo or Google can't tell you how to get back on route."

The Destinator software takes the user's GPS location information and compares it to the planned route. Miss a turn, and the software offers up a revised route.

Adoption of all these new smartphone functions isn't widespread yet, probably because phone carriers such as Verizon, Cingular and Sprint make it difficult for customers to obtain services the carriers can't closely control and profit from, analysts say.

But smartphone makers are encouraging software companies to keep developing new applications that can drive sales, says Kevin Burden, program manager of Mobile Devices at research firm IDC.

"The makers are lawyers looking for a nice hook because the phones come at such a premium price tag," Burden said. "To sell these things, they have to offer more than a phone and e-mail."

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