Tiny phone, Web device grabs investors' interest

A pair of dot-com survivors were the only representatives from North Carolina at the Demo Conference for new high-tech gizmos this week.

ZinkKat, a two-man outfit based in Cary, debuted its remote cordless headset, Chili, at the two-day conference in Phoenix.

"Nobody's heard of us," chief development officer David Dubbs said of the two-year-old company. "We're in stealth mode."

The biannual Demo conference, which is in its 16th year, is viewed by some as the World's Fair of high-tech. It draws "the inner circle of technology influencers," said conference executive director Chris Shipley.

ZinkKat was one of 68 companies that exhibited products to investors and others. ZinkKat's Chili device was picked from among about 700 applicants because it was "a really cool idea," Shipley said.

Chili is a 4.5-ounce sliver of a communications device designed to liberate users from their computers. It lets them download music files, podcasts or Internet radio, or use the Chili earphones to listen remotely up to 400 feet from the computer. Chili comes with a wireless adapter that transmits music and podcasts to the device.

The Chili, which is targeted to teens, can also receive phone calls, and while it doesn't have a keypad, it can place outgoing calls by verbal cue.

In other words, it restores privacy to teenagers in their parents' home. With a Chili clipped to the hip, a teen can retreat to the bedroom and chill.

"This allows them the freedom to go wherever they want to go," said ZinkKat chief technology officer Trey Weaver.

Chili's primary competition comes from cell phones and MP3 music players such as the iPod. Motorola's Rokr and Sony Ericsson's Walkman cell phones let users download music files and listen through headphones. But Chili is designed as a remote listening device for home use, Weaver said.

He expects Chili to retail for $150 and go on sale before Christmas at stores such as Radio Shack, Best Buy and Circuit City. ZinkKat has a manufacturing agreement in Hong Kong, Weaver said.

ZinkKat is a private company financed by Weaver, Dubbs in California, friends and family, and a businessman in China. ZinkKat hopes the Demo conference will boost prospects.

"We got a whole pile of venture capitalists who talked to us ... about investing in the company," Weaver said. "In most cases, I think they're interested in funding you to get you to the next stage."

Weaver's home in Cary serves as the company's headquarters. Weaver and Dubbs, who once worked together at AT&T, contracted out some of the design work on Chili to two dozen former AT&T colleagues who now work for Indesign in Indianapolis.

Weaver moved to the Triangle in 2000 to run Lucent Technologies' project development lab at the N.C. State University campus. He left Lucent about four years ago when the company closed the lab.

They named the device Chili because its slim shape suggested a hot pepper. The ZinkKat name, however, was not inspired by metallurgy or a feline, but rather by the appeal of crunching hard consonants, Weaver said.

Of course, unorthodox names abound in technology. Other Demo exhibitors included Bones in Motion, Kosmix, Zimini and Zingee.

Some participants who showed up had really odd names that couldn't possibly catch on: Yahoo and America Online.