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DEMO 2007, Palm Desert, CA – January 30, 2007 – Helium™ (www.helium.com), a community-created directory of real-world knowledge where you can read, write and rate articles, today announced Helium Debate™ at the DEMO 2007 conference, the leading launch pad for new technology. With Helium Debate, scheduled for public launch in the first quarter of 2007, Helium leverages its unique peer-review rating process to improve upon how debate on any topic, from gun control to deficit spending, takes place online.

“Helium excels at bringing order to user-contributed content, and it has hit upon an obvious unmet market need,” said Chris Shipley, DEMO 2007 executive producer. “With Debate, Helium has successfully applied peer-review rating to how “pro versus con” occurs online, everyday. Helium offers a structured and unbiased forum for voicing an opinion and countering others. I expect it will be popular for give and take on both serious and light-hearted topics.”

While popular community sites, blogs and social networks encourage “debate” through comment or feedback forms, message boards or member forums, the lack of structure and fair presentation of both sides of any difference of opinion makes such disputes hard-to-follow and uninteresting for the reader. Most debates are merely “battles of the post” or inflamed re-writes of what is perceived to be fact. With no definitive format for a clear pro versus con argument and no way for audiences to also provide feedback, true online debate has yet to work until today.

Helium Debate allows users to submit a debate topic of their choice as either a pro or con position. For example, users can submit topics such as, “The use of steroids should be allowed in professional sports,” or “The increase in American troops in Iraq is the right thing to do.” The result is an ordered list of pro arguments presented against an ordered list of con arguments on any subject. The best argument for each side of the debate, according to a jury of peers, rises to the top. Users can participate in the debate or simply gain insight and new perspective by reading rank-ordered articles provided by others. The result is entertaining and useful �?? arguments are ordered for quality by the community.

“Since our initial launch just over 100 days ago, it has become clear that our patented, peer-review ranking system is a perfect fit for organized and rational discussions via the Internet,” said Mark Ranalli, president and CEO of Helium. “With more than 26 million Americans per day reported to have used the Internet for news or information about politics leading into the Fall 2006 mid-term elections(1), the need for a structured platform to exchange opinion and information online was convincingly demonstrated. Helium Debate is the only place on the Web for the masses to engage in meaningful discussions on virtually any topic.”

Availability

More than 600 DEMO 2007 attendees, including business and technology executives, venture capital partners, university professors, editors, and reporters of leading newspapers and magazines, will be presented with Helium Debate during a demonstration at the conference. Helium Debate will be available to the public in the first quarter of 2007. To receive notification when Helium Debate will become available to the general public, email Helium.

About DEMO

Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information, visit www.demo.com

About Helium

Helium is a directory of real-world knowledge powered by people like you. It is the first to combine user-contributed content with the ordering capabilities of a peer-review ranking system to make it easy for consumers to gain insight quickly from subjective content. Helium is a fun and addictive place for people who are passionate about a topic to write and be heard. Helium is a community where you can read, write and rate articles on a broad range of topics. Helium. Where Knowledge Rules™. Try it now at http://www.helium.com.

(1) emarketer, August 2006

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• Kel & Partners
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