I have to hand it to Jason Calacanis. When it comes to the business kick to the groin, the WIN founder and former AOL executive, has excellent timing. Calacanis has announced, with Michael Arrington of Techcrunch, a rival demo conference — on the first day of Chris Shipley's own showcase for new products and companies. As an aggressively show-stealing move, this is up there with Steve Jobs' launch of the iPhone while the rest of the consumer electronics industry wandered listlessly round the CES show in Las Vegas. The trademark Calacanis flourish: a populist promise that presenting companies, who pay Shipley an eye-watering $18,500 per slot, will get a place on merit alone.

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