Digital Photo Frame Among Top Honors at Global Sources Electronics Design Awards

ITNewsOnline has an excellent post about the Global Sources Electronics Design Awards.

People all over the world love their electronics, you know!

Eight electronics products designed and manufactured in Asia were named winners of the third Global Sources (Nasdaq: GSOL) Electronics Design Awards at a press conference in Hong Kong.

The Design of the Year Award went to Shenzhen Vogue Industries’ Pierre Cardin Ultra-mobile PC. It comes with a 7-inch touch screen display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and a host of other features usually only found in full-sized notebook computers. It also features a stylish brushed metal exterior and a leather case for convenient portability.

The other seven product category winners of the third annual Global Sources Electronics Design Awards are:

– CCTV Products: EE Electronics — Touchpad controlled DVR
– Digital Photo Frames: Simon Trading — 10.4-inch Digital Photo Frame with music and video functions
– GPS: YF International — 4.3-inch Ultra-slim Portable GPS Navigation Device
– In-car Entertainment: Longhorn Technology — Bluetooth hands-free car kit
– Mobile Phones: Power Idea Technology — Water proof/Shock proof Tough Phone
– Portable Media Players: Shenzhen Songer Technology — 64GB TFT MP4 player with remote control
– Portable PCs: China Great-wall Computer — 12″ laptop with one-key recovery function

“Asia’s exporters continue to drive electronics innovation through a combination of design and product functionality. This is highlighted by the latest winners of the Electronics Design Awards,” said Spenser Au, Global Sources’ President of Asian Sales.

“Today, buyers no longer come to trade shows in Hong Kong just to find great suppliers. They come to find great ideas and great products they can bring to market right away.”

Winning products set to be showcased at Global Sources’ China Sourcing Fairs: Electronics & Components and Security Products

Winning products and finalists are set to be showcased at the Design Awards Gallery during the China Sourcing Fairs: Electronics & Components and Security Products, Oct. 12 – 15 at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo.

Au said: “Now in its third year, the Awards have become recognized by international buyers for spotlighting the newest, most innovative electronic designs coming out of Asia.

“Tens of thousands of buyers from around the world will see these innovative products first-hand and this could help boost the chances of market success for the winners. Many of the products you see here today have real potential to be the hottest electronics products on store shelves in the coming months.”

Eight winners were selected out of 200 entries from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea based on technical design; features and functionality; visual appeal; and sales, marketing and export success.

The judging panel was made up of top industry experts and executives, including Cindy Li, Woolworth’s (HK) Procurement Sourcing Manager for Consumer Electronics/Accessories; Coles Group Asia (Target) Regional Merchandise Manager, Clement Lam and The Source Deputy General Manager, Kenneth Tse.

For more information about the Global Sources Electronics Design Awards and winning product profiles, visit http://www.globalsources.com/elecawards . For more information about the China Sourcing Fairs, visit http://www.chinasourcingfair.com .

About Global Sources

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with Greater China. The core business uses English-language media to facilitate trade from Greater China to the world. The other business segment utilizes Chinese-language media to enable companies to sell to, and within Greater China.

The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over 829,000 active buyers source more profitably from complex overseas supply markets. With the goal of providing the most effective ways possible to advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to hard-to-reach buyers in over
240 countries.

The company offers the most extensive range of media and export marketing services in the industries it serves. It delivers information on 4.3 million products and more than 196,000 suppliers annually through 14 online marketplaces, 13 monthly magazines, over 100 sourcing research reports and 12 specialized trade shows which run 29 times a year across 10 cities.

Suppliers receive more than 81 million sales leads annually from buyers through
Global Sources Online alone.

Global Sources has been facilitating global trade for 38 years. Global Sources’ network covers more than 60 cities worldwide. In mainland China, Global Sources has over 2,500 team members in more than 40 locations, and a community of over 1 million registered online users and magazine readers for its Chinese-language media.

Global Sources Press Contact in Asia
Camellia So
Tel: +852-2555-5021
Email: cso@globalsources.com

Global Sources Press Contact in U.S.
James W.W. Strachan
Tel: +1-480-664-8309
Email: strachan@globalsources.com

Global Sources Investor Contact in Asia
Investor Relations Department
Tel: +852-2555-4777
Email: investor@globalsources.com

Global Sources Investor Contact in U.S.
Kirsten Chapman & Timothy Dien
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, Inc.
Tel: +1-415-433-3777
Email: tdien@lhai.com

SOURCE Global Sources

D-Link ships DIR-685 all in one router

We’ve posted here several times about the new FrameChannel-compatible D-Link DIR -685, and now Slippery Brick informs us that this fantastic product has shipped!

The DIR-685 was first introduced way back in January at CES and now the company has began shipping them. The DIR-685 features a built-in draft N Wi-Fi module that allows it to communicate with network attached storage devices.

But that isn’t all it does. That 3.2 inch LCD screen will play streaming video or you can use it as a digital photo frame. If you like stats, it will display status information in graphs and gauges too. Like weather, but don’t have any windows to look outside? You can program the screen to display weather forecasts and other live internet content. This router does a lot.

The NAS feature supports UPnP server functions and BitTorrent downloads. Pick up the D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685 $300.

Wi-Fi Enabled Televisions Among Highest Growth of New Product Introduction

SOAWorld Magazine has posted a fascinating article about the “1H09 Wi-Fi Products Tracker Database” directory:

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “1H09 Wi-Fi Products Tracker Database” directory to their offering.

The Wi-Fi Products Tracker Database provides summary data of branded WLAN end-products by product name, vendor, 802.11 technology, category, and subcategory in pivot-tables for quick analysis of trends. Detailed data is provided for in-depth analysis of product releases from 2007 to 1H09

Wi-Fi Connectivity Becoming Pervasive on Devices. Over 1000 New Wi-Fi Products Are Launched in 2008

Wi-Fi enabled products continue to proliferate across nearly all categories, including computing, networking, consumer electronics and mobile devices. Over 1,000 new products were launched with Wi-Fi in 2008; 2009 promises to surpass that mark, reports this latest report.

Among the key growth areas is stationary consumer electronics (CE) devices with Wi-Fi. Stationary CE devices include products that require access to a power source, such as televisions and digital photo frames. In 2008, manufacturers introduced nearly 100 new Wi-Fi enabled stationary CE products, up from 22 in 2007. Introductions are increasing in 2009, with over 55 in the first half of 2009.

Digital photo frames and digital audio players with Wi-Fi were among the key device types to see a surge in product introductions in 2008 compared to 2007. In 2009, Wi-Fi enabled digital televisions are among the highest growth of new product introductions for stationary CE devices. Philips consumer electronics was among the most aggressive competitors, pushing an array of new Wi-Fi-equipped digital audio players and digital TVs. In the digital photo frame category, adoption of Wi-Fi in 2008 new product introductions was broad-based across 17 different competitors

Recent research found the following:

Hewlett Packard had the most Wi-Fi enabled new product introductions of any manufacturer in 2008, and nearly tripled their new product introductions in 2008 compared to 2007.
Cisco leads the market in first half of 2009 with 802.11n-enabled product introductions overall. Samsung electronics leads market in 802.11n consumer electronics.
802.11 b/g solutions are still the dominant Wi-Fi technology in new product introductions in 2008. However, 802.11 Draft n 2.0 solutions are gaining rapidly, and are expected to become the most popular Wi-Fi technology across most product categories by the end of 2009.
Philips, looking to grab a market leadership position in Internet-enabled television sets, released more Wi-Fi enabled television sets than the rest of the market combined.

Recent research, 1H09 Wi-Fi Products Database is part of the new “Wi-Fi Product Database”. The database provides detailed tracking of the progression of Wi-Fi adoption in computing, consumer electronics, mobile phones and other electronic devices that are announced.

The database includes a detailed log of branded WLAN end-products by product name, vendor, 802.11 technology, product category, and subcategory. The data is provided in formatted pivot-tables for analysis of technology and product trends, as well as competitors.

Thai Restaurant Serves Outstanding Cuisine with a Side of FrameChannel!

The Indianapolis Examiner.com has a wonderful article about a Thai restaurant in California that really knows its social media!  Ting’s Thai Kitchen even has a wireless digital picture frame in the window, tuned in to its very own FrameChannel show!

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HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, CA – Ting’s Thai Kitchen is not just another family-run restaurant in Lake County, CA. It is the winner of the 2008 Lake County Restaurant Challenge – a special competition put on by the county’s only TV station, Channel 8 Public Access Television.  Videographer Kit Dee organized and videotaped the competition between local restaurants. Here one restaurant challenged another with a food offering. The public was invited to visit the competing restaurants, taste the cuisine and then go online to vote for the winner. When all was said and done, one restaurant was left standing – Ting’s Thai Kitchen. Believe it or not, this little restaurant received the most favorable votes from the general public, countywide.

Whereas most restaurants focus solely on food, Ting’s Thai Kitchen focuses also on its surrounding community. It actually makes a special effort to attract more business by making its venue more beneficial to one-the-go business people. For example, shortly after the restaurant opened two years ago, it became a Wi-Fi hot spot. Now, the public could not only come into the restaurant to eat wonderful Thai cuisine, they could bring a laptop or other mobile device to check email, surf the Web and make VOIP phone calls. They could do this while waiting for their meal to be prepared. Having the restaurant be a Wi-Fi hot spot also benefited the restaurant by making daily contact with Thailand quick-and-easy.

The famous blue Twitter bird beckons the public to become Twitter followers of Ting’s Thai Kitchen for fresh seafood specials.

With Twitter.com making micro-blogging popular around the world, Ting’s owner, Charlie McFarling, decided his restaurant needed an online following for his restaurant specials – especially the seafood. Consequently, whenever McFarling gets ready to make a special trip to Santa Rosa to visit his seafood wholesaler, he first announces his intention on Twitter to his growing online following. Consequently, he can pre-sale his seafood before he even orders it.

If you visit Ting’s Thai Kitchen, you may notice a reliance on technological innovation before you even walk inside the restaurant. Occasionally, there is a digital photo frame in the window. That digital photo frame has been used to showcase pictures of various Thai food dishes as well as show off a promotional video of Thailand. What may surprise you is how this innovation works. Often the slide show you see comes from the Internet’s Frame Channel. What does that mean? It means Ting’s is actually developing its own remote network of slide show programs. How is that possible? It’s possible because the digital photo frame is Wi-Fi enabled. McFarling can actually upload slide shows remotely from any computer to his Frame Channel Site and have them showcased through that digital photo frame in his store’s window.

Indeed, reliance upon the Internet has empowered Ting’s Thai Kitchen to do some pretty clever things. Another clever idea is to offer “no-coupon” discounts on meals. The restaurant has decided to give special discounts on group gatherings for birthdays and anniversaries. Every person in the group gets a 15% discount on their meal. However, for the group to get the discount, arrangements have to be made a month in advance. To do that, customers must provide Ting’s with their name, birth or anniversary date via email. Just visit the Ting’s Thai Kitchen Squidoo lens to make that magic happen. Ting’s takes the email information and places it into it’s very own 30 Boxes Online Calendar. This amazing calendar actually notifies Ting’s via email a month in advance of the special occasion. That way, Ting’s can contact the customer and make special arrangements for a party.

Beginning in October, Ting’s will be uplifting its local community in an educational sense. The restaurant will be introducing a Social Media Sunday Brunch. Here a delicious meal will be followed by a special presentation on the benefits of the Internet’s social media space. Suzanne La Faver, a professor of Public Relations at Golden State University, will be on hand for the kick-off presentation. Ting’s is a small restaurant. The brunch itself will be limited to just 12 people for maximum educational benefit. The cost for the meal and the presentation is just $25.00. For more information and to make reservations, call CDMM – Synergistic Business Marketing at (707) 709-8605.