e.Digital Named a Finalist for UCSD CONNECT Most Innovative New Product Award; MXP 100 Digital Audio Player Chosen As Finalist in Hardware Category
SAN DIEGO, Oct 18, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- e.Digital Corp. (OTCBB:EDIG) today announced that the company has been selected as a finalist for the 15th annual UCSD CONNECT Most Innovative New Product Award in the hardware category.
e.Digital's MXP 100 digital audio player and voice recorder was judged for its integration of innovative technology developed by a San Diego company. To be eligible for the award, the product must have come to market within the calendar year spanning Sept. 14, 2001 to Sept. 13, 2002.
The top three finalists in each category were announced Oct. 16 at the nominees' reception held at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. A total of 21 finalists were selected out of entries from a record 130 companies. The winners in each category will be announced at the UCSD CONNECT MIP Awards Luncheon scheduled for Dec. 11.
Since 1988, the CONNECT MIP Awards program has served as a benchmark for predicting the region's most successful emerging technologies. From early stage biotechnology companies to the first products generated by the region's telecommunications boom, the awards program has been an indicator of the industries and technologies that have fueled the San Diego economy.
The MXP 100 is unique in that it incorporates e.Digital's Music Explorer, VoiceNav(TM) and IBM Microdrive(TM) to answer consumer demands for an easy-to-use digital music player that doesn't sacrifice quality, capacity or portability. The sleek, extremely compact digital music player and voice recorder features, for the first time ever on any portable device, voice navigation command capability that gives users the option to move between their audio files and music tracks by the power of their own voice. The voice navigation capability is completely user-independent and does not have to be trained to understand a user's voice; just "say it to play it."
According to Atul Anandpura, e.Digital's vice president of research and development, "Our nomination focused on the MXP 100's VoiceNav speech recognition user interface, which makes finding and selecting music tracks quick and easy. When navigating among hundreds of songs, it can be difficult to locate tracks using a traditional scroll wheel. VoiceNAV speech interface provides user independent speech recognition technology, which is very easy to use, as it does not require any voice training. The MXP 100 is an innovative player that provides a glimpse into the future of consumer electronics and digital audio devices."
e.Digital integrated its MicroOS(TM) 2.0 audio file management system with Lucent's voice recognition engine to produce a natural speech interface for portable devices. Drawing on e.Digital's expertise in low power, small footprint applications, the company was able to support more than 100,000 words and names in the MXP 100, plus flexibility for English words or sounds not in the dictionary.
About UCSD CONNECT
CONNECT is the globally recognized, university-based non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by catalyzing, accelerating and supporting the growth of the most promising technology and life sciences businesses. Focused on assisting growth companies in the San Diego region, CONNECT has been directly involved with over 900 companies since its inception in 1985, helping them raise over $11B in capital. Part of the University of California, San Diego, CONNECT has a dual role in accelerating growth: it assists growth companies in the San Diego region and promotes the commercialization of technology from university-based research. CONNECT's programs also help business service providers, attorneys, accountants, bankers, investors and marketing professionals with the knowledge about emerging technologies and access to new business opportunities. CONNECT is entirely self-supporting and receives no funding from the University or the State of California. It is supported by membership dues, course fees and corporate underwriting for specific programs. For more information, visit connect.org.
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corp. designs, licenses, brands, manufactures and sells digital audio products and technologies. The company's trademarked digital audio players include the MXP(TM) 100, Treo(TM) portable digital jukebox line, Silhouette(TM) ultra-slim MP3-CD player, and Odyssey(TM) line of flash- and hard disk drive-based players. e.Digital launched WeDigMusic.com to complement its digital audio players by providing consumers with a one-stop-shop for streaming and downloading music from thousands of artists on the Web. The company also offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management of open and secure digital media with a focus on music, voice and video players/recorders, and automotive infotainment and telematics systems. Other applications for e.Digital's technology include portable digital music players and voice recorders; desktop, laptop and handheld computers; PC peripherals; cellular phone peripherals; e-books; video games; digital cameras; and digital video recorders. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to custom software and hardware development, industrial design, and manufacturing services. For more information on the company, visit www.edig.com. To shop at the e.Digital online store, visit www.edigital-store.com.
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Editors Note: e.Digital is a trademark of e.Digital Corp. All other company, product, and service names are the property of their respective owners.
e.Digital Corp.
Robert Putnam, 858/679-1504 (Investor Relations)
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Lisa Stevens, 858/679-1504 (Media Relations)
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