Digital Innovations Announces 1st Annual D.O.C. Award Winners; Four Inventors Receive $25,000 Cash Plus Licensing Opportunities; $15,000+ Grand Prize Goes To Customizable 'Ringtone' System for Cars

Business Wire, Jan 5, 2006

LAS VEGAS -- Digital Innovations today awarded the $15,000 grand prize in its first annual D.O.C. Awards for Design, Originality, and Creativity to a system for creating fun personalized car horn sounds that provide drivers with an easy auditory way to locate their vehicles in crowding parking lots. The product concept was chosen from hundreds of entries in the competition for new inventions in consumer electronics accessories.

The audible car locator system and three $3,500 first-prize runners-up are eligible for exclusive worldwide licensing, marketing and distribution agreements with Digital Innovations, a company that sells its products in retail outlets such as Best Buy and Circuit City. The awards went to:

--HornTones (grand prize), a fun system for locating vehicles by ear. Drivers can express their individuality by creating personal audio files similar to customized cellphone ringtones and loading the files onto a receiver that mounts inside the car. They can then press a special key-fob included with the system to play their personal "horn tone" to find their car in a parking lot. The concept was submitted by Jack Conrad of Tabernash, CO.

--E-Scan (1st place), a scanner and database system designed to save time for eBay sellers. The system enables eBay sales screens to be automatically populated after items are scanned, eliminating hours of manual text and photo input. The concept was submitted by Robin Rider of Mansfield, OH.

--V-Leveler (1st place), a device that eliminates the nuisance of loud TV commercials by keeping TV and video programming to a constant preset level. The concept was submitted by Robert Reddy of Denver, CO.

--QuickSpot Gel band Identification System (1st place), a color-coded identification system for easy differentiation among a household's similar-looking remote controls, cellphones and PDAs. The concept was submitted by Julie Savage of Katy, TX.

"The enthusiastic response to this competition proves that consumers have hundreds of ideas for new products that can make their lives easier, and that they are eager for the opportunity to bring their concepts to market," said Rick Mazursky, CEO of Digital Innovations. "This is a fresh approach to product development that allows consumers themselves to lead the way."

Judges included reporters from several national publications, industry experts, as well as Digital Innovations personnel. Entries were judged on their innovation and originality, ability to enhance or optimize users' lives, and manufacturability and marketability.

The awards were announced at a press conference at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

About Digital Innovations

Digital Innovations enhances consumers' everyday digital experiences with creative solutions for protecting, maintaining, fixing and optimizing consumer electronics products and digital media. The company's flagship product, SkipDR, is the world standard for optical disc repair. The company was established in 1995 and is headquartered in Arlington Heights, IL. For more information, visit www.digitalinnovations.com.