Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/236859
42 W e d n e sd a y, Ja n u a ry 8 , 2 0 1 4 BETTER JPG COMPRESSION, BETTER VIEWING MAKE ACCUSOFT'S MOBILE MARK An interview with Jack Berlin, President, Accusoft. CEDN: Where's the role in the mobile space for a company like Accusoft, a well-established technology enterprise specializing in imaging and document viewing? JB: In a word: compression. Our scientists have created and patented the best image compression technology in the world. We invented it to enable developers to build fast, powerful image viewing and editing applications for desktop and client/server environments. But on mobile, through our ThinPic app, our compression is a lifesaver. We have other products that cross over into the mobile space, such as our Prizm Content Connect document viewer and our related cloud services, all of which bring convenient MEMS Industry (Cont'd. from p. 1) software designers to equipment and material suppliers, and OEM integrators – promoting our members through a variety of ways. We are at CES because MEMS is an essential building-block technology for consumer electronics (CE). It's become the not-so-secret sauce in mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices for health and wellness, video game consoles and a seemingly endless list of other CE products. CEDN: If I were a CE OEM, what could I do with MEMS? KL: If you are a CE OEM, you are already working with MEMS, at least at some level. Smartphone OEMs, for example, rely on MEMS for the kind of functionality that consumers cannot live without. MEMS dramatically improves the human-machine interface, supporting portrait-landscape switching, better voice capture, gesture recognition, context BITS Limited (Cont'd. from p. 1) CEDN: Can you tell us more about the Smart Strip? RB: Being green long before it was fashionable, my brother did not want to leave his computer on at the end of the day and he got tired of reaching under his desk, so he invented the first energy-saving surge protector. Since this was our first consumer product and it was different from any of the surge protectors at that time, the first Smart Strip took us a full year to completely develop. The Smart Strip contains several innovative patented technologies and no other company had a similar product for years after its release. CEDN: What else makes your surge protectors unique? RB: We decided there were enough stan- zero-footprint HTML5 document viewing to browsers on mobile devices. CEDN: Devices are coming with as much as 32GB onboard. And 4G networks are pretty fast. Is mobile compression really necessary? JB: The same thing was said to us when the world went from floppy disks to CD-ROMs, and has been said with every advance. You know what is increasing as fast or faster than storage? The megapixels of the camera, the volume of photos taken, the use and sharing of multimedia. Efficient, non-damaging compression is important, and always will be. Without our compression, people are hitting that 'storage almost full' message a lot faster than they expected, and they're burning through their data plan minutes like crazy just posting pictures to awareness, activity monitoring, gaming and more. MEMS also supports outdoor – and soon indoor – navigation, temperature-sensing and augmented reality. Whereas CPUs, microcontrollers and DSPs provide the computational 'muscle' in CE, MEMS delivers the intelligence, and does so in a very tiny, lowpower package. While less visible to the consumer, some emerging categories of MEMS devices will make big differences for CE OEMs. They include energy harvesters, which convert vibration into energy; MEMS timing devices, which keep the electronic 'heartbeat' of CE products functioning properly; and RF-MEMS, which can reduce dropped calls and boost data transmission rates in mobile handsets. CEDN: With products like Jawbone, Fitbit and Nike+ Fuelband SE captivating people everywhere, where is MEMS going in the health and wellness space? KL: We are just scratching the surface with wearables, which are enabling people dard surge protectors on the market already, so we set out to produce the most unique surge protector line available. Each surge protector was designed around a specific need that we saw. CEDN: Does your company have any other innovations? RB: Since the Smart Strip in 2002, we have been the first to market on several different surge protectors, such as a dual voltage surge protector in 2003, a brownout protector in 2004 and a variety of others that followed. CEDN: Is your company introducing any new products? RB: Today the average consumer is surrounded with technology that they always need to keep powered, so we are introducing the miniSquid. It is a small, easy-to- C o n su m e r Ele c tro n ic D a ily N e ws Facebook or sharing them through email. Our technology gives users breathing room, and saves them money. CEDN: Doesn't compressing images make them look worse? JB: With some compression technologies, yes. Our algorithms are better; that's our bread and butter. We can reduce the file size of an image by more than half, sometimes two-thirds, while preserving the image's full resolution, display/print size and image quality, even when you zoom in. Our compression products include comparison tools so you can confirm that the smaller file looks just as good as the original. CEDN: What happens to the compressed files when they leave the device? Do they still work? JB: They're standard JPEGs, they work in any browser and any editor that accepts JPEG. And they have additional benefits off the device. For example, when embedded in a web page or blog, our smaller image files will display far to track and improve their wellness. With armbands first to market, we are seeing the emergence of smart wristwatches and soon there will be smart glasses (e.g. Google Glass). The CE possibilities in the wellness space are truly endless. But one doesn't have to be a psychic to predict that the digital health landscape is going to explode. From intelligent asthma inhalers and electronic insulin patches to ingestible sensors that monitor medication dosage, digital health applications are revolutionizing what it means to be a 'patient.' CEDN: It sounds like MEMS can do everything and will be everywhere. KL: That's actually one of my catch phrases, and yes, I truly see a future where MEMS is everywhere improving people's lives. MEMS is integral to home automation, and will play a critical role in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. From refrigerators and microwaves to coffee makers, security systems, HVAC systems, you name it, and MEMS is going to be there carry surge protector that can be placed in any bag from camping to travel to daily use. We are also getting the factories ready to start producing our True Surge models. CEDN: What is True Surge? RB: True Surge is the first and only surge protector that always protects your equipment no matter how big the surge is. It has several patented safety features that are revolutionizing the entire surge protector industry just like the Smart Strip did when we released it. CEDN: What is the vision for your company? RB: BITS Limited is the only surge protector company where everything except the manufacturing is done in the USA. We have also always built our lower volume surge protectors in the USA, and are more quickly, accelerating site performance while still looking beautiful. Web developers like our cloud service, prizmimage.com, which applies the same advanced compression as the ThinPic app but doesn't require a mobile device. CEDN: What's next for Accusoft in the mobile space? JB: What's next is now. Our software development kits [SDKs] enable developers to build our industry-leading technology into their mobile, cloud and client/server applications. We have software and cloud services for document viewing that display any of 300 different file types through a browser, even on mobile devices. We've ported our powerful recognition technology to mobile devices for things like barcode reading and image capture straight from a USB scanner to an Android device. Accusoft is about the technology, not the device. Visit Accusoft at booth 46006. For more information, go to www.accusoft.com or call 813-875-7575. soon, if it's not there already. CEDN: Where can I learn more about MEMS at the 2014 International CES? KL: MIG is offering two great ways to connect with MEMS during CES. We are hosting the MotionTech TechZone at LVCC South Hall 2, booth 25736, joined by MEMS suppliers, end-user companies and integrators that are demonstrating the power of MEMS in consumer applications. MIG is also hosting a MEMS conference track, "MEMS Sensor Fusion―Revolutionizing the Internet of Things," on January 8th, 1:00-5:00 p.m. in LVCC North Hall, room N261. We have an amazing line-up of speakers, and CES attendees can still register for the conference track session online at www.cesweb.org. Visit MEMS Industry Group at booth 25736. For more information, go to www.memsindustrygroup.org, call 412-390-1644 or email info@mems industrygroup.org. now looking to start building at least one of our higher volume models in the USA. CEDN: To what do you attribute your company's success? RB: Our customers. They love our products and love a company that can be reached directly and easily. This is why we do not outsource our customer service; it brings us closer to the customer. CEDN: How can our readers find more about your company? RB: We are available on the web, social media and even by simply picking up the phone. Visit BITS Limited at booth 35353. For more information, visit www.bitsltd.net, call 631-896-9855 or email russell.barton@me.com.