TAIPEI, Taiwan—Home of electronic brands Asus, Acer, Transcend and D-Link, to name a few, Taiwan, one of the most competitive players in the high-tech industry, is pushing itself beyond the box and going the extra mile through Taiwan Excellence.
Taiwan Excellence, formerly known as “Symbol of Excellence,” is a national commodity standard, which does not only ensure quality industrial output, but also encourages Taiwanese industries to upgrade and create new products. Every year, Taiwan Excellence is showcasing the “best of the best,” “innovalue” products, which undergo a selection based on five main criteria—research and development; design; quality; marketing; and made in Taiwan. Standardized products would bear the Taiwan Excellence marks to strengthen the country’s local and international marketing efforts.
At a visit to the Taiwan Excellence Award Pavilion, an avenue dedicated to innovative products that are made in Taiwan, the BusinessMirror selects 10 of its most interesting products for 2014:
iPin Laser Presenter
THE smallest laser presenter in the world received numerous awards, including the 2014 iF Product Design Award with its efficiency and design details. The laser presenter, which is just 1.6 centimeters, is powered by a smartphone and was engineered to fit right in the ear buds. Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi)-ready, users can control the presentation using iPin App and iPin Host computer program suited for all professionals.
MiWand 2 Wi-Fi Pro
A MOBILE scanner without a computer required only takes 1.5 seconds to scan a full A4 page at 300dpi in 24-bit true color. The easy-to-use scanner by Avision Inc. allows its user to scan up to 400 pages of A4 documents consecutively by simply gliding over the page. Small and portable, it has a liquid-crystal display (LCD) display to show scanned images, settings and warning messages. With Wi-Fi, users can wirelessly connect the scanned image from scanner to computer, or through a microSD (Secure Digital) card.
One-for-all Smart Cloud Kit
THIS Sapido Technology Inc. award-winning system and proudly 100-percent made in Taiwan is an ideal home partner. It covers three main sectors—cloud security, cloud automation and digital convergence—bringing security to the next level. The Smart Cloud Sensor has infrared-motion sensor that detects entry and can monitor criminals in the users’ home, which automatically activates the alarm and signal for any suspicious movement. The Smart Cloud HD Surveillance Camera with Audio Wireless Router allows its user to talk, listen and keep in touch with loved ones in real time anywhere—ideal for working mothers who nurse their babies at home while in the office. Included in the kit is the Smart Cloud Battery-in Wireless Router with 3.75G SIM Card Slot, which maintains the products’ power supply and connection for hours with extra functions, such as cloud sharing, cloud monitoring, network-security management, among others.
Tang Liony Peony combinative chopsticks
ONE of the best-selling green products featured in Taiwan Excellence, this patented green chopsticks of Layana Cutlery has stainless-steel and rosewood mahogany handle laser-engraved with Tang Lion and Peony design—which means “to enjoy a good meal and have a healthy life.” Accentuated with Swarovski crystals, these chopsticks make for an ideal gift.
The One (table lamp)
THREE main functions make this lamp the only one. The LED touch table lamp from Just Power Integrated Technology Inc. can also be an emergency light and torch anytime. With seven different lighting modes, The One automatically lights up to four hours if the power supply fails, and may act as a glaring beacon at the event of a sudden outage.
Optoma ML550
PLAY videos, movies, photos and presentations on this ultra-compact light-emitting diode (LED) projector by Optoma Corp. Only 400 grams and 4x22x17 centimeters, this portable LED projector, which fits right smack in your hand-carry, produces vibrant visuals (3,000:1 full-color contrast, with 20,000 hours full power) without the need to connect to a laptop, personal computer or DVD player.
Asus PadFone Mini
TWO gadgets in one, this latest product of Asus is a quantum leap from its predecessors. The Asus PadFone transforms into a 4.3″ Long-Term Evolution (LTE) smartphone and 7″ LTE tablet seamlessly for best user experience. It has 1.4 GHz quad-core Qualcomm 8228 and 8-megapixel camera, making the phone and tablet a stunning combination of the 960×540 and 1280×800 resolution displays, respectively, for great performance and power efficiency.
CyberLink PhotoDirector 5
TURN photos into riveting works of art with PhotoDirector 5, a brainchild by CyberLink Corp. Compatible with Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it has a simple user interactive design for both beginners and advanced users. It also boasts of a 16-bit color depth and faster decoding of RAW files, Auto-Lens Correction, high DPI support, 64-bit performance, among others, for seamless photo management, quality adjustment and photo editing.
Acer S7-392 Ultrabook
ACER, the first company to use Gorilla Glass for notebook construction, has improved the Ultrabook old S7, bringing good news to Ultrabook gizmos. Acer integrated in the sleek compact Aspire S7-392 Ultrabook cutting-edge features, like dual-torque design with 180 degrees flip-view display, Acer Purified Voice enhanced speech performance/voice recognition, RAID0 SSD, Intel Wireless Display, EL backlight keyboard and Acer TwinAir cooling technology, to name a few.
Image credits: K.C. Niña Pusing