The Consumer Electronics Association, best known for hosting the annual tech show CES every January, named a handful of Orange County companies today as finalists for its “2009 Mark of Excellence Awards” for custom home electronics. While there is a ton of competition, O.C. has a good showing:
Best Control System:
NevoS70 Controller (pictured on right) from Universal Electronics in Cypress. This super-sized all-in-one remote can control everything from your stereo system to computers on the home network.
Best Green Product, Service, or Corporate Policy
D-Link Systems in Fountain Valley, nominated for its corporate policy, which includes building Energy Star-approved products, and supporting local recycling, reuse and reclamation of consumer goods. Offers “green Ethernet” products, which put unused cables in sleep mode.
![Fabrik’s [re]drive is made from bamboo](http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/files/2008/07/fabrikredriver2882-web.thumbnail.jpg)
SimpleTech, a Fabrik Company, in Santa Ana, introduced the [re]drive (on left) last year made partly from bamboo grown near its manufacturing plant in China. The drive also has a fanless cooling system and a low-powered drive and an Energy Start adapter to help cut energy usage by 90 percent over comparable drives.
Best Video display
LaserVue TV from Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc. in Irvine. A new type of flat TV that uses laser technology to produce the video, which is touted as offering twice the color while using half the power as comparably sized TVs.
For a complete list of finalists, visit www.CE.org/MOE. Winners will be announced on March 13, 2009 at the Electronic House Expo Sprint 2009 in Orlando, FL.
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