Tickets available now for New York event on November 10 to salute CE industry champions
Without the contributions from the 2014 class of the Consumer Electronics (CE) Hall of Fame –produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® – digital photography, personalized Internet music streaming radio, computer routing, and secure communications via cell phone, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi might never have happened.
On the evening of November 10, the CE industry is gathering to salute the leaders who created landmark technologies, sold innovative products and services to consumers, and reported about the leap of technology from the lab to stores.
Registration is open through November 4 for the upcoming CE Hall of Fame Dinner, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan at 109 E 42nd Street.
The CE Hall of Fame was launched in 2000 to recognize the consumer electronics pioneers who have made significant and lasting contributions to the industry.
“Our industry is proud to celebrate the cornerstone of innovation that brings new products and ideas to consumers, starting in the lab and continuing through the entire process of product development, sales and marketing, and eventual purchase by consumers,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. It is a deep privilege to congratulate a diverse class of honorees who represent the best of consumer electronics.”
More than 200 consumer technology pioneers have won recognition as members of the CE Hall of Fame, with an annual awards program that salutes the most influential individuals and teams who created and marketed key consumer technologies – from the telephone, FM radio, television, phonograph, and the first TV remote control to this year’s awards for laboratory inventions of digital photography, computer signal routing and digital video interfaces.
The 2014 CE Hall of Fame inductees include company founders and inventors, industry executives and journalists who promote technology, and the retailers that educate and deliver products to consumers. This year’s class also includes two teams of individuals, underscoring the collaboration that takes place within the CE industry.
The 2014 CE Hall of Fame class includes:
- A team award goes posthumously to Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil, who worked together to invent spread spectrum and frequency hopping techniques to jam torpedo signals. Later, the technology was applied to cordless phones, cell phones and a range of computing products;
- Internet music pioneer Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, which today counts 250 million registered users. The Pandora “personalized radio” service began in 2000 and is the most thorough analysis of popular music ever undertaken;
- Retailer C.W. Conn, founder of Conn’s Inc. electronics and appliance store, which was started in 1890 as a plumbing and heating company in Beaumont, Texas and grew to be an enormous consumer electronics retailer;
- Zoran Corp. founder Dr. Levy Gerzberg, whose first product was a credit card-sized battery backed digital camera system on chip (SoC) that found its way into the first consumer digital camera from Fujifilm. Today, Zorean-designed chips capture more than 500 billion photos a year;
- Mississippi retailer John “Cowboy” Maloney, founder of Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City, which began in 1952 as a lumberyard selling home appliances. Today, Cowboy Maloney’s has 13 stores and has served as the national launch point for DIRECTV, Sirius Satellite Radio and dishNET Internet by satellite;
- Gerald McCarthy, former president of Zenith Sales Company, who had a hand in introducing several key technologies – including stereo TV, the first TV sets with closed captioning capability and the VHS-Compact home video camera;
- A team award for Victor and Janie Tsao, founders of Linksys, who created the first consumer class computer router to solve the problem of connecting multiple PCs to networks and the Internet;
- Audio pioneer Loyd Ivey, founder and CEO of Mitek Electronics and Communications Corp., whose first product was an eight-inch two-way bookshelf speaker encased in spill and burn-resistant walnut laminate (which was perfect for college students);
- Digital video innovator Dr. David Lee, founder of Silicon Image, whose pioneering work in digital video connectivity led to the creation of the DVI digital computer interface and the HDMI connection for high-definition TVs and computers; and
- Veteran journalist Walt Mossberg, a writer and columnist at The Wall Street Journal for more than 40 years. Mossberg wrote about national and international affairs before launching his popular “Personal Technology” column in 1991.
The new class of inductees was selected early this year by a panel of media and industry professionals who judged the nominations submitted by manufacturers, retailers and media.
For more information about the CE Hall of Fame program, visit: CE.org/HallofFame.
About CEA:
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the technology trade association representing the $211 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org, www.DeclareInnovation.com and through social media: www.ce.org/social
Contact:
Tara Dunion
703-907-7419
[email protected]
www.CE.org
or
Krista Silano
703-907-4311
[email protected]
www.CESweb.org
