The Widget UK Blog

"Despite just using a white wall the image quality was superb. Pdfs, MS Office files and most images were fine. It also plays back *.avi files, which I found pretty amazing – " read more from latestgadgets.co.uk

"The 3M MPro150 comes as the successor to the company’s well received MPro120 pocket projector. The series has come a long way since the original MPro110, maintaining the lightweight and compact size that makes the gadget so portable, yet improving the video quality hugely. And when we say compact, we aren’t playing around, since the 3M projector with measurements of 130 x 60 x 24 mm could easily be mistaken for a mobile phone. It also weighs only a mere 160 grams."
read more from news.idealo.co.uk

Widget is the preferred retail distributor for the 3M MPro 150 Pocket Projector.

Widget is Cisco's leading UK retail distributor, bringing the HD versions of the Mino and Ultra to the UK market in 2009. 

But most of Cisco's sales are made to corporations and service providers  rather than to the consumer. InfoWorld asked John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, the question that many people have asked us - how does the Flip range fit into Cisco? 

John Gallant, InfoWorld : Some IT executives may look atthe things Cisco does in consumer and ask why? How does that benefitthe enterprise buyer? Case in point, how does the acquisition of thecompany that makes the Flip video camera benefit me as an enterprisebuyer?

John Chambers: From the CIO perspective, threethoughts: The first generation of the Internet was driven by businessto the consumer, in terms of Internet productivity. Business got itfirst, with ordering online, doing customer support. The nextgeneration of productivity is the consumer [technology] driving intobusiness. We predicted this in 2000. It was on the charts. That's howit's occurring -- what our kids did in social networking, Web 2.0,YouTube, Facebook, etc.

We are absolutely taking [that] straight into our own enterpriseand architecting them together underneath a common collaborationarchitecture. We think that will drive productivity at well-runcompanies 5 to 10 percent a year for a decade. Now, you'd say, that'sa nice general statement. But when we've made those [statements] inthe past, we've been right. The new creative ideas, as we thought,are coming from the consumer up. We just add discipline to it,organization structure, business models to it.

This is occurring much quicker than [anyone] thought. You ask thetop leadership at Procter & Gamble what they use Flip for. Theyuse it to submit ideas to the CEO. You ask what I use Flip for? Myteam pushed me, saying, "John, you've got to think aboutblogging." I said, "No way. I can talk 200 hundred words aminute. Why would I ever want to blog?" Today, I will doprobably four Flips to the whole company or to a specific audience.

Full story

Nicky Trup from PCR Magazine asked how personal navigation vendors can compete with free sat nav software.

"Phone applications may work fine," said Bart Hoorntje, "but the screen size, battery life and processor are not built to run a fully-blown GPS application for longer than a very brief period of time. My feeling is that a lot of people will be using them, but I don't think they replace the PDN category on their own."

Full story here

PCR Magazine on GPS March 2010.pdf

The results are in for Byte Night 2009, the annual IT industry fundraising event for the charity Action for Children, and once again Widget raised 100% of its target, part of the over £500,000 raised this year.

James Bennet, co-chairman of the Byte Night fundraising committee said that "Out of around 200 companies which have taken part in Byte Night in the last four years, Widget is in the top 25 in the fund raising table, ahead of several much larger companies. Having more companies like Widget taking part is really key to our success going forwards."

January's PCR magazine (formerly PC Retail) contains a feature on E-book readers. The article quotes Widget sales director Bart Hoorntje's practical explanation for the interest in e-readers.

ONE OF THE most exciting new product segments to emerge in recent years has been the e-reader, writes PCR staff writer Matt Grainger.  Although the ideal of a tablet-style reader device has been around since before Star Trek first aired, the technology to realistically bring the devices to the mass market has only recently developed to a point where the end consumer would consider it over the simpler, more readily available old-fashioned book...

Widget Sales Director Bart Hoorntje says "In a nutshell, the devices have become more affordable, the technology has progressed to the point where people don't mind reading an e-reader instead of a book, and the battery offers a better charge life than any other device on the market."

"Additionally, there's a lot more development in the pipeline - such as wireless downloads and integrated web browsers - so over time it'll become a multi-function device."

The key breakthrough has been the development of e-ink screens. It is this device that has enabled'glare-less' screen, low battery drain and ironically it represents one of the biggest barriers to wider success at this time.

"From my understanding, there's only one manufacturer of the e-ink screens and the simple problem that brings is that if you're looking at capacity issues," Hoorntje comments.

For the full article, click here

The following is extracted from a case study released by Maginus

Widget UK Ltd, a fast growing consumer electronics distributor, has seen its business double in the three years that it has managed its business using IT solutions from Maginus, expert providers of integrated software solutions for multi channel retail & distribution companies.

Using Maginus, Widget has been able to manage business to business orders in a single, fully integrated system. The solution enables the company to buy and stock more efficiently because it provides extensive reports into sales and margin by product, season, promotion and customer.

Widget was initially a supplier of third party products for Psion handheld computers. In 2002 the company became the first distributor to specialise in GPS, and was TomTom’s first distributor in the UK.

 (More)

"The [IT] channel was well-represented in Deloitte's table to the UK's fastest growing technology firms," reports Computer Reseller News.

"The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list ranks companies based on revenue growth over the past five years... Peripherals distributor Widget was 38th with 924 per cent turnover growth, one place ahead of carrier O-bit Telecom, which has grown 829 per cent since 2004."

Full story on www.channelweb.co.uk

Widget is already a trade only distributor for Cisco Consumer Business Group, having distributed the Flip Video range of products since April 2009. Cisco is committed to growing its consumer businesses both by organic growth and acquisition.

With market penetration now at 25% in the UK, TomTom is turning its attention to reaching 'late adopters' with a simplified, entry level product called the TomTom Start. 

To ease new customers into the navigation market, the initial screen has only two options - shown below - and the product retails at around £119.99

TomTom Start - click here for Full product information

With it's 5 inch E-Ink screen, the readable area is just 1 inch (appr. 2,5 cm) smaller across. This ensures optimal portability and readability at the same time. The new 8-level greyscale screen approximates the experience of reading printed text. This eReader fits in any handbag or even inside pocket of your suit. Taking your entire library along on the 162 gram light BeBook has never been easier!

The BeBook 'Mini' has a fast 400mhz Arm processor for fast page turning and a convenient thumb wheel for even more reading convenience.

Adobe DRM support for ePub and PDF format.

With the integrated Adobe ® Reader Mobile software you will be able to purchase and download all the latest book titles with the click of a button. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is implemented for the two most popular eBook formats : ePub and PDF.

Most online bookstores offer books in at least one of these formats, this gives you the opportunity to shop around for the best deals on books.

Open file format / open source: unrivalled number of file formats supported. 

The BeBook 'Mini' has the largest number of supported file formats, unrivalled by any of the current eReaders :

ePub,PDF, doc, html, bmp, jpg, png, gif, tif, djvu, fb2, wol, txt, ppt, pdb, lit*, chm, rar, zip, mp3, mobi*, prc*, htm and mbp are all supported. (*=non DRM)

Expandable memory and add-ons.

Through it's built in SD card slot and USB 2.0 connection it's possible to expand the memory of your BeBook 'Mini'. Just insert any SD memory card and you can add up to 16GB of memory. This way you can keep your work and other documents apart, using just one reader. The SD card slot can also be used for future add ons like a WIFI module.

The Kapten Urban GPS weighs only 50 grams, and will work for 6 hours on one charge. It is hands free, under voice control, and your eyes are always on the street - not looking at a screen.

Enjoying life in the city has never been so easy…! Kapten gives you navigation on any type of transport, allows Geotagging, includes an audio guide, an MP3 player, an FM radio and a USB key.

Kapten adapts to the way you get around—on foot, bicycle, motorcycle, public transportation or car. It automatically adjusts your itinerary and directs you using the navigation mode you choose with a simple voice command.

If you’re walking, for example, one-way streets or cutting through the park aren’t a problem. Kapten never routes you the long way around…or just default to big highways. On a bicycle, it knows you need to avoid highways and chooses bike paths whenever they’re available. And of course it has more “conventional” GPS functions when you do use a motorcycle or car, but with simple and safer voice controls.

Other Features

Ktag   The new must for “Urban Trotters”!

Just press a button and Kapten records a place you’ve spotted—a restaurant, bar, store or meeting point. Once you record it, all you need to do is add a voice memo.

Then just say the name and Kapten leads you right where you want to go.

It’s as simple as that

Plus, the Openshare community on kapsys.com lets you post and add comments for your geotags, keeping them private or sharing them with others if you like. You can also download and use geotags posted by other “urban trotters”. A great way to rediscover your own city or other cities that quickly become as familiar as your home town!

Kconnect Phone too (yes! you really can!)

Kapten connects to your mobile phone via Bluetooth® so you don’t have to change earphones. Just synchronize and say the name of the person you want to call. If you receive a call while your Kapten is in MP3/FM mode it tells you who’s calling and you just press a key to answer.

That’s not all—you can sync your Kapten to display your route right on your phone screen too.

MP3/FM radio  Choose from over 1,000 songs or tune into to your favorite FM station in seconds, all hands free of course, thanks to voice commands. You’ll love the exceptional superior audio quality too.

USB key  Store up to 4 GB in the USB flash memory.

Audio Guide
Discover or rediscover monuments and places of interest in the world’s great cities without weighing yourself down with guide books 

The backstory

Back in 2006, Kapsys creator Aram Hékimian was visiting Tokyo when he had kind of a wild idea. What if you were lost in a city where the streets didn’t have numbers—or even names, for that matter—and you were desperate to get to that little hotel that promised to save the last room for you? And that’s how Aram came up with concept of a GPS that would be so light and so small and compact, you could just carry in your pocket and find your way around any city in the world.

He sought out advice. Some said the concept was risky, others though it was bold. He became convinced that there was a real need for a GPS that would in fact be a little more than just a GPS. And he became persuaded that navigating without a screen was a powerful asset, because he know that a device like this would really be useful when people weren’t in a car. So he decided it was time for action.

Many people think of CardScan, the original business card scanner, as a PC peripheral.

The Mac version has been available for over a year now, though, so it is good that Mac Format magazine has now reviewed it, finding it "an excellent product" which is "feature-packed." Of course the Mac version is a bit pricier than the PC version, but this is a common pattern that Mac users may be used to by now.

This new Maya 2 case is a striking new design of case which at the same time protects the Flip Mino HD Camcorder from knocks and bumps. Retailing for £14.99, this case is being distributed by Widget, the UK distributor for the Flip Video range.

Part number 30379

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