Subject: UFTO Happy New Year (& Electric Carpets)
Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 12:19:58 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Happy New Year!

This is a quick note to say hello as we begin the new year.

1996 has been exciting.
– Participation in UFTO is at an all time high
– Email has replaced virtually all hard copy correspondence
– The web site is operational
– We held a ground-breaking workshop with the national labs
– We’re closely coupled into the workings of the new DOE Task Force on
Reliability
– Many of you are pursuing programs and deals with various labs and
startups.

I look forward to finding new and better ways to make UFTO valuable and important to you and your company.

As you know, I’m constantly on the lookout for significant new developments, technologies, and opportunities to bring to your attention. These stories can come from networking with our friends at the National Labs, from accidental encounters with stories in magazines, the press or the internet, or from other personal and professional contacts.

What makes UFTO different from other clipping services or technology newsletters? With the glut of information available, the most important difference is selectivity. Knowing your areas of strategic and technical interest, I choose things that will be worthwhile for you to review and pursue, or pass along to others in your company.

Second, in most cases I make inquiries and establish contact with the technology developers. This way, we not only get a sense what’s behind the “press release”, but we also begin a relationship that puts us in a preferred position for further dealings.

Please tell me how well this is working for you, and whether you would rather have me be more or less selective in the future, or if there are areas you’d particularly like to focus on in ’97.

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And now, for something completely different:
Here is a story I saw on the web a few days ago. We’ve all heard of magic carpets and electric blankets (and electric vehicles), but the idea of an electric carpet caught me completely by surprise–have you ever heard of it? It would seem they are a common item in Japan. Wonder if/when they’ll show up in this country…(I haven’t made contacts on this one)..

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ANALYSIS/ Efficient electric carpets win popularity
Product Spotlight: Nikkei Marketing Journal, Dec. 26, 1996

Electric carpets have become one of the more popular alternatives for heating rooms. Makers specializing in this product are doing well, and other consumer electronics makers making efforts to develop high value-added electric carpets.

Sharp Corp.’s HJ-G20A-C, at a suggested retail price of 35,000 yen, is a popular example. The carpet requires only half the power of conventional models, and it is treated with an anti-slip coating. It comes with a beige gabardine cover. Sharp is now looking to develop even more energy-efficient models.

Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. has won over consumers with four models: the smaller DR241-A and DR241-C, both priced at 33,200 yen, and the DR341-A and DR341-C, both priced at 44,300 yen. These carpets also receive anti-slip treatments and consume only about half as much electricity as earlier models. Their insulation cushions offer improved comfort and heat-transfer capability. Matsushita developed a gabardine cover (in blue or beige) with a cashmere-like feel that has proven very popular. The firm plans to develop other, larger carpets with similar features.

Toshiba Home Technology Corp. employs a two-layer insulating material on the bottom of the heating element of its offerings. The carpets reduce heat loss through the floor by about 30%, lowering power consumption by about 25%. The company offers one mode in which it uses only about one-fourth the electricity of conventional electric carpets. Toshiba’s CK-20FS (C) and CK-20FS (CT) are both popular. They have a mainly beige natural coloring with a cubic design pattern. The anti-slip carpet is made from polyester, but with a feel like cotton. Toshiba has sold more than it expected. “Our carpet’s comfort and energy-saving functions have matched consumer demands,” claimed one company official. Toshiba expects sales of the carpets this winter to increase 5% year-on-year.