SnOMGPgh! Snowmaggeddon! Snowpocalypse!

These are the names that local bloggers gave the recent snowstorm in Pittsburgh and rightfully so. We received 21″ of snow SO FAR. We’re due for at least another 6″ between today and Thursday.

Despite the snow, most of us have made it into the office this week and we expect to continue normal operations the rest of the week. If anything changes, we’ll be sure to let you know on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/simaproducts) or on our Twitter page (@simaproducts).

We hope you’re keeping warm (or dry, if you’re out West!) and have a great week.

Sima Products Partners with Digital Green

Check out our latest press release about partnering with a great non-profit, Digital Green!

Sima Products & Digital Green Partner to Teach Sustainable Farming Techniques in India 

(OAKMONT, PA) February 3, 2010 – Sima Products, an Oakmont-based consumer electronics company announced a new partnership with Digital Green, a Microsoft Research spinoff, to teach better, sustainable agricultural practices to rural farmers in India. Sustainable farming techniques provide stability to villages that desperately need it by reducing input costs, saving dying crops, creating consistent harvests and supplying more food to villagers.

            Digital Green works to teach improved practices to rural farmers such as seed treatment, system of rice intensification, and vermicomposting. A major challenge to the project is reaching villages in remote locations that have little or no electricity and poor road connectivity. Digital Green’s CEO Rikin Gandhi turned to Sima Products for technical help. Sima provided lightweight, battery-operated projectors, which allowed Digital Green team members to reach many more farmers and villages. In 2009, nearly 2500 farmers participated in video screenings across 196 villages.

            “Sima is a global consumer electronics company interested in partnering with companies and non-profits from all over the world. Our partnership with Digital Green is just one example of Sima being a global citizen,” says Ilana Diamond, CEO of Sima Products. For more information about Sima Products, please visit www.simaproducts.com. For more information about Digital Green, please visit www.digitalgreen.org.

Metis featured in Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Sima’s spinoff and office buddies, Metis Secure Solutions, are featured in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Read about their unique emergency alert systems here:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_663244.html

Sima Provides Testimonial for First Commonwealth Bank

From left to right: Storm Orion (Director of Product Development), Ilana Diamond (CEO), Rob Feeney (CFO) & Justin Kuntz (Regional Sales Manager)

Sima recently provided the following testimonial for First Commonwealth Bank. It’ll appear, along with this picture of some of Sima’s staff,  on their website shortly.

Founded in 1973, Sima Products Corporation is celebrating 32 years as a leading innovator of consumer electronic accessories. Sima manufactures accessories in the categories of Photography, Video, Home Theater, Power, and Home Safety. Today, nearly one hundred Sima products are sold in more than 20 countries worldwide. 

Sima Products is dedicated to developing innovative solutions that enhance everyday life, creating partnerships in the Pittsburgh area, and working with brands such as First Alert^® to bring a variety of products to the marketplace.

When we had the opportunity for a $1 million plus order, we needed extra support and a fast decision to allow us to meet our customer’s requirements. First Commonwealth jumped right in and got us the support we needed – fast.  The ability to initiate international wires and stand-by letters of credit is extremely vital to our consumer electronic accessory company.  First Commonwealth has enabled us to conduct business with suppliers and customers on a global basis.  

Our relationship managers and staff at First Commonwealth are always either a phone call or email away.  They are quick to respond to our needs and often “over-deliver” by offering additional comments and suggestions.  Our large retail customer’s orders are seasonal and revenue from other customers can also vary quite a bit due to timing of contracts.  First Commonwealth has taken the time to understand this aspect of out business and work with us through the normal peaks and valleys.

CES 2010

CES 2010 is over. Weeks of preparation and it’s over and done with already! It seems like it went so fast.

Sima had a great show. We were tucked away in the quiet meeting place in South Hall 2 and although we’ve learned our space should be a bit bigger in 2011, it worked for us this year.

Our meeting space was busy with appointments, and it seemed like the show itself was hustling and bustling as well.

Check out our CES pictures at www.facebook.com/simaproducts.

What are your thoughts on CES 2010, now that it’s over?

Where does the time go?

I can’t believe it is December already. December 9^th. When did that happen? More importantly, I can’t believe that the holidays and CES are just a few weeks away!

We’re spending our December preparing for CES and developing products we hope you’ll find useful. Keep your eye out for new product launches after the New Year. At CES, you can find us in meeting space 25130. Stop by and say hello.

Also, because the holiday’s are fast approaching, please keep in mind that Sima’s offices are closed December 25 and January 1.

If we don’t talk to you before then, have a great holiday. Enjoy your family & friends!

Newstips Bulletin Calls SL-20LX an excellent holiday gift

Check out the review from Newstips Bulletin:

Special Report Bonus Review 5: Sima SL20LX LED Video Light

Our regulars know how fond we are of LED-based camera & camcorder lights & the surprisingly inexpensive ($30-47 online) Sima SL20LX Ultra Bright LED Video light is killer cool. The face (a smidge more than 2.25” square; it’s about an inch thick) places a 6×6 array of 4500K white LEDs behind a diffuser. The mechanics are intriguing; it has an integrated shoe mount but also comes with a bracket that offers a pass-through tripod screw mount (repositionable along a slot) on one end & a shoe mount on the other) but that isn’t all; the other 3 sides of the light have slots that can accept shoe mounts. Note that even small point & shoot cameras & pocket camcorders that don’t have shoe mounts do tend to accept tripod screws, so this light can even work with them. These mechanics also make it super-easy to mount arrayed clusters of these lights or to place a shoe-mounted mike where its shadow won’t get into the shot. Power comes from a LiIon battery; the included charger wants about 3.5 hours to recharge from scratch (its Led shifts from red to green when it’s finished) & a fresh charge seems to be good for 45 minutes (maybe up to an hour) of shooting. Sima suggests it for lighting subjects 15-25’ away; we find it can be useful at twice that distance (depending on the quality of the camera, no doubt); in any case, its rated light output is 600 lumens. Is this a holiday gift wrap candidate? Absolutely; constant light gives much more predictable & satisfactory results than a still-camera flash or a camcorder’s dependency on ambient light & most suitable LED video lights cost 10 or more times as much. Bottom line: the Sima SL20LX Ultra Bright LED Video light is an accessory that just about every camera or camcorder owner will find to be a useful, flexible & affordable boon to making good shots come out even better.

Digital Tips from CEA to the rescue!

About to buy some consumer electronics and need help? Already own some and need guidance? CEA developed digitaltips.com to provide tips, buying guides, and videos to help you sort through it all.

Who knew barcodes could be fun?

Check out the awesome things Japanese designers are doing with barcodes.

See the full article here:

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2009/11/japanese_barcod.php

Hat tip to Dexter and Storm for sharing these.

Making Sparks

Today, Sima’s CEO Ilana Diamond participates in Making Sparks 2009. Making Sparks is a unique forum focused on the impact technology has on kids. Hosted by the very hip Pittsburgh non-profit The Sprout Fund, the event consists of panel discussions, breakout sessions in which participants brainstorm collaborative projects, and finally, a presentation from each breakout group.  

 Ilana speaks in the ‘Secrets of Successful Collaboration’ panel with Chris Siefert, Deputy Director of Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh;  Kristin Hughes, Associate Professor of Design at CMU; and Jeremy Resnick, CEO of Propel Schools.

 Sima currently partners with Propel Schools & CMU for a Spark project to create a game prototype that engages young kids and their families in order to encourage math literacy. You can read all about it here:

http://www.popcitymedia.com/forgood/propelschools0916.aspx