I feel very fortunate to be a member of the Vinpower Digital team since 2006. It’s not just because I think Vinpower is a great company, but I also have the opportunity to work with some of my closest friends as part of IBM. What does “IBM” stand for? A worldwide famous computer company? International Big Mouth? Although these could be true, the reality is that it stands for Irene, Betty, & Mandy who are the trio that came to Vinpower together at the same time.

Mandy/Betty/Irene at the Beach in Taiwan.

Coming to Vinpower Digital allowed me not only work with people I enjoy but also have many great experiences in many different countries. Most of this traveling was courtesy of various trade shows that I was fortunate to work at and attend. I was so excited to have the opportunity to attend 3 of the largest consumer electronic trade shows in the world:

Trade Show Month Show Takes Place Location Year I Attended
CeBIT March Hanover, Germany 2007
Computex June Taipei, Taiwn 2007
CES January Las Vegas, NV USA 2008

Mandy and Ryan at 2007 Cebit

Mandy being a tourist guide for an European customer at 2007 Computex Taiwan.

Mandy at Blu ray booth at 2008 CES.

I was also able to attend the 2007 DSE Show which took place in Japan. I was very nervous to go the DSE show in Japan because; it was my first time being the only Vinpower representative at a show. I was solely responsible for conducting meetings with both our distributor in Japan and our ODM customer who is a major drive manufacture, Plextor Corporation. Fortunately all went very well and I gained a lot of confidence from the experience.

Mandy at “kaminarimon”,a famous scenic spot in Japan, at the 2007 DSE show

Plus I was so fortunate to attend the 2007 Gitex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. While there, I was able to do some touristy activities, visiting some of the famous landmarks in Dubai. I can’t believe that I was really inside the Burj Al Arab, one of the world best hotels, eating dinner. I never thought I would go to a Middle East country in my lifetime and here I was meeting great people, making valuable contacts and having a great time.

Mandy in front of Burj Al Arab

On top of my travels for trade shows, I had an opportunity to go to our head office in Los Angeles for 2 months. My time at the corporate office was for training, but I was able to have fun and experience a different lifestyle in USA from what I’m in Taiwan.

Mandy and Irene Su at Big Bear in USA.

The fact that I enjoy my job and the people I work with is an added bonus, but the most important thing is that the Vinpower family gets stronger both in the USA and Taiwan. Our mission is to do our best to satisfy our customer through quality products and friendly and knowledgeable staff.

The members of Vinpower in Taiwan and USA.

We’ve posted a number of blogs about various trades shows that we’ve attended and it’s obvious from those entries that our staff remains busy with attendees from start to finish. That is true for the 2008 Spring Hong Kong Electronics Fair as well. Instead of boring you with the same ole details about the success of the show and the valuable contacts we made, I’d rather fill you in on a more interesting topic, the Hong Kong nightlife!

If you travel to Hong Kong for work or pleasure, a “MUST” visit destination for nightlife activities is LAN KWAI FONG. When you venture down to Lan Kwai Fong, you’ll find yourself in the centre of the city’s hottest, trendiest, and most exciting night spots. When we arrived at Lan Kwai Fong, we were surprised by the heavy stream of people. It was full of people on every uphill road walking from one hot spot to another. I even questioned if I was still in Hong Kong because more than half of the people there were foreigners. In fact it was more like a street scene from London, England than a Chinese city. England’s influence from their 100 year occupation is still very evident, yet the friendly and entertaining Chinese culture shines through as well. In any case, Lan Kwai Fong has a very international flair to it from the melting pot of cultures that inhabit the area.

For starters when in Lan Kwai Fong, you should satisfy your appetite before hitting the bars and/or clubs. Personally, I would recommend the famous, YUNG KEE RESTAURANT, for the perfect dining experience. You can start with flavorful hot tea blending in as the local Hong Kong people do. For your main course, I recommend dining on their most popular dish, Roasted Goose! How delicious is the Roasted Goose? I think “perfect” doesn’t do the dish justice, but is the only adjective I can think of that sums up this course. After dinner it’s off to party or mellow out at a club or bar and you don’t have to look far to find a suitable place.

Whatever you’re interested in, I bet you can find it by simply starting off with a casual stroll around the street. Mingle with celebrities and local trend setters at sleek and sexy clubs. Dance till dawn as international DJ’s spin hip and funky music on the turntables late into the early morning. Hang out with friends in traditional watering holes offering an intense selection of beers and ales. Spice it up at tropical bars as bartenders serve up colorful and exotic cocktail mixes. Scream for your team at your favorite sports bar. Plus the waiters know your name making you feel as if you’re amongst friends and family rather than just frequenting another bar or club.

With great food and an exciting atmosphere, Lan Kwai Fong is definitely Hong Kong’s top night-life sightseeing excursion.

Recently we exhibited at the China Import and Export Fair, also called the Canton Fair, which is held twice a year, spring and autumn. This fair has taken place in Canton since its inauguration in the spring of 1957. It is China’s largest fair of the highest level, offering the most complete merchandise and the largest attendance and business turnover for its kind. Preserving its traditions, the Fair is a comprehensive and multi-functional event of international importance.

It’s our second time to attending this show; however, it is very different from the electronic trade shows we have exhibited at before. How different? You might see a customer who visits another booth and asks how to be a distributor of bathtubs. Immediately afterwards, he will come to our booth and asks the same question about duplicators. To me, it shows that these customers might not be an established distributor of electronic products, but they have the ambition to work with a product they feel will be both popular and profitable globally. The increasing rate of exposure is the main advantage to attending the Canton Fair.

To further illustrate the changes in the world we live in today, the Canton Fair added many new security rules primarily due to the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing. In order to keep the Fair safe, every exhibitor was required to register their entrance identification months in advance coupled with numerous references to prove your countries citizenship. Every product shipped to the fair required far more detailed descriptions listed on the paperwork than the previous time we exhibited at Canton Fair. According to the local newspaper, the 103rd Canton Fair was the strictest one on record. The security examination to enter the Fair was almost the same as the airport security check. Although it was not easy to enter the Fair, it was obvious to see that a lot of people endured the added security to attend this show (as shown in the below picture). If you planned to join this year’s spring Canton Fair, you would need to be ready to fight the hustle and bustle from the crowded visitors.

The Fair was very successful for us and we received many inquiries from the visitors we spoke with, so it was very encouraging that we are providing the right product. To keep our competitive edge, we will continue to persist in our philosophy of “quality, service, innovation, share/win”, while providing our customers with new products and the best service…

To conclude, I would like to share a funny occurrence with our dear readers of this blog, regarding our small booth at the Canton Fair. During most of the time at the Fair, we had a lot of international distributors interested in our automated equipment. Although we were very happy with the great interest, but since we got just a small booth, to gauge the benefits to our company, it became very crowded quickly. Try to imagine me swarmed by so many customers, answering questions and servicing everyone almost at the same time contained in such a small size booth. Two of my colleagues had to stand outside the booth like busy bees trying to rescue their queen bee. It was quite a spectacle to see.

When looking at a duplicator, it’s easy to concentrate on the obvious important components such as the controller and casing. However there are two other very important components that are just as critical to the quality of the duplicated discs; the drives and the media. For the purpose of this posting we’ll focus on the media aspect which is largely ignored for its importance in the duplication process.

It’s obvious that there are lots of blank CD & DVD discs in the market today, and another fact that may have been overlooked is that many of them have a different color on the recording surface. Why the differences? Do the manufacturers just want to make the discs more colorful to make them more attractive or differentiate them on the market? The reality is that the color of the recording surface has a lot to do with the capability and quality of the “burn” or duplication. Below we will detail more about the purpose of these different visible colors on various blank media:

Water blue – uses the latest technology of Data Lost Prevention and could decrease the occurrence of buffer under run. Therefore it’s more stable for one to one or one to multi target burning mode. The best recording format is DATA.

Omega black – due to the pure black material, it should provide a stronger defense against light which could damage the organic dyes in the disc. As well as extend the life of CD-R media and preserve the data longer. The best recording formats are GAMES, DATA, and MP3.

Purple – similar to the black discs, it should provide a stronger defense against light which could damage the organic dyes in the disc. As well as extend the life of CD-R media and preserve the data longer. The best recording formats are GAMES and DATA.

Apple green – with the lighter organic dyes of the disc, it is more sensitive to allow for the player to pick up a weaker signal. That feature allows for better pick-up of recorded music. It could be said that this specific color is designed for digital music storage. The best recording formats are DIGITAL AUDIO, AUDIO CD and DATA.

Metal red and Copper mine – these colors will let the laser pass through the disc completely so that the signal from CD-R media can be read better. The best recording formats are MUSIC, CD and DATA.

Orange – same concept as the above colors, will let the laser pass through the disc completely so that the signal from CD-R media can be read better. The best recording formats are MUSIC, CD and DATA.

Diamond – this color matches with the replicated VCD format so the crosstalk-frequency is very low. Therefore it should decrease the marks and blacked out data that appears on the screen (often referred to as Mosaic errors) when playing the disc. The best burning formats are VCD, MPEG and FILE.

The better understanding you have about the recordable dye on the disc and its optimal compatibility, the better prepared you’ll be to choose the correct blank media for your particular format. Next time you purchase media, don’t just ask about the price and the brand, but ask about the color of the recordable side of the disc and you’ll be sure to that at least your media is the right choice for your needs.