Check out my package November 11, 2009

• Cellophane: A lot of people complain about how hard it is to remove this tightly applied shrink wrap and I usually rip it off as soon as I get home with my purchase (damaging the box in the process), but I’m still kind of glad it’s there, indicating that my movie is brand new and factory fresh. It’s like an unspoken guarantee that nobody has opened the box and licked the disc.

• Stickers: These colorful, eye-catching little decals look good, but since they’re affixed to the shrink wrap, they get ripped off and forgotten almost immediately. I’ve discarded loads of these things and I can’t recall what a single one of them said.

• Security tape: To some DVD manufacturers, shrink wrap isn’t enough. You’ve got to seal the top of the box with a strip of safety tape, just to be sure. All this does is add an extra step between you and an open box. Some companies put it on every single edge of the box, apart from the spine. Now that is one secure DVD. Next, they’ll be welding the damn thing shut.

Automotive camera market stays turbulent November 11, 2009

Cameras in vehicles are still emerging, and their suppliers are still tying to find their way. Automotive system suppliers, camera suppliers, and the makers of the image sensors are all fighting for a piece of the action in this growth segment in the automotive industry.

The supplier landscape has become more complex over the last two years. Increasingly, the major system suppliers are developing their own camera modules. At the same time, new and highly specialised suppliers are coming to market, delivering the whole application package. All in all, there are some 20-25 suppliers active in this area, with camera modules or vision systems either in development or production. Despite this only a handful of them currently have contracts and are in production.