The winners of the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition Announced

Kingston Technology, a world leader of memory products and technology solutions, today announced the winners of the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition. Kingston partnered with CSD, a leading brand of face masks, to unite art enthusiasts of APAC regions with the theme “There’s Strength in Memory.” Since the kick-off of the competition in November 2020, the campaign has reached and touched the hearts of 39 million people. The video featuring the immaculate designs of the top 10 finalists has accumulated over 625,000 views. Receiving the love and admiration from voters, Nguyen Dang Binh from Vietnam won the Best of the Best Award in the 3-Colors group, and Yman.S from Malaysia won in the Unlimited Colors group. Selected by the judges, the Special Award was given to Aljohn M. Matias (Philippines), Lilo Jong (Malaysia) and Teo Sze Ting (Malaysia). 

Commenting on the exciting results, Kevin Wu, Kingston’s sales/marketing and business development Vice President of APAC region, said, "We at Kingston have always strived to help our customers preserve and share their memories. We are grateful for all of the submissions and for our creative partnership with CSD, which has enabled us to bring these most personal captivating life experiences to life.” Jonathan Chang, COO of CSD, then added, "Over the years, CSD has revolutionized face masks, making them an imperative part of health while adding character and personality into them. The exemplary designs from everyone who entered as well as the finalists truly echo the theme, ‘There’s Strength in Memory.’ It is our honor to see that these unique stories are turned into wearable memories, hopefully spreading positivity to everyone during these challenging times.”

The initiative gave wings to imagination and encouraged the artists to bring their profound as well as life-altering memories onto face masks. The Best of the Best Award winners will be receiving USD $5,000 prize money each, as well as a trophy and self-designed face masks. The Special Award winners will be receiving USD $1,000 prize money each and face masks with their designs will also be mass produced.

Selected as the “Best of the Best” from the 3-Colors group, Nguyen Dang Binh is a banker in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Voters were attracted by the joyous atmosphere in his design Doodling Paper as Nguyen Dang Binh illustrates his happy college memories through interesting faces, and reminds art lovers to follow their passion. 

Selected as the “Best of the Best” from the Unlimited Colors group, Yman.S is a Senior Packaging Designer from Malaysia. His bubbly design Monster Nation incites positivity among voters as he turns the scary monsters dreaded in our childhood memories, which also represent the day-to-day hardship we face, into cute little monsters.

Perfect Imperfection by Bachelor of Fine Arts student Aljohn M. Matias in the Philippines was selected for the Special Award. He uses a minimalistic design to comment on the collective experience of meeting diverse groups of people and how these differences make us who we are, perfectly imperfect.

Love Memories Forever by multimedia Designer Lilo Jong receives the Special Award as well. She depicts the deep-rooted emotion of missing her family by using storage devices from different time periods to represent her family members. She wishes reunite with her beloved family members, together, just like in her artwork.

Strength in Memory by Teo Sze Ting, a freelance illustrator from Malaysia, was also selected for the Special Award. Through her powerful typography design with hidden messages, such as “The year we fought together...”, “2020, a year to remember”, in the barcodes, she reflects on the memories of 2020 and encourages people to find strength and motivation from memories. 

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Kingston announced the top 10 finalists of the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition

Kingston Technology today announced the top 10 finalists of the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition. Centered around the theme of 'There's Strength in Memory,' Kingston partnered with CSD, a leading brand of face masks, to call upon all creative minds to unleash the power of memories. The initiative received an overwhelming response of over 3,100 entries from design enthusiasts across all APAC regions including Monster Nation by Yman.S and Love Memories Forever by Lilo Jong from Malaysia. Both were selected among the top 10 designs.

The contestants comprised of APAC’s top artists and designers from various fields. ranging from product, textile, visual and multi-media designers, to illustrators, art students and professors. Their design submissions spanned a wide canvas that encapsulated their memories, concepts regarding people’s interaction, compelling and memorable life events and reflections on 2020. The judges also discovered ongoing themes of design that centered around family bonds, appreciation of nature and intimate childhood memories: Lilo Jong from Malaysia portrayed the strong bond she has with her family, while Wu Bo Yi from Taiwan found inspiration from a childhood snack; Tsuyoshi Artman, from Japan, depicted the beauty of nature to highlight the act of breathing. Despite submissions from artists with diverse backgrounds, one thing that united the contestants was the effort to represent positivity in the lives of people across regions, thus, unleashing the power of memories.

Commenting on the outstanding response, Kevin Wu, sales/marketing and business development Vice President of APAC region, Kingston, said, "Our memories are the most precious assets in our lives and we at Kingston have always strived to help our customers preserve their memories in the best way possible with our products and campaigns. Our unique partnership with CSD for the Kingston x CSD APAC Mask Design Competition has helped us in our journey of bringing people closer with their most profound memories. We are overwhelmed to see so many contestants finding and sharing strength in their memories; their designs therefore embody deeper emotions that range from pleasant to more challenging times that they’ve encountered. Through this campaign, we are humbled to have been an intrinsic part of our contestants’ life-altering as well as inspiring moments." 

Commenting on the stellar designs, Jonathan Chang, COO of CSD, said, "Over the past few years, CSD has redefined the concept of the face mask by infusing fashion elements into it. It is exhilarating to also see such innovation from the contestants. Not only have they evolved face mask into an individual canvas, but also redefined memories into a fashion statement with their brushstroke. I'm thrilled that our creative alliance with Kingston has pushed the boundaries and reinvented the notion of memory and face masks into a new form of art." 

The top 10 designs were selected from over 3,100 entries, with 5 designs each under the two different judging criteria; the “3-Colors” group emphasized on creative patterns consist of only three colors, whereas the “Unlimited Colors” group stressed on how well contestants play with their colors. 

The “3-Colors” Finalists: 

Perfect Imperfections, Aljohn M. Matias (Philippines) 

Siamese Fighting Fish, Waraporn Mamee (Thailand) 

Lips & Water Chestnut, Wu Bo Yi (Taiwan) 

Doodling Paper, Nguyen Dang Binh (Vietnam) 

Sparkling Lenses, Rishabh Raj (India) 

The “Unlimited Colors” Finalists (left to right): 

Love Memories Forever, Lilo Jong (Malaysia) 

Construct X Deconstruction, Brenca Sun (Taiwan) 

Summer memories in the wonder garden, Hsu, Hsing-Chen (Taiwan) 

Breath of Energy, Tsuyoshi Artman (Japan) 

Monster Nation, Yman.S (Malaysia) 

Commenting on the enthralling experience, top 10 finalists Yman.S, a Senior Packaging Designer from Malaysia, said "Kingston and CSD have come-up with one of the best platforms for the artists to delve deeper into their memories and create something unique out of it. Through my artwork, I have paid a homage to the people's fighting spirit and hence have turned the scary monsters we all dread in our childhood memories, which now also represent the day-to-day hardships we face, into cute little monsters. I want to incite the spirit of positivity through my design." 

Another finalist of the top 10 designs from Malaysia, multi-media designer Lilo Jong said "I have always yearned to create an artwork which is intertwined to my precious memories. This opportunity enabled me to bring alive my deep-rooted emotions. My artwork depicted the inevitable feeling I have when missing my family, and I have used each storage device from different periods to represent my family members. I look forward to the support of the design aficionados of Malaysia and hope that I reunite with my family members, just like in my artwork in the near future." 

You can now vote for your favorite designs and determine who will be the winner of the competition! Online voting starts January 27, 2021 and will end on February 7, 2021. For winner announcement for the fan-favorite awards and more details please refer to:http://kings.tn/Mask_Design_Finalists 

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Kingston Launches Limited-Edition 2021 Mini Cow USB Drive in Malaysia

To celebrate the New Year, Kingston Technology, a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announces the launch of the limited-edition 2021 Mini Cow USB Flash Drive in Malaysia. As one of the 12-collectible designs from the Kingston New Year USB Flash Drive - Mini Collection, this USB drive features an adorable cow figurine that is encased in a unique milk bottle package. The functional and collect-worthy design adds fun to your daily life, and is created for you to join us in saving your meaningful and joy-filled moments of 2021.

For over a decade, Kingston has introduced a specially designed USB drive inspired by animal mascots at the start of each year. This year’s Mini Cow USB drive features a cute, ovular-shaped design that embodies joy, fullness and prosperity. While adapting the cow figure, Kingston incorporated some lovable tweaks to accentuate creativity and craftsmanship, including a delicate pattern, metallic details, and smooth texture with a matte-finish. The keychain ring design for portability also turns Mini Cow into a personal lucky charm for 2021. The versatile USB drive is equipped with 64GB capacity1 and USB 3.2 Gen 1 performance2, and the protective rubber casing ensures durability. Lastly, for some fun finishing touches, the milk bottle package brings a refreshing look, making it perfect as a gift for friends and family. 

“Kingston is committed to memory and continues to bring out creative products with refreshing designs for our customers to store their most meaningful moments. Hence, we created a series of limited-edition drives for the festive season,” said Kevin Wu, sales/marketing and business development Vice President of APAC region, Kingston. “The mini-cow drive is the second collectible of the series, representing our excitement and anticipation for the New Year, and that Kingston is always with you in 2021.”

Kingston’s limited-edition mini cow USB drive is available through Kingston’s network of retail and etail outlets from January 21, at a MSRP of RM89. The USB drive is backed by a 5-year warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.

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Transcend Launches New CFexpress Type B Card Reader RDE2 and CFexpress 820 Type B Memory Card

 Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend®), a leading brand of digital storage and multimedia products, is proud to launch the new CFexpress Type B Card Reader RDE2 and the CFexpress 820 Type B Memory Card. Tailored for the professional photography market, these products feature outstanding performance that improve professional efficiency, reducing the time needed to transfer files while making sure all the crucial moments are captured. 

CFexpress Type B Card Reader RDE2

Transcend’s RDE2 card reader is designed specifically for photographers using CFexpress memory cards. Utilizing the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface, the RDE2 card reader offers an optimum data transfer rate of 20 Gbps, reducing the time needed to transfer files from one device to another. To create a better, smoother editing experience, Transcend provides USB Type-A and Type-C cables, so the card reader can be seamlessly connected to personal computers and tablets. The RDE2 card reader comes with a lightweight aluminum housing that is wear-resistant and anti-scratch. Covered by non-slip silicone rubber, the device is also heat resistant. For professional photographers who are always on-the-go, the portable RDE2 card reader provides stable, reliable performance.

CFexpress 820 Type B Memory Card

Transcend’s CFexpress 820 Type B memory card is embedded with the NVMe PCIe Gen 3x2 interface, which offers premium read/write speeds of up to 1,700 MB/s and 1,300 MB/s respectively. For experts using a DSLR or camcorder to record outdoor sports competitions, document wildlife, or capture extreme sports, this product ensures critical moments are not missed by making the shooting process smoother. Coming in high capacities up to 512GB, the card can save 4K videos and thousands of RAW photos. Transcend’s CFexpress 820 Type B memory card has undergone rigorous environmental testing, providing stable performance under temperatures from -10°C to 70°C. 

Transcend’s RDE2 card reader is covered by a two-year limited warranty and the CFexpress 820 Type B memory card is covered by a five-year limited warranty. 

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Kingston announced its Workflow Station and Readers at the all-digital CES 2021

Kingston Technology, a world leader of memory products and technology solutions, today announced the launch of its upcoming NVMe SSD roadmap along with Kingston’s Workflow Station and Readers at the all-digital CES® 2021. Despite of adopting a new format this year, Kingston will bring its industry leading SSDs to the forefront for attendees to experience the best-in-class technology virtually. 

Kingston’s Workflow Station and Readers give users the freedom to create and customize a file offload setup that fits their needs allowing them to transfer video, photos, and audio from multiple sources at once1. Whether on a 4K/8K multi-cam shoot with portable audio recorders or filming B-Roll with drones and GoPros, with the customizable Workflow Station Dock you can simultaneously connect the USB miniHub, SD or microSD readers that the shoot requires to transfer footage quickly. Workflow Readers can also be used standalone by connecting to a laptop via the included USB-C® cable giving users the flexibility to have their workflow on-the-go. Whether shooting on location or working back at your desk, Kingston Is With You.

“It’s not just the flexibility of the Workflow Station and its Readers that is sure to aid content creators, but also the speed,” said Kingston. “Workflow Station products support incredible USB 3.2 speeds, which together with Kingston’s high-performance memory cards and USB flash drives get users through the post-production process faster than ever.”

Kingston is poised to continue its SSD market leadership position with both new client and data center U.2 NVMe drives this year. The new offerings include its first PCIe NVMe Gen 4.0 SSDs as well as an external USB 3.2 SSD:

 Ghost Tree: Our upcoming High-Performance Gen 4.0 drive is perfect for the content creator and power user. Codenamed “Ghost Tree,” Kingston is targeting speeds of 7000MB/s read and write, stretching PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 8-channel to the limit with capacities ranging from 1TB-4TB.

 NV Series: The latest Gen 3.0 x4 SSD is the ideal entry-level drive for first-time NVMe users with capacities up to 2TB.

 XS2000: Kingston’s all-new USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2 external drives with 500GB - 2TB capacities is perfect as additional storage for photos, videos and other files. The USB Type-C®1 interface allows for super-fast data transfers up to 2,000MB/s.

 DC1500M: The Data Center 1500M is an update to the DC1000M adding support for multi-namespaces. The U.2 NVMe SSD is designed to support a wide range of data-intensive workloads including cloud computing, web hosting and virtual infrastructures. 

 “Now that CES is moving online, we have a greater opportunity to connect with new and existing tech communities around the world,” said Kingston. “CES is the best time to share what’s next from Kingston and we are very excited to launch our first Gen 4.0 NVMe SSDs as well as an external drive this year. When it comes to NVMe, we will have all customer segments covered from consumers to prosumers to data centers.”

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