ASF's Digital PIC kiosk receives prestigious awards for digital imaging

Austin, TX (December 11, 2002) - Applied Science Fiction, Inc., inventor of the cutting-edge digital dry film processing system Digital PIC, today announced that ASF's Digital PIC kiosk has won PC Magazine's Technical Excellence Award in the digital imaging category. Applied Science Fiction's Digital PIC has also been chosen by the readers of Photo Trade News as the winner of the Top Overall Technology for 2002. And earlier last month, ASF's Digital PIC kiosk received the annual "Best of What's New" award in the photo category from Popular Science magazine.

The PC Magazine announcement was made during the magazine's 19th Annual Awards Ceremony held recently at COMDEX in Las Vegas. In making their selections, PC Magazine editors reviewed thousands of new products and technical innovations that were introduced between September 2001 and September 2002, selecting just one winner in each of 11 categories to receive the Technical Excellence awards. An article including a complete list of winners and finalists is available in the publication's December 24, 2002 issue. To be recognized as a Technical Excellence Award winner, PC Magazine editors determined the selected products to be the most innovative in their category.

Photo Trade News invited its readers to vote in a 2002 Top Product of the Year readership poll. Readers were asked to nominate products in almost 20 categories from single-use cameras to the top new technology that had the strongest impact on sales or that caused the greatest consumer excitement in 2002. Digital PIC will be featured in the magazine's January 2003 issue.

In selecting ASF's Digital PIC technology, Popular Science editors reviewed thousands of new products and innovations for 2002 and chose just 100 winners in 10 categories for inclusion in the December "Best of What's New" issue. To win, Digital PIC represented a significant step forward in the photo category.

"Following on the heels of Digital PIC's recent 'Best of What's New' award from Popular Science magazine, we are equally honored to receive these impressive honors from the editors of PC Magazine and the readers of Photo Trade News," said Dan Sullivan, president and CEO of Applied Science Fiction. "These awards extend the recognition of our technology beyond the imaging industry and confirm the positive results of our consumer retail tests conducted this year, further emphasizing Digital PIC's ability to revolutionize the photographic landscape and digital imaging as we know it today. In announcing their Technical Excellence Award, PC Magazine editors also pointed out that this technology opens up a new world of self-service film processing at kiosks in airports, amusement parks, and corporate campuses."

Using the environmentally friendly Digital PIC self-service kiosk located conveniently at retail locations, consumers simply drop their exposed 35mm film into the kiosk for automatic film processing, printing, and the creation of digital image files. During the development process, users can then select the images they want printed and/or enlarged, and receive their prints including an index print and a DigiPIX™ Digital Negative on CD in less than ten minutes. In addition, consumers have the option to edit their images by removing red-eye, cropping, and adjusting brightness or contrast before making enlargements.

Earlier this year, the Digital PIC kiosk had its first ever retail test at three PRO Group retailers - Precision Camera & Video in Austin, TX, Camera Land in New York City, and Keeble & Shuchat in Palo Alto, CA. Other retail test sites include seven Boston, MA-area CVS pharmacy locations. It is also being tested internationally at Karstadt-Foto Quelle in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.asf.com.

ASF expects that Digital PIC will be in production in the 1st half of 2003 with OEM partners delivering various configurations to the marketplace in the second half of 2003. These Digital PIC systems can be placed in traditional locations that are environmentally challenged, are space constrained or have roll volumes too low to justify an investment in a digital minilab. This system is also a low cost photofinishing alternative for placement in non-traditional locations such as resorts, hotels, business centers, and other venues where people take pictures.

Digital PIC Process
ASF's Digital PIC technology develops 35mm film directly into a high-resolution RGB digital format in one quick step. Micro-amounts of a proprietary developing agent are applied to a roll of exposed but undeveloped film as it is fed through the processor's image-capture engine. The environmentally friendly Digital PIC process requires no water, generates no hazardous effluents, and makes complete silver recovery possible. Next, the Digital PIC system makes a digital record of each image. Once the image data is captured, color data and exposure settings are established on a pixel-by-pixel basis for each element of every image. Complete 24-exposure roll development is accomplished in less than ten minutes after the film is fed into the system.

Digital PIC creates a unique DigiPIX CD. DigiPIX offers consumers tremendous flexibility for communicating with images. The CD includes files containing thumbnail-size images and access to high-, medium- and low-resolution image files that provide the consumer with a convenient avenue to share their images in many ways. Digital PIC allows for consistent image quality, and is Internet and Broadband ready. Configurations for Digital PIC technology include photo kiosks, microlabs, backoffice workstations, backlabs, and quick print stations.

About PC Magazine
PC Magazine, the independent guide to technology, delivers comprehensive labs-based reviews and the most trusted recommendations for buyers of technology products and services. Reaching more than 5.9 million highly engaged technology readers, PC Magazine provides product reviews, first looks at emerging technologies and products, and opinionated columns from renowned technology pundits. To meet its readers' needs for buying information that is as current as it is comprehensive, PC Magazine publishes 22 times a year in print and continually on the Web.

About Photo Trade News
Photo Trade News (PTN) magazine reaches 12,500 imaging industry retailers primarily through the photo specialty, minilab, consumer electronic and computer channels. The magazine is published 12 times per year, with special daily magazines produced during PMA and Photokina trade shows, and is currently celebrating its 66th year of successfully covering the photo trade industry. The publication's editorial content provides product, trend and industry news to established and emerging photo, computer and electronics retailers. Each month the pages of PTN are filled with candid, hard hitting examinations of the issues and decisions that face its readers.

About Popular Science
Popular Science Properties is a division of Time4 Media™, the world's leading publisher of leisure-time magazines. Founded in 1872, Popular Science is the world's largest science and technology magazine with a circulation of 1.45 million subscribers and a readership of more than seven million people. Time4 Media™ is a subsidiary of Time, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: AOL).

About Applied Science Fiction
Applied Science Fiction develops proprietary technologies for the imaging industry that link traditional photography with the digital age. ASF licenses its branded technologies through Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that provide products for the professional and consumer imaging markets. Additionally, ASF directly distributes Adobe® Photoshop® compatible plug-ins for automatic image correction and enhancement.

In addition to ASF's Digital PIC technology, ASF's product portfolio consists of the Digital ICE3™ film scanner suite, Digital ICE™, Digital ROC™ and Digital GEM™, the individual components of the suite, Digital ICE and Digital ROC for photo prints, Digital ROC plug-in for color restoration and Digital SHO™ plug-in for revealing details of dark image-areas. More information can be found on ASF's Web site at www.asf.com.

All trade names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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