The technology company VEIL is going to make a device that allows you to use SD cards with the GBA.

SAINT LOUIS, January 4, 2003 - VEIL Interactive Technologies announced today that the company has joined the SD Card Association (SDA) and will be demonstrating a prototype of its new iTV-enabled Secure Digital Input/Output (SDIO) interface for Game Boy Advance and Palm m515 at the upcoming 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), January 9-12, 2003 in Las Vegas.

VEIL's prototype interactive television (iTV) enhancement incorporates the company's optical data transmission technology into an SD Card that can be inserted into a standard port on both the Game Boy Advance and Palm m515 units, converting them into iTV-readied devices that receive data from VEIL-encoded video. VEIL technology is agnostic to the devices and the company plans to develop an SD interface for mobile phones, toys, and other handheld electronics. In addition to demonstrating at the SD Pavilion, LVCC Central Hall Booth 7442, VEIL will have a suite at the Mirage Hotel where additional VEIL-enabled devices will be shown. This will be the premiere of VEIL's and X-traFun's co-developed Game Boy Advance device that was announced in November 2002.

The VEIL-enhanced SD Card will offer something that no other iTV product can, the ability to interact with an encoded television content anywhere that the video signal can be seen, i.e. in hotels, bars, malls, etc. That means that if little Johnny is at Grandma's house viewing an encoded broadcast of VOLTRON: The Third Dimension, he can receive additional game features or character trivia on his Game Boy Advance without requiring any additional hardware or hardwired devices.

In making the announcement, VEIL Interactive's President and CEO Edward J. (Ted) Koplar said, "The VEIL platform exploits the benefits of iTV without requiring broadband connections or set-top boxes. The result is an innovative way to rapidly bring to market new forms of interactivity and revenue-generating TV services at minimal cost. By demonstrating the capability on two different devices, we wish to convey that the robust platform has universal potential for the consumer electronics industry."

"VEIL's interactive television enhancement is an ideal application for SD memory cards," said Ray Creech, President of SDA. "VEIL believes that SD Cards present an excellent pathway for interactive television applications to reach multiple devices and to gain rapid consumer market penetration."

About the Technology

VEIL is an encoded data stream in the video picture that is invisible to the human eye and can be received by a portable handheld device anywhere that an encoded broadcast or video can be seen. The optical VEIL platform is capable of delivering text-based data at speeds entirely compatible with display technologies on handheld devices. Optical VEIL's transmission method works with all broadcast standards (NTSC, PAL, and SECAM) providing affordable, leading-edge iTV enhancements to a range of products including toys, games, PDA's, universal remotes, mobile phones, and set-top boxes.

Applications of VEIL technology include customized promotional events, viewer loyalty programs, interactive gaming and more. VEIL is the logical link to driving consumer acceptance of smart card technologies by providing capabilities such as data transfer of special offers and information, using the power of television content as a marketing locomotive. This ability to send data along with electronic barcodes opens up a whole new world of possibilities, linking TV content from personalized consumer devices through point-of-sale.