Ambient Devices Taps Carl Yankowski to Help Drive Next Growth Phase

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Ambient Devices today announced that industry veteran Carl James Yankowski has joined the Company as CEO. Yankowski will lead the Ambient team to drive the next phase of growth for the Company, expand markets and distribution, build Ambient's consumer brand, and deliver new mass market products. Yankowski is the experienced consumer products executive who previously served as President of Sony Electronics, CEO of Palm, Inc. and CEO of Reebok.

"Carl brings extraordinary experience, leadership and operational skills to carry Ambient to the next level," said Nicholas Negroponte, an Ambient Board Member and major investor.

Yankowski will be building on the company's recent 2007 successes. In the second half 2007, Ambient launched 14 new products into distribution, signed seven new major distribution partnerships, inked new licensing agreements with major consumer electronics and appliance manufacturers, and unveiled the CES 2008 Innovations Award-winning Ambient 7-Day Weather Forecaster.

David L. Rose, Ambient's co-founder, previous CEO, and visionary on ubiquitous computing, will leave Ambient to pursue other interests, but remains a significant shareholder in the Company. He co-founded the Company in 2001 with COO Pritesh Gandhi and CTO Ben Resner. David S. Rose, the Ambient investor and entrepreneur who serves as Chairman of the company, will continue in that role.

"Ambient is enjoying significant momentum, and is at a great inflection point," said David L. Rose. "With Carl leading the team, I am confident that our original vision for ambient information everywhere will become a reality for millions of consumers in the near future."

"David is a true entrepreneur and innovator, and his leadership has set up Ambient well for success," said Carl Yankowski. "At the heart of all of Ambient's products is a unique approach to information distillation that has enabled the company to grow into an important trendsetter in the consumer electronics industry."

Ambient's first product, the Ambient Orb, became an icon for a new genre of glanceable, Internet objects. Since then, the company has developed over a dozen dedicated information displays to track weather, sports, stock market trends, energy pricing, and many other useful and practical data. Ambient displays are embedded in everyday objects, such as an LG refrigerator that provides the weather or the Ambient Umbrella that lights up when rain is in the forecast.

Ambient Devices: Now You Know.

Ambient Devices (http://www.ambientdevices.com) displays dynamic information, at a glance, to everyday products without a PC or Internet connection. The Company's technologies enable instant, effortless access to content such as weather forecasts, stock market activity, sports scores, and much more.

Ambient Devices was founded in 2001 to commercialize patent-pending technologies pioneered at the MIT Media Lab. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is privately held. For more information, please visit http://www.ambientdevices.com.