NEWTON, Mass., Sept. 10, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- LifeFX, Inc. (Nasdaq:LEFX), the leading developer of Stand-In(tm) virtual people for the Internet, and Eastman Kodak Company announced today that Kodak increased its in-kind marketing and distribution of LifeFX's Stand-In(tm) software and facemail(tm) player. Beginning today, the LifeFX facemail player will be included on every Kodak PictureCD. Last year alone, consumers purchased millions of Kodak PictureCDs to store, organize/enhance, create/share and email their photos. LifeFX facemail allows Kodak PictureCD consumers a new easy-to-use way to add a face, expression, and voice to their email communications.
Today's announcement continues the agenda for Kodak and LifeFX to collaborate on Stand-In(tm) Software applications. Under the terms of an agreement announced earlier this year, Kodak will have rights to process two-dimensional pictures into personal LifeFX Stand-In virtual people. Upon commercialization, LifeFX will receive royalty fees from Kodak for the conversion of each consumer photograph into the personal, life-like Stand-In virtual person that will be created.
"A great value-added feature to the Kodak PictureCD's is that it now comes pre-loaded with free LifeFX facemail player," said Darryl Jackson, Director of Strategic Planning and Business Development, Consumer Imaging, Kodak. "This marks the 2nd milestone in our aggressive plan to market and distribute LifeFX Stand-In(tm) Technology."
Kodak first milestone with LifeFX Stand-In Technology was achieved earlier this year with the "birth" of Valerie, Kodak's virtual customer representative powered by LifeFX.
Further plans by Kodak to market and distribute LifeFX Stand-In Software will include "Powered By LifeFX" branding and distribution through all Kodak consumer channels as part its in-kind marketing commitment of tens of millions of dollars.
"The inclusion of our LifeFX facemail application on Kodak PictureCD's further demonstrates Kodak's commitment to LifeFX and validation of our Stand-In Technology," said Bill Clausen, Chief Marketing Officer of LifeFX. "With Kodak's in-kind marketing support, LifeFX is well positioned to become the standard for personal interactive communications."
About Eastman Kodak Company and Infoimaging
Kodak is the world's leader in helping people and businesses take, share, store and print pictures -- traditional or digital. Kodak's sales last year of nearly $14 billion were divided between consumer and commercial products and services, such as professional and consumer digital cameras, laser imagers for radiologists, photographic films for professionals and amateurs, digital services for cinematographers, high-speed document scanners and aerial images. Kodak is a leading participant in infoimaging, a $225 billion industry created by the convergence of images and information technology. Infoimaging unites three closely related imaging markets -- devices, infrastructure and services/media -- that enable businesses or people to more easily use images as a fast and effective way to share pictures as information, entertainment or memories.
About LifeFX
Lifef/x, Inc., a Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) partner company, is creating the face of the Internet by developing photo-realistic, digital human faces, or LifeFX Stand-In(tm) virtual people, that can interact in real time. LifeFX Stand-In(tm) virtual people will be used by Web businesses as life-like customer-service and sales representatives, guides, teachers and entertainers, while consumer applications will include e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms. The LifeFX technology was originally developed for professional medical applications by the University of Auckland, with which LifeFX has an exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, paid up license. LifeFX holds three patents and has five pending. For more information about LifeFX, visit http://www.lifefx.com. For application ideas and demos, visit http://www.facemail.com
Statements made in this news release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's belief as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. LifeFX Inc.'s future results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements because of a variety of factors, including the ability of the company to implement its business strategy; the ability of the company to achieve the intended benefits of this strategy; the ability of the company to complete development of its technology; the ability of the company to achieve success in forging strategic relationships; adoption of the technology by major consumer and commercial Web sites; the ability of the company to commercialize the technology before competitors; the ability of the company to retain key employees; and those factors identified in Lifef/x, Inc.'s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000, and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.