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New offering simplifies upgrade of OEM products with secure connectivity, interoperability with other devices and a better support framework

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.(BUSINESS WIRE)$UEIC #connectedhomeUniversal Electronics Inc. (UEI) (NASDAQ: UEIC), the global leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home, is introducing QuickSet Widget. This offering combines UEIs unique capabilities in high-volume hardware and software to enable interoperability by making it easy for OEMs to upgrade their products to be connected, managed and secured; and deliver ongoing support and services in a cost-effective and scalable manner.

QuickSet Widget modules are available with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity to provide seamless connection to the cloud and other devices in the home, which can be extended with support for Zigbee devices through UEIs UE878 multi-protocol chip and modules. QuickSet Widgets hardware development kit simplifies the process for OEMs in creating connected products and experiences.

UEIs QuickSet Cloud provides a scalable platform for simplifying onboarding and control across entertainment and smart home devices, already in use by many leading brands. QuickSet Widget is integrated with QuickSet Cloud device management services, including a remote management dashboard and mobile software development kit to deliver turnkey capabilities for onboarding, interoperability, management and lifecycle support of connected home products.

QuickSet Widget is also pre-integrated with the new UEI Virtual Agent service, which provides a complete support framework for connected devices, enabling self-help capabilities on and off device, including guided product onboarding, feature discovery and troubleshooting.

QuickSet Widget modules and hardware development kits will be available for sampling in Q2 2021 with volume shipment in Q3 2021.

QuickSet Widget expands UEIs portfolio in enabling complete digital transformation of the end user experience across several connected home product segments including HVAC, audio visual and appliances, said Arsham Hatambeiki, Senior Vice President of Products and Technology at UEI. Combining our strengths in secure hardware, connectivity and user-focused software features, we have reimagined the lifecycle of connected products from onboarding, interoperability and ongoing support. QuickSet Widget is a secure and reliable connectivity solution, pre-integrated with QuickSet Cloud services delivering device management, telemetry and interoperability; as well as the UEI Virtual Agent delivering continuous support for connected products.

About Universal Electronics Inc.

Founded in 1986, Universal Electronics Inc. (NASDAQ: UEIC) is the global leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home. The company designs, develops, manufactures and ships over 500 innovative products that are used by the worlds leading brands in the consumer electronics, subscription broadcast, security, home automation, hospitality and climate control markets. For more information, please visit http://www.uei.com.

QuickSet is a trademark of Universal Electronics Inc.

All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words and expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development, delivery and market acceptance of the Quickset Widget products and associated service offerings, and other technologies identified in this release; the continued penetration and growth of smart home products and consumer technologies identified in this release; and other factors described in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statement due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligations to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

Contacts

Press ContactShoshana Leon

Corporate Communications

Universal Electronics Inc.

sleon@uei.com+1 480-521-3354

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TipRanks

How important are dividends to a stock investors profits? Speaking before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on October 15, 2007, investing guru John Bogle laid out the case: Over the past 81 years reinvested dividend income accounted for approximately 95 percent of the compound long-term return earned by the companies in the S&P 500. These stunning figures would seem to demand that mutual funds highlight the importance of dividend income. So in other words, dividends are pretty important! Of course, right now the average stock on the S&P 500 is only paying about a 2% dividend yield, which isnt a lot. If you want to do better than that, though, the REIT sector is a great place to begin your search for high-yield dividend stocks. REITs are companies that acquire, own, operate, and manage real estate portfolios, usually some combination of residential or commercial real properties, or their associated mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. Tax law requires that these companies return profits directly to shareholders, and most of them choose dividends as their vehicle of choice for compliance, resulting in frequent high dividend yields across the sector. The slowly ebbing COVID pandemic was hard on real estate managers, as tenants had trouble making rents and owners had trouble leasing vacant space. However, BTIG analyst Tim Hayes believes there are reasons to stay bullish on CRE properties specifically. "While we recognize the headwinds to commercial real estate (CRE) fundamentals and the potential risk to equity/earnings power, we believe there are several reasons to be constructive, especially with the sector trading at a discount to historical levels and offering attractive dividend yields at wide spreads to benchmark rates," Hayes commented. Against this backdrop, weve opened up the TipRanks database to get the latest stats on Hayes CRE choices. These are stocks that the analyst initiated Buy ratings on, pointing out their high dividend yield. We are talking about at least 9% here. Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) The first dividend pick we are looking at is Ares Commercial Real Estate, a company focused on the commercial real estate mortgage sector. Ares boasts a diversified portfolio featuring office space, apartments, hotels, and mixed-use properties mainly across the Southeast and West. The company has over $2 billion invested in 49 separate loans, 95% of which are senior mortgage loans. At the end of October, the company released 3Q20 earnings (the last reported quarter), showing $22.4 million in total revenue, for a 13% year-over-year gain. The 45-cents earnings per common share was up 40% since the prior year. Furthermore, Ares closed a $667 million commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation, with firmed up funding on 23 senior loans. On the dividend front, Ares declared in December its 4Q20 dividend. The payment, at 33 cents per common share, was paid out on January 15 and is fully covered by current income levels. At current rates, the dividend annualizes to $1.32 and gives an impressive yield of 10.50%. Among the bulls is Hayes, who wrote: We believe shares of ACRE are unfairly discounted relative to other commercial mREITs given strong Ares sponsorship, a very healthy balance sheet, and limited exposure to at-risk assets. In his view, this leaves the company well positioned to face the headwinds from COVID-19. In line with these comments, Hayes rates ACRE a Buy, and his $13.50 price target implies a 10% upside from current levels. (To watch Hayes track record, click here) Only one other analyst has posted a recent ACRE review, also rating the stock a Buy, which makes the analyst consensus here a Moderate Buy. Shares are priced at $12.28, and their $12.75 average price target suggests room for modest ~4% growth. (See ACRE stock analysis on TipRanks) KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (KREF) Next up we have KKR, which operates in the commercial real estate sector, with almost half of its holdings in the states of New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The company both owns and finances commercial properties; 83% of its activities are with apartment dwellings and office spaces in desirable urban locations. KKRs quality can be seen in the companys quarterly results. The liquidity position was strong KKR reported $700.6 million available at the end of 3Q20, the last quarter reported. The 56-cent EPS was up 7% sequentially, and 36% year-over-year. Further evidence of KKRs sound position came at the beginning of January, when the announced it had closed 7 new commercial loans in Q4, totaling $565.4 million. This level of activity is a clear sign that KKR is recovering from the pandemic-related economic turndown. The solid foundation put the company in position to continue its dividend which has been kept reliable for four years now. The most recent declaration, made in December, was for a 43-cent per common share dividend that was paid out in mid-January. That rate gives an annual payment of $1.72 per common share, and a robust yield of 9.7%. Covering KREF, Hayes is most impressed by the companys move back toward proactive loan origination, saying, We view 4Q20 origination activity to be in line with pre-pandemic production, and demonstrates a shift from defense to offense as transaction activity has picked up and the capital markets remain accommodative. We expect increased capital deployment to support earnings power and dividend coverage, and could potentially warrant an increase in the dividend as the macroeconomic outlook improves. To this end, Hayes gives KREF a Buy and sets a $19.50 price target that indicates ~6% growth from current levels. (To watch Hayes track record, click here) Wall Street has been keeping quiet on all things KREF, and the only other recent review also recommends a Buy. Put together, the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Meanwhile, the average price target stands at 19.26 and implies a modest ~5% upside. (See KREF stock analysis on TipRanks) Starwood Property Trust (STWD) For the third stock on Hayes list of picks, we turn to Starwood, a commercial mortgage REIT with a varied portfolio of first mortgages and mezzanine loans, in the $50 million to $500 million range. The company operates in the US and Europe, boasts a $5.9 billion market cap, and has offices in New York, London, and San Francisco. Starwoods high-end portfolio has brought it solid earnings, even during the corona recession of 2020. The company recorded $152 million in GAAP earnings for 3Q20, coming out to 53 cents per share, for gains of 8% sequentially and 6% year-over-year. With that in the background, we can note the companys dividend, which has been held steady at 48 cents per share for over two years. The last declaration was made in December, and the dividend was paid out on January 15. At the current rate, it annualizes to $1.92 and the yield is 9.23%. Once again, were looking at a stock that Hayes recommends to Buy. We view STWD to be one of the few blue chips in the commercial mREIT sector given its size, liquidity, best-in-class management team, strong balance sheet, and diversified investment platform which has consistently generated stronger ROEs than peers. To that end, STWD is one of few commercial mREITs that neither restructured its liabilities with expensive rescue capital nor cut its dividend since the onset of COVID-19, Hayes opined. Overall, there is little action on the Street heading STWD's way right now, with only one other analyst chiming in with a view on the company's prospects. An additional Buy rating means STWD qualifies as a Moderate Buy. However, the $21 average price target suggests shares will remain range bound for the foreseeable future. (See STWD stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Keeping in mind the use of technology in our daily life, the Internet of Things is becoming the inclining theme on the planet. Internet of Things prominently called IoT is the inter-networking of inter-connected gadgets over the web with no human interaction. This creates a huge scope for the education domain in the world to be responsive towards various upcoming IoT innovations.

IoT in the education domain has demonstrated to be a distinct advantage as many schools and institutes are utilizing different electronic gadgets to provide e-learning options. From an online course to the idea of online classrooms, IoT in the education sector has extended the scope of teaching methodologies and given opportunities to instructors to implement the paradigm of Learning with Ease in real-world scenarios.

As of today, E-learning is being executed using various systems and approaches. IoT has introduced smart gadgets and applications for schools and institutes. The potential is genuinely boundless: we could change the way of tracking attendance for our educators, instead of manual attendance in the classroom create advanced and digitized ID cards for students, extend smart devices to be more intuitive.

The wide use of IoT gadgets permits schools to improve the security of their campus area, monitor important assets and resources, and increase the availability of students data to teachers. Instructors can even utilize this innovation to make smart courses, instead of imparting the lessons in an orthodox manner.

Until now, e-learning was limited to virtual classrooms, video lectures and animations, online tutorials, and study materials. But the introduction of IoT in e-learning could really help to transform the education process.

There are certain IoT products which can create a great impact on E-Learning. Following IoT applications can prove how it can transform education.

Smart Boards:A Smart Board is a large intuitive display to be used in place of a whiteboard. Smartboard permits the educator and students to access the same learning resource in the form of a document and share it with the whole class simultaneously.

RFID Chips:RFID chips can be used to track any physical object, even plants and animals to gather information about these objects and store it in the cloud. This information can be later analyzed for various purposes. An RFID based attendance framework would consequently log students participation during class with exact occasions all transferred to the cloud.

QR Codes:Quick Response (QR) codes have advanced into the schoolbooks. These codes can be inserted in books to get to any extra assets or students can install them in their offline work which can be connected to an online device for the task. Notes, exercises, and extra information become effectively accessible to students while scanning the QR codes with their cell phones.

Cloud Devices:Cloud-enabled devices empower teachers and students to control and access information by means of the Internet. The primary use of the cloud-based education system is to incorporate students and faculty to proceed in parallel. Instructors can transfer their class tutorials, tasks, and exercises on the cloud server and students can have 24X7 access to all the learning material online, both at home and school.

Students with Special Needs:Students impaired in hearing and speech, use gesture-based sign language to communicate. To include such students in lectures, teachers may use an arrangement of gloves with sensors to make an interpretation from gesture-based communication to help in understanding and preparing notes in parallel for these students.

Students having far-sightedness can be given specific cards which can be used to detect separately and can guide connected gadgets to show text at a larger font or can zoom in the display screen. Utilizing IoT gadgets and frameworks is a valuable method to give instructive help to especially abled students.

Simulated Intelligence Devices:AI and ML can be utilized to connect different data stores, verify research information, and get experiences that expedite the research further. As most of the research part is taken over by these interconnected frameworks, researchers can concentrate on the exploration part better. IoT gadgets are the path towards inventiveness and for younger students, this is an incredible medium to understand, control and build such frameworks themselves.

Effective Utilization of Resources:IoT frameworks utilize different sensors and gadgets, apart from software, to gather and process information progressively. With IoT, educational systems can permit students to utilize their cell phones and tablets to and learn through online courses, conversations, discussions, and exercises. There is no need to retain data from a physical coursebook with the use of IoT.

Students Involvement:Since IoT is an intuitive innovation that interfaces offline gadgets to online gadgets, it naturally presents greater intuitiveness and commitment in its applications. Students can get more input on their work, while intelligent education programs enhance innovativeness, interest, and energy for the student. For students that are lagging, IoT can recognize where the problem is happening in the material, advise the instructor of the issue, and give the student more data to help come to an obvious conclusion quicker. IoT additionally offers instructors to plan their own intelligent learning modules to customize the experience for each group of classes.

Benefits for Impaired Students:Students with special needs often lag in the traditional manner of education. With AI and IoT, impaired youngsters can be involved more and be responsive effectively in their learning.

Offerings for Educators:By utilizing IoT in the classroom, instructors can concentrate on saving some time utilizing the computerized process of reviewing assignments and managing attendance. Face detection innovation is being utilized to follow students ability to focus, identifying confused or diverted faces, to help the educator to improvise quicker during a lecture in the classroom, making delivery of education effective. Smart amplifiers interpreting the educators lecture could record the audio for students to playback later while revising the lesson.

The need and importance of IoT, its applications with an explicit spotlight on E-learning offers immense value that the education sector can clearly benefit from. The potential of IoT can be leveraged to implement a smart learning environment that facilitates better learning, greater retention rates and help strengthen skills and knowledge.

With youngsters being involved, there needs to be adequate checks and systems implemented with clear demarcation and accountability on shared information before the technology is deployed. Schools and universities should assess their systems security and devices and review platforms or e-learning management systems to ensure that there is appropriate security, given the current risks.

In any case, making IoT a piece of standard education will require a significant investment of time and resources. The most imperative factor in this is making important innovations both available and simple to utilize. Even though there is a clear promise that IoT technology offers for the education sector, the effective execution of IoT will rely on the successful implementation of privacy and security. IoT stands to alter drastically the way academia works and improve student performance and engagements in many fields.

By Sankalp Katiyar, Consultant Engineering, GlobalLogic

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