Gizmodo: digital frame

Telepresence Frame: A Black Box for Life Support Patients

Benny Goldman — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:55:03 EST

Someone finally found a good use for a digital picture frame. The Telepresence Frame by Revital Cohen displays a live-feed of a patient's vital stats for his or her entire family to see. Cohen, an artist studying the increasing relationship between humans and machines, shows through the frame that a patient on life support is made up of more than flesh and bones, and has become one with the gadgets surrounding them. That's nice and all, but what happens when the life support ends is downright freaky.

When the machines can no longer keep the patient alive, the stats on the frame flatline, just like you see on TV. However, the death of the patient does not bring with it the death of the frame; everything has been recorded on a black box, which rewinds to the beginning and plays the patient's life, on a loop. Now your family can sit around the fireplace, stare at the frame, and recount the good old days. "Oh look! That's when Timmy's blood pressure was 120 over 80! And he was still breathing! I miss that day."

Cohen has made a video of some of these patients describing what their machine-assisted life is like, and you can see a clip below. Just remember, before you complain that a minute of your time was wasted, these people are on freakin' life support.[Interactions via WMMNA]

D-Link's DSM-210, a Fancy Internet and Widget Controlled Photo Frame

Sean Fallon — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:00:54 EST

The Pitch: D-Link has announced the DSM-210 — a new high res 10-inch LCD photo frame that features a website and a drag-and-drop desktop widget to help users manage their photos and download RSS feeds. It also includes slots for USB and memory cards and Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity. Available Q1 of 2008 for $249.
The Catch: Might want to wait for a review to find out if the process is really as easy as they make it seem.

D-LINK DEBUTS Wi-Fi INTERNET AND WIDGET CONTROLLED DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME
Frame Easily Managed Using Web or Drag and Drop Desktop Widget

LAS VEGAS, NV, Jan. 6, 2008 - D-Link, the end-to-end networking solutions provider for consumer and business, today announced future release of a digital photo frame that enables users to quickly and easily manage content displayed using a convenient website or with a drag and drop desktop widget.

The D-Link® Internet Photo Frame (DSM-210) is easily managed using an intuitive website (dlink.framechannel.com), where users can organize photos online for display as well as remotely stream content such as weather, news, trivia and more using popular Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.

With built-in wired and wireless adapters, the DSM-210 also gives users the choice to simply drag and drop digital photos into photo frames using a "widget" located on the computer desktop, which then automatically displays the photos as a slide show on the photo frame. The widget also allows a user to remotely manage a frame over the Internet using the same drag and drop method, making it the perfect gift for someone who is a novice computer user, letting the giver of the frame remotely manage the photos and content displayed.

Unlike traditional digital photo frames, this next-generation photo frame is designed to enhance the home entertainment experience by allowing users to view their favorite photos easily and conveniently virtually anywhere in the home or over the Internet - providing a high-resolution 10" LCD display connected over a wired or wireless home network.

The DSM-210 features a 16 x 9 inch screen and includes an interchangeable black or white frame. It contains slots for USB and common memory cards, and can be networked via an Ethernet connection or Wi-Fi. The digital photo frame is widget compatible and can connect directly to the PC or via Internet options. With a rechargeable battery and premium content available, the frame comes with a one-year subscription for basic Internet content.
D-Link also plans to introduce custom skins, via a partnership with Skinit, to allow customers to personalize the outer portion frame to whatever color or pattern they choose.

Price and Availability
The D-Link DSM-210 is expected to be available in Q1, 2008 through D-Link's network of retail outlets, value-added resellers, solution providers and distributors, or at the company's online store, www.dlinkshop.com, for the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $249.99.

Parrot DF7700 MMS Digital Photo Frame Shows Pics from Cellphones

Charlie White — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:26:47 EDT

Here's one more way to send photos to a digital photo frame: The Parrot DF7700 thinks it's a cellphone—it even has its own phone number—and you can send it pics in an MMS message from any other cellphone. Its 7-inch frame (a similar 7" Bluetooth-friendly frame is pictured here) is big enough to show you just how bad that camera is in your cellphone, and that's not even saying anything about the situations that might be depicted in such photos sent from afar. Like other Parrot frames, in addition to letting you input photos in the conventional method via memory card, this one is chameleon-like, shipping with a leather frame but letting you swap that out for any of its other optional finishes. Pricing wasn't announced, but the DF770 will be available in the U.S. by the end of this year. [Yahoo]

ThinkGeek to Make Amends for Defective PF Digital eStarling Photo Frames

Charlie White — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:39:15 EST

The ugly duckling of digital photo frames, the PF Digital eStarling, has gone into full recall mode, where its online retailer ThinkGeek will graciously exchange all of the original defective units that were shipped with a new version 2.0 model sometime next month. It looks like most of the problems with the first version of the eStarling might be solved, except for one:

PF Digital promises the following improvements in the eStarling photo frame:

- Full Wi-Fi range of at least 120 feet
- New motherboard and updated firmware
- Internal antenna not visible from the outside of the frame
- New front bezel design with no eStarling logo on the front of the frame
- Standalone feature allows frame to pull photos from any POP e-mail address without needing to connect to the eStarling server
- View photos on a media card without needing a wi-fi Internet connection

Unless the eStarling 2.0 has a modification that ThinkGeek didn't mention in its e-mail to disgruntled buyers, one problem that we didn't see fixed is that 16x9 display, which will still show black bars on the sides of most digital photos.

The last we heard from ThinkGeek, a new Wi-Fi transmitter was in the offing, which the company said would be shipped to us within a few weeks. Fast-forward six weeks, when we received this e-mail yesterday afternoon.

Clicking through the link on the e-mail, it was a simple matter to sign up for this recall program, which includes free shipping of the new unit, and a shipping label to return the hapless version 1.0 as soon as version 2.0 arrives. ThinkGeek will also accept returns of version 2.0 if doesn't measure up for 30 days after receiving it.

It's a remarkable effort on the part of ThinkGeek to make good on a product that was certainly not up to snuff. Nice move, ThinkGeek. We'll keep you updated, dear readers and fellow eStarling sufferers, on what happens. – Charlie White

Support (links to press release) [eStarling]

Kodak's Connected Digital Photo Frames

www.gizmodo.com — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:01:26 EST

OMG, like, you don't have a digital picture frame? Dude, they're totally the sh*t these days. Long a niche, nerd product as user-friendly as a graphing calculator, the digital frame has gone mainstream—as evidenced by Kodak getting into the biz.

The boyz from Rochester dropped four models on Vegas: standard 7- and 8-inch frames, plus 8- and 10-inch ones with built-in Wi-Fi. (Prices range from $129 to $279.) Each comes with one interchangeable frame, and you can buy additional ones to upgrade the look. Options are: frosted floral glass, warm walnut wood, antique silver, plus a whiteboard that you can write things on—like cartoon thought bubbles—then wipe off to write something new.

The frames all sport the full range of slots—even for those dorky xD cards (good, 'cause we do like Fujifilm and Olympus cameras). 128MB of built-in memory holds about 60 photos. The Wi-Fi models let you transfer photos from a PC over a wireless network, or you can grab pics you have online at Kodak's EasyShare Gallery. All the frames also play music and videos.

Kodak actually slipped a few of these frames into Target stores back in November, on the down-low. But the full lineup goes on sale everywhere in February. – Sean Captain

Multifunction Desktop Digital Frame

Travis Hudson — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:56:17 EDT

This is one of the few digital frames out there that I would consider thinking about possibly buying, if I had the extra money, of course. I'm not a big fan of this whole digital frame movement, but this one is a bit different because it is more useful. The Digiframe can store 22 pictures that run as a slide slow. It can also display the time, calendar and temperature, in addition to having an alarm clock. It would be fun to slip a goatse picture into the slideshow and see how long it takes for your co-workers to notice. $70. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Newlaunches]