Samsung and Chumby partner on internet-connected digiframes

Looking for candidness? We never thought we'd see the day when Chumby and Samsung were collaborating, but we can't help but dole out a round of golf claps for the effort here. As the digiframe market declines from monotonous to completely boring, these two are hoping to put some spunk back into the sector via the power of the world wide web. Here at CES, the pair is showcasing a reference design built on Sammy's S3C6410 application processor for internet-connected digital photo frames. Essentially, it'll enable frames to not only play back media, but to access social networks, messaging services, games, internet radio, video clips, streaming news, weather information, RSS feeds and all sorts of other web-based content. Strangely, the release (hosted after the break) notes that the design is "available now from Chumby," though it doesn't seem that commercialization is yet within sight.

Samsung and Chumby Power Always-On, Internet-Connected Digital Photo Frames

Las Vegas, NV, Jan. 8, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world's leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, and chumby have teamed up to provide a reference design built on Samsung's award-winning S3C6410 application processor for Internet-connected digital photo frames (DPFs). The new Samsung / chumby reference design will enable developers to build powerful Web 3.0 digital photo frames that offer photo and video sharing via social networks, multimedia messaging, games, Internet radio, animation, video clips, constantly streaming news, weather information, RSS feeds and much more. These DPFs provide access to Web services and content from the chumby network, which has over 1,000 Internet applications or "widgets" in 30 different categories ranging from news and entertainment to videos, music and sports.

Samsung and chumby will demonstrate this new reference design at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.'s Meeting Room #N238 in the North Hall and at chumby's booth #14448 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"Accessing Web services and content anytime, anywhere is the promise of next-generation consumer electronic devices," said Richard Yeh, marketing director for Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.'s System LSI Business. "By partnering with emerging market leaders such as chumby, we have an opportunity to dynamically change the way people view and share information in real-time via the Internet."

As the digital photo frame market embraces wireless connectivity, the Samsung / chumby reference design will enable developers to build innovative DPFs with interactive Web capabilities. Rather than just a simple picture frame that

only displays a limited number of photos from camera memory cards, the DPF can now become a connected Internet appliance where users can create and share content with friends and family, easily connect to top Internet photo-sharing services like Photobucket, Facebook and Flickr, integrate photo sharing with audio, and enjoy their photos and music alongside the rest of their favorite parts of the Internet. Users can view and share photos from multiple sources including camera cards, memory cards, and the top Internet photo sharing sites in one slideshow, and use the touchscreen to navigate through over a thousand chumby widgets."Our vision is to bring the Internet to connected screens everywhere, and digital photo frames are an ideal platform for delivering chumby to millions of homes," said Stephen Tomlin, CEO, chumby. "Through our partnership with Samsung, we are taking the digital photo frame category to an entirely new level -- bringing the best of the Internet coupled with chumby's ease of use and unique capabilities to digital photo frames." To be the centerpiece of the connected home, a DPF requires a high-performance, multimedia processor with an optimized feature set that includes interfaces for easy connection to wireless networks, a LCD display controller, advanced memory interfaces for both embedded and card memory, an ADC for touch screen control, advanced graphics capabilities and support for high-level operating systems. Designed using Samsung's high-performance, cost effective S3C6410 application processor, this new reference design leverages an open source network based on a Linux operating system using the Adobe Flash platform.

About Samsung's S3C6410 Application Processor

Samsung's S3C6410 processor has on-chip JPEG/2D/3D hardware for fast and easy Internet picture sharing and graphics rendering. For video applications, the S3C6410 provides on-chip MPEG-4 SP codec, H.264/263 BP codec and a VC-1 decoder, allowing SD-quality video capture and playback at 30 frames per second. The S3C6410 also integrates 2S for 5.1-channel Dolby for stereo-quality audio.

The Samsung / chumby reference design is available now from chumby.

About chumby

Chumby lets users select their favorite parts of the Internet and delivers them in a friendly, always-on, always-fresh format. Over 1,000 widgets in 30 different categories, ranging from news and entertainment to videos, music, sports and more are available from high profile media partners such as CBS, MTV Networks, New York Times, Pandora, The Weather Channel Interactive, AOL's SHOUTcast and Scripps Networks. Chumby also offers user generated content as well as thousands of Internet radio stations, the ability to share photos, e-cards and more with family and friends. Chumby is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit www.chumby.com.

About Samsung Electronics

For more information, please visit www.samsung.com or www.samsung.com/us/business/semiconductor/news/News_MediaCenter.html.