photo sharing
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Isabella Products' Mini USB stick connects unconnected digital photo frames
Passed on Isabella Products' Vizit digital photo frame? 'Tis a shame, really. But hey, if you were one of the millions gifted with a lackluster, non-connected digiframe over the past few years, at least the aforesaid company is giving you a way to make things right. The outfit's newly launched Mini is one special USB key, embedded with an AT&T 3G SIM and tailor made to provide cellular connectivity to dormant frames. The key is linked to one's VizitMe content management service, and users will be able to email photos directly or have the device extract content from Photobucket and LIFE.com; once received, owners will see new images pop up on any frame that accepts USB keys. Furthermore, these same emailed images can be viewed on USB-equipped monitors and televisions. The company's planning to ship the Mini in Q2 of this year for an undisclosed rate, but naturally, we're more interested in the potential unadvertised capabilities. An off-contract, fee-free USB key with an AT&T SIM card within? Sounds like we're just a hack or two away from the most beautiful mobile broadband card this world has ever seen.
Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal
Yeah, we know. E-mail is like so 1999. Kids today are all about their tweets and their texts, but if grandma can decode a digital picture at all pretty much the only way she's going to get it is via e-mail, and Eye-Fi is making that easier. It's launched Eye-Fi View, an online sharing site not unlike your Picasas or your Flickrs, except that pictures are (nearly) instantly and automatically uploaded straight from the camera, where they can be shared (or not shared) with others. Users can also set up e-mail alerts so that grandma can get a private link to Gerard's graduation photos. Eye-Fi View is free if you don't mind your pictures disappearing after seven days, but if you want unlimited storage for an unlimited time you'll need to step up to the $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annual plans. The disembodied hand? We're pretty sure that's not included.
Samsung Omnia 7 review
We knew Samsung's been in the Windows Phone 7 game pretty much since day one, but the Korean giant's managed to keep its Europe-bound Omnia 7 under tight wraps until mid-summer this year. Two months onwards, we find ourselves cradling this macho-looking device, and giggly flicking through the various tiles in its newborn OS. Just to freshen up your memory, we're looking at a 4-inch Super AMOLED-donning slate, garnished with a dash of Tyrian purple aluminum on the back, and capped with some dark gray polycarbonate at the top and bottom. Well, you know the drill -- join us after the break to find out how the rest of this phone fares. This review is primarily of the Samsung Omnia 7 hardware. Check out our full review of Windows Phone 7 for our thoughts on the OS. %Gallery-105343%
Apple updates Gallery for iPhone 4, iPad version still AWOL
Apple has pushed out a new version of MobileMe Gallery, a free app for people who post pictures to the MobileMe service and want to access them on their iPhone or mail them to friends. Apple says the app now has higher resolution images on an iPhone 4 when connected to a Wi-Fi network. Apple also says, with no specifics, that there are 'various bug fixes'. What's missing from all this is that iPad owners have to use the same Gallery app and scale it up, making their images look precisely like crap. You'd think that with the beautiful iPad screen Apple would support it with a universal app. Well, maybe someday.
Sharing Flickr photos and video on Facebook just got easier
Flickr users have been putting up with half-baked solutions for sharing their photo streams on Facebook for a long, long time. That appears to have finally been corrected now that Flickr is using Yahoo! Updates to bridge the way to Facebook. After taking the two minutes to connect your Facebook and Flickr accounts, any photo or video marked as "public" will automatically be shared on Facebook. A process that took a lengthy (in social networking terms) 15 minutes on our first try. If nothing else, at least this explains what Yahoo is doing these days. See an example of a Flickr update on Facebook after the break.
Boo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction
The problem is, we just don't know where they're going. In a Saturday blog post, the company announced it is "...taking a new direction" and won't be offering their current apps to new users. SimplifyMedia has been offering free software for computer-to-computer and iPhone-to-computer music sharing over the internet. Using the iPhone app, you could connect to your computer at home and stream albums, playlists or songs without any complicated firewall setups. A newer version of the software also allowed remote access to your iPhoto library. It also looks like the company is going to slowly sunset current customer accounts but will continue to keep them functioning for at least another 3 months. The Simplify iPhone app has been removed from the App Store, and the company says new account creation will be disabled soon. I don't have any idea where the company is headed, but the current product will be missed. SimplifyMedia was offered for Mac, PC and Ubuntu. [Thanks to Robert for the tip]
New Xbox Experience: Xbox Live Parties and photo sharing previewed
We acknowledge that a number of you might be sick of Gamerscore Blog's weekly previews of the New Xbox Experience, but we assure you -- this one is worth checking out. Examined in the latest sneak peek is the Xbox Live Party system, which lets you congregate with seven of your online acquaintences, allowing you to participate in an eight-Avatar chatroom. You can also fire off an invite to everyone in your party with the push of a button, allowing your outfit to move between games with the greatest of ease (we hope). A video preview of this feature is included after the jump.Also previewed is the oft-promised photo sharing feature, now heralded as the "Photo Party". This feature will allow users to share photos from a disc, camera or USB drive with their fellow partygoers, who can discuss and rate the images (hopefully, a filter for dong-related JPEGs will be implemented to thwart our more devious cohorts). Not mentioned in the preview is the supposed delay of the photo sharing feature -- could it now possibly be on-track for the NXE's Nov. 19 launch? Curious about the New Xbox Experience? Check out our ridiculously informative nine-video feature, covering everything from Avatar creation, Netflix integration, and the 8-player party system to installing games to the hard drive, the new Marketplace, the Blade-like "Guide" interface, and more!
AT&T enables Flickr photo viewing on U-verse TV
As carriers (and STB manufacturers) continue to implement new and varied extras to make their service just different enough to reel you in, AT&T's making sure it doesn't get caught stale by enabling its users to view Flickr images from the comfort of their couch. AT&T Online Photos, as it's so eloquently dubbed, is an integrated photos channel that allows users to access their own account and watch slideshows by simply flipping to channel 91 or navigating through the U-verse TV menu. Hey, U-verse subscribers -- why not give this a go and see if it's more useful than gimmicky (or vice-versa)? One more look after the jump.
Eye-Fi WiFi-enabled SD card finally shipping
It's taken well over a year for Eye-Fi to bring its self-titled wireless SD card to market, but on the plus side, that Benjamin now gets you 2GB of storage -- a welcome boost for a rumored capacity that had dipped as low as 512MB. In case the past 18 months have made the details a little fuzzy, this 802.11g card requires a one-time setup on your PC before it's ready to automatically upload full resolution pics to one of 17 websites each time you turn on your camera. Even better, a backup copy is also sent to your PC, ensuring that your photos are safely archived when your favorite social network folds.
