pictureframe
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Samsung's new SPF-87H and SPF-107H photo frames pull double duty as secondary displays
While second monitor status isn't a first for Samsung's picture frames, it's nice to see the functionality be extended to this latest lineup, the "Touch of Color" SPF-87H and SPF-107H. Otherwise the 8-inch and 10-inch frames are pretty basic on features for the most part, including 1GB of internal storage, an internal rechargeable battery and a multicard reader in a 0.9-inch thick form factor. The folks at Digital PictureFrame Review had no luck getting the SPF-85V to work as an external USB display last time around, so hopefully Samsung has tightened up its software in that regard -- though we're not expecting Mac support of such functionality in this century. At least the price is right: in Taiwan the 8-inch frame, which is available globally this month, will go for NT$3490 (about $103 US), while the 10-inch version goes for NT$5290 (about $157 US) and will hit stores in May.[Via Digital PictureFrame Review]
Kodak OLED picture frame hands-on (updated)
Totally over the top and ridiculously expensive, Kodak's 7.6-inch OLED picture frame is still a serious want. The image was every bit as beautiful as we expected but surprised us with the frame's ability to playback HD video in such a fluid manner. The touch-controls along the bezel did what we wanted with little thought, albeit, with some lag. Not horrible but certainly annoying if we ever decide to hand Kodak $1,000 to take one home.Update: We spoke to Kodak's product manager who gave us another spin with the frame -- this time with WiFi turned off. Voila, the lag was gone. Turns out the previous unit was struggling to connect to the encrypted WiFi network on the crowded convention center floor. Problem solved.%Gallery-41190%
Giant International's touchscreen Intouch IT7150 photo frame: disembodied hand not included
Not that we'd expect any reputable digital picture frame manufacturer to consort with a real, live hand model, but we've gotta hand it to Giant International for discovering this particularly unnatural, eerily glowing appendage to point vaguely at its new Intouch IT7150. Lucky for us, the device in question is not at all cheap and uninviting, featuring a 7-inch 800 x 480 LCD touchscreen, 802.11b/g WiFi, USB to PC connection cable and the standard complement of memory card slots. What makes this particularly fun is vTuner support, which allows for play back of 11,000 radio and TV stations (primarily public access and other undesirables on the TV side), in addition to the increasingly standard FrameChannel service for photo sharing and RSS subscriptions. There's also a built-in rechargeable battery for about 1.5 hours of portable use. At $349, you're certainly paying a pretty penny for all these good times, but if vTuner isn't your bag, you can drop that support and pick up the frame for $299.[Via Digital Picture Frame Review]
Aequitas iGala Wireless Digital Picture Frame is touchscreen photo-browsing perfection
We know, you started yawning at the sight of the headline, your ears will pop with relief by the middle of this paragraph, and you'll finish up somewhere around the Read link. We get it. But there's something kinda special about the brand new iGala Wireless Digital Picture Frame from Aequitas, we'll call it "common sense." The photo frame sports an 8-inch, 800 x 600 touchscreen, 1GB of internal storage, WiFi and the traditional complement of card readers. What's new here is that iGala really puts that WiFi connection to use, featuring Gmail integration (for sending photos), an alarm clock and integration with Microsoft's FrameIt service for news, traffic and weather info. The frame also hooks up to Flickr directly, which is such a no-brainer these days that we're surprised we see still so many "connected" frames lacking the feature. A full touchscreen makes all of this stuff actually possible to use, and the $239 pricetag doesn't mean you have to get soaked for the convenience. iGala is available now from Aequitas' entirely sketchy online store -- we guess you can't win 'em all. [Via Digital Picture Frame Review]
Kodak stuns with world's first 7.6-inch OLED picture frame
We figured it was coming, now sure enough, Kodak just let loose a new picture frame based on CMEL's new mass-produced, 7.6-inch OLED panels. Ultra-thin as you'd expect and wireless as you'd hope, the new 800 x 480 pixel Wireless Frame should be ready for the holidays sporting 2GB of internal storage, integrated audio, a 30,000:1 contrast, 180-degree viewing angle, and photo service compatibility with Flickr and others. Unfortunately, it's got a price you'd expect from this nascent display tech: $999. Sparky, had better be worth it.[Via OLED-Display]
World of WarCrafts: Conjured photo frame
Every Thursday, Shelbi Roach of The Bronze Kettle guides you in creating WoW-inspired crafts using real world mats with World of WarCrafts. Mages deserve some love. Providing hundreds of biscuits and polymorphing adds for your raid is sure to take a toll on even the hardiest of magi. Not to mention removing curses, stealing buffs, and making everyone temporarily smarter. Oh yeah, there's that damage dealing thing they do too.So take some time to express some gratitude for your under-appreciated arcane ally by conjuring up this custom photo frame. Here is what you will need: Scrapbook Frame Acrylic Paint Soft Glitter Paint Scrapbook Paper Fine Glitter Gems (also used in the Voidwalker Doorknob Hanger) Mod Podge Wooden Letters Wooden Sheep Shape Ribbon Scissors Xacto Knife Paper Cutter Pencil Toothpicks Paintbrushes Click on the images below to view a gallery of step-by-step instructions. %Gallery-27243%
DIY picture frame does IM, Skype notifications
There's certainly plenty of readymade devices out there that'll give you information at a glance, but if you're more the DIY-type you may want to follow the lead of David Bue Pedersen from Volunteer Lab Rat, who put together this spiffy little picture frame that notifies him when his friends are online. There's no fancy LCDs here, however, just some plain old pictures housed in clear frames with an LED placed on top of each, which light up whenever the person is on IM or Skype. Needless to say, there's quite a bit of coding and some slightly daunting hardware hackery involved to get all that to work, but Pedersen has at least provided the necessary schematics and board layout if you want to give it a go -- you can even push things all the way up to 22 LEDs if five isn't enough for you.[Via Hacked Gadgets]
Digital Polaroid photo frame concept brings it all rushing back
Polaroid film may be gone, but for some of us with fond memories of the format -- for no discernible reason, Polaroids were slow, blurry and expensive -- this digital picture frame concept seems a fitting tribute. There's a dry erase portion on the bottom, and the frame can stand on its own or be pinned to a cork board for added realism. "Standard" mode emulates a regular digital frame, while "Classic" mode slowly fades the picture into view. Yeah, maybe a little too cute for its own good, but maybe we like it that way. [Via Gadget Lab]
Emtrace's Photoskins digiframe fits in your wallet
Just in case you weren't exactly keen on buying a new wallet just to get a digital photo frame built in, Emtrace is offering up the perfect alternative. The ultrathin Photoskins PS100 is skinny enough to slide right inside your wallet, and it can also be docked in a cradle and used as a "Widget-Player." Regrettably, that's all the information that's available right now, but hang tight, all the nitty-gritty details you crave should be just around the bend.
EDGE Tech offers up 12-inch digital photo frame
We've got a strange feeling that digiframes are going to be relatively hot this holiday season, but maybe the sudden rash of offerings are just coincidentally launching weeks before Black Friday. Regardless of the reasons, EDGE Tech is hitting us up with a 12-inch version of its own, which features a decent 800 x 600 resolution, USB connectivity, support for AVI, BMP, JPEG, MPEG1/2/4, WAV and WMA files, and flash card inputs that play nice with SD, MMC, Memory Stick, MS Pro, CompactFlash and Microdrive. It shouldn't shock you to hear that this piece also handles automatic slideshows and can even sing back via the integrated stereo speakers, and while there's no option for WiFi here, it'll only run you $129.95 after rebate.[Via DigitalTechNews]
Kodak get official with EasyShare cameras, launches new frame and HDTV dock
Not that anyone was impatiently refreshing Engadget in anticipation of this news, but Kodak just made their trio of leaked EasyShare cameras official. We mean really, really, super official with pricing and dates as opposed to the information gleaned off their site courtesy of Google's cache. The $300 V1253, $250 V1233, and $300 Z812 IS are all available now. They're also launching their $100 Easyshare HDTV dock with remote control for a quick and dirty TV hookup along with a 10-inch SV1011 digital picture frame with 800 x 480 resolution for $200. See, you don't know everything.
Juice Box PMP used in retro phone digiframe mod
Granted, it's been a tick since we've considered Mattel's Juice Box for any off the wall hack jobs, but a clever fellow with nothing but spare time and a worthless rotary dial telephone figured out a way to rejuvenate it. The "Retro Phone Picture Frame Hack" required an obsolete phone, Juice Box and MP3 / Picture kit, spare SD card, and a basic understanding of wiring. After removing the dial face and getting his hands dirty with the variety of connections within, his picture-packed SD card was situated in while the face of the Juice Box was fixated in the leftover gap. A few silent prayers later, everything was up and running, providing the least costly and most unique digiframe we've seen to date. So if you're considering putting that old phone to rest, be sure to visit the read link and give this mod a hand before ditching such a useful appliance.
MediaStreet unveils 15-inches of eMotion Digital Picture Frame
Sure, not everybody needs 15 whole inches of picture frame, but we know your kids are particularly good looking, and could easily fill that much real estate with their shining grins. MediaStreet is offering the new 15-inch eMotion Digital Picture Frame for $298 on June 25th. There's 1024 x 768 pixels to play with, and if you get tired of showing off JPEG and BMP files, there's also support for MPEG, AVI, MP3 and WMA.
MediaStreet adds Bluetooth to eMotion digital photo frame
Nah, MediaStreet can't be considered a pioneer by throwing in Bluetooth functionality with its eMotion digiframe, but considering that only a few others have made such a gesture thus far, you won't find us bellyaching. The firm is upping the ante on its seven-inch widescreen digital photo frame by adding in the ability to instantly transfer photos snapped on your cameraphone or BT-enabled device onto the frame, but didn't forget about the traditional loading methods in the process; users can still import media onto its 256MB of internal memory via SD, CF, SDHC, MMC, MS / MSPro, xD, or USB 2.0. The device plays nice with JPEG / BMP photos, MP3 and WMA on the audio front, and AVI / MPEG1/2/4 when looking at video, and while this may not be the biggest buck on the block, it manages to support a variety of interchangeable wood frames and a wireless remote while ringing up at just $149.[Via Slashgear]
Hands-on with the i-mate Momento 70
Thrown together by well-traveled ODM Inventec, i-mate's new Momento series of digital picture frames break some important ground. First of all, they do WiFi -- a seemingly obvious feature for this category of devices that's inexplicably missing from a majority of the mainstream models currently in the marketplace. Next up, the Momento is among the very first commercially available devices to support Microsoft's SideShow concept for secondary displays that should (theoretically, anyway) untether all manner of information from the PCs on which it typically resides. In that respect, the Momento is very much a first-generation device -- but as a picture frame, we came into the hands-on expecting a certain level of refinement, now that they've had a few years to ripen on the vine. Does the unit deliver on its promise as a highly connected, Vista-compatible accessory? Does it deliver as a plain ol' frame, for that matter? We took the $200 Momento 70 -- the smaller of the two, clocking in at 7 inches of diagonal real estate -- for a test drive to get some answers.%Gallery-1792%
Wicked cool Pismo picture frame
We've seen laptops modded into picture frames before, but this one really caught our attention. Flickr user theducks used parts from two Pismos, some plastic and a bit of creativity to make this photo frame. It has a real cool mod look that we love. The only thing is that theducks is a little skimpy on the details (hint, hint, theducks).Remember, you can add a shot of your Mac(s) to our Flickr pool at any time.
Kodak CES booth tour
Kodak's CES booth this year had a distinct electronic picture frame theme. We think it's something to do with the fact that they sell them ... Kodak CES booth tour
Westinghouse launches five digital picture frames
If there's one piece of technology which can unify geeks and non-geeks alike, it's digital picture frames. Westinghouse wants to get into the game as well, with its five new frames that range from the DPF-0562 5.6-inch model ($100) to the DPF-1411 14.1-inch model ($400), the latter of which sports a 16:9 aspect ratio. Like many of its competitors, Westinghouse's include a base amount of storage (128MB), but offer compatibility with most of the standard card formats including CF, SD, MMC and xD. Don't have a flash card? Really? There's a pair of USB ports as well for your data transferring pleasure. Either way, expect to see these hit stores sometime after March of this year.
ARTMU's ePHOTOZIP DEF-080PM digital picture frame
While most electronic photo frames these days are doing their darnedest to look just like their analog counterparts, the ePHOTOZIP DEF-080PM from ARTMU Museum of Art wears its digital-ness loud and proud. And why shouldn't it? The 8-inch screen, 128MB of built-in memory and SD/MMC or Memory Stick expansion are nothing to sneeze at, and the addition of MP3 playback and calendar functions are welcome. We really wouldn't have minded a bit of Flickr/RSS functionality in this thing, but the 250,000 won pricetag ($272 US) probably wouldn't allow such fancies anyways. The ePHOTOZIP looks to be available now -- Korea only, of course.[Via Akihabara]
Philips lands the 9-inch digital PhotoFrame
This being a digital picture frame, we're sure you don't need much introduction. What's new is that Philips is trumping their previous 7-incher with this new 9-inch PhotoFrame, giving you that much more LCD real estate for displaying embarrassing childhood memories and too-cute family moments. The frame also ups the ante with dual card readers, we suppose to allow for intense memory card hot-swap action. There's also a little bit of internal memory if you want to be boring about it. The frame comes in a "Modern" and "Classic" design (we figure we're looking at the mod version here), and both can of course be wall mounted. No word on price or availability, but we're sure you'll be able to get in on the action soon enough.
