NYT Reviews Digital Picture Frames

prostoalex writes "New York Times reviews the digital picture frames available commercially: 'Yes, with the ultimate digital camera accessory: the digital picture frame, a flat-panel screen designed exclusively for showing digital photos. A digital frame can do something no ordinary frame can do: change what's in it at the touch of a button, or even treat you to a slide show. Think of it as a screen saver that doesn't tie up your computer.' For those who would rather build the devices themselves - both Linux Toys and Wi-Fi Toys contain the chapters on creating Linux-based digital picture frames out of old laptops. Channel 9 on Microsoft Developer Network also has a step-by-step walk-through of building a Windows-based digital picture frame."

Comments

Dead market beaten a bit more

[brejc8]

I have seen this idea for ages and seen many implementations (inc. my own) but I still dont understand why people bother. Last thing I need is something stitting on my desk distracting me. Its not as if paper pictures are that inconvenient and sure when you may want to remind your self of what your wife looks like before returing to the wrong home (again) but you have a great big 19 inch screen to look at her with.

Re:Dead market beaten a bit more

[Frizzle Fry]

His point was that this doesn't offer much over normal pictures. Sure, you can pay for a subscription so that a grandmother can get updated pictures in her frame. But she'd probably like it better if you just mailed her some photographs. Or gave them to her, you know, in person.

There's no substitute for...

[ControlFreal]

... cubic inches (of centimeters), as they say in the automobile industry. Well, in terms of showing photos to family and friends, there's no substitute for resolution.

Not until we have a standard 13x18 cm (European size, don't know what the US equivalent is) picture frame that's capable of displaying 3 or 4 megapixels (i.e. the entire photo without downsizing), that isn't too heavy or power-consumption happy and that accepts standard memory cards, this market will bloom.

Come to think of it; where are our 4 megapixel monitors? Why do we still have only 75 or 100 DPI effectively on our current monitors?

Re:Digital picture frames are such a waste

[Gwenna]

A print is great if you have only a few pictures. My husband and I took 3000 pictures on our last trip. We would like to share some of these with our parents, who either don't have a fast internet connection, or don't use their computer much (if ever). A digital picture frame was a great solution; we crammed a bunch of pictures onto a spare memory card, sent it back East, and that was it, pictures shared.

Re:Can I install Linux on it?

[DoraLives]

Such devices look very interesting the day they launch but get oudated in six months or so

Concur.

But a reasonable extrapolation of "outdated" every six months takes us to some pretty interesting country in fairly short order.

Consider, if you will, a roll of wallpaper with a ribbon cable coming off of one edge. Or perhaps small antennae along the back side, every meter or so. Trimmable, ten feet in width, coming in rolls up into the hundreds of meters in length, they soon colonize interior and exterior wallspace everywhere you look.

They work just as well for folks interested in proportion and harmony, as they do for large corporations and folks with an agenda.

We will love our new vistas and will wonder how people got along without them for so long.