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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."
Building one seems like a neat idea, but using a laptop seems like such overkill to me, in terms of processing power and power requirements.
Is there some solution like the EtherNut that can also drive a flat panel display? And where to get a decent deal on a flat panel? If I'm builing a picture frame, bigger is better! I guess displays up to 1280x1024 have dropped in price a fair amount, but what about more resolution than that?
Some ThinkPads have got some nice resolution in a small format screen - anyone have a good source for those? (I know, I know, probably ebay!) I suppose in the end the cheapest solution is going to be a whole laptop from ebay... Perhaps diskless and underclocked to reduce the power consumption and heat generation. Anyone tried that?
Such devices look very interesting the day they launch but get oudated in six months or so; since there will devices in market with higher resolution at lower price in next six months.
So unless and untill there is a very unique idea behind it like iPod, it's not worth the money you spend.
Now my question is, Can I install Linux on it?
As an amature photographer, I wouldn't mind having one, I would love to keep seeing my work as I pass the digital frame doing my business. At the moment they are in a folder on an external drive just sitting there. No point using them for my desktop either because i'm always doing work.
On another level however, I wonder if they could be used in waiting rooms, it would certainly add variety in those mind numbing places.
However, I'd also want as little interaction with the device as possible, just upload the photos, configure how I would want them displayed and leave it. Making it the same 2 steps as with a normal picture frame (nailing it in and then setting up the picture to display). Anything else like useless software is a waste and takes everything away from the point of decorating your room. Just have a simple UI to upload the photos and be done with it, wireless would be nice for the picture uploads and a neat tidy power cable coming out from the wall behind it.
Jonathanjk.com
I have always considered digital picture frames to be the most colossal waste of time, money, and hardware that has ever been conceived by the technology industry.
Hey, look, a beautiful high-resolution large LCD monitor. Let's tack it to a wall and use it for displaying still images, despite the fact that still images display perfectly well on paper and have infinitely better contrast that way. Not to mention colour gamut issues that are generally solved quite well with photo-printing inks relative to how they are solved on LCDs.
I have an idea. If you have an urge to buy one of these, give me five hundred dollars instead, and give you a frame, and whenever you want a picture call me, and I will print the fucking thing for you and manually (yes, I know, scary word) put it into the physical frame.
I think it's a great idea, but there's just one issue that comes to my mind here:
.
All we seem to be doing these days is making things require electricity, when they never used to.
I'm not an environmental freak or anything, but it's shocking to see how much we're becoming dependent on electricity; even razors that don't currently require batteries will probably become battery operated, like this
See how many wind-up watches there are these days; at the rate technology is progressing, your average picture frame could soon be battery powered.
Linux/Open Source/Anti Microsoft News
The front (image is an underwater photo of an octopus)
The back guts held together with industrial velcro
Well, I have actually written about it a few weeks ago. Tablet PCs might be expensive but in my case I've had an old one stuck in a drawer for ages. It has now turned into something useful. Here is the article: http://julian.coccia.com/article-71.html
It does matter, to me. I can see that detail without a problem, without sitting "too close". Likewise, aside from DRM, until printed characters on the screen is as smooth and crisp as a laser print from 1995, I don't think ebooks will matter. Text shouldn't be visibly jaggy. Antialiasing techniques, even Cleartype, is only a poor supstitute to increasint the points per inch to 200 or 300.
Where are the e-ink picture frames?
At $110 the ceiva seems to be bargain, if you wouldn't need that expensive subscription. If you could emulate the ceiva server or exchange the Ceiva firmware to something more useful it could be a really nice device.
Jan