A Living Picture Incorporates Microsoft SideShow in Digital Frames

[Damion Chaplin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cepro.com/products/press/11786.html' target='_blank'>http://www.cepro.com/products/press/11786.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A Living Picture is working with Microsoft to enable Windows SideShow capabilities on the full range of the A Living Picture Digital Photo Frames for the upcoming launch of Windows Vista. A Living Picture's digital photo frames running Windows SideShow was presented in the keynote presentations of Will Poole, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows Client business. The incorporation of Windows SideShow capabilities will allow for further evolution of the digital photo frame by displaying not only pictures but a range of data usually tied to a PC. With the wireless and wired connectivity options available on the full range of A Living Picture digital photo frames, end-users will be able to stream Windows SideShow information to any room in the home or office delivering information such as VoIP call notifications, weather information, stock quotes, and email notifications."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/DigitalPictureFrame.jpg" /> <br /><br />Have these digital photo frames ever taken off? They've been trying to push them for years and so far they're just too expensive for me for what they do. That being said, having a picture frame that can show me weather &amp; stock information may be just what has been missing. I've always wanted a digital picture frame that could display my entire portfolio, but so far the larger ones (that would actually do justice to my work) have been massively expensive and only somewhat functional. It's nice to see them beginning to integrate them into the PCs we already (or will soon) own. How about you? Have you ever been interested in digital frames? What would you use them for?

[Felix Torres]

Pricing, pricing, pricing...
Most of the existing or departed models are either too small, too expensive, or both.

The potential for tapping into network/internet data streams or even just remotely updating them brings digital picture frames into the realm of network displays/peripherals, not just static digital photo frames so it *might* work...as long as the pricing doesn't kill them.

The basic evolution of home computing (standalone box to connected box to multi-client home network) suggests that home network terminals of various kinds are logical and unavoidable; we already have data clients and media streaming clients so it's probably just a matter of when and how. Just need to get those ten-inch connected displays down in price or up in functionality to justify their existence. At some point it'll click.
When? Not sure.
Could be next year, could be ten years down the road...

[Chris Gohlke]

I agree with Felix regarding the pricing, but still even at the right price, I think these are still a niche product. I don't think adding weather and stock quotes are the features that people are looking for. It should be desiged to show pictures not as an auxilary display. There are a few features these need to become mainstream, and I don't think the technology is quite there yet.

1. Screens - I want these to look like regular photos, none of my real pictures are backlit. Some kind of e-paper technology should get us there. Visualize the photos in the Harry Potter movies and that is what I am talking about.

2. Size - I want them to fit in next to regular pictures, so they should be in 5x7 and 8x10, etc. But more than that, I want them sized so that you could use them with regular frames.

3. Power, if I am going to hang a picture on the wall, I don't want a power cord, so these should run on batteries. Given this is not practical with LCD, but with e-paper, it should be.

[Damion Chaplin]

Niche product? Definitely.
I agree with you that the technology's just not there yet, and it should definitely be self-powered, but one of the things that turns me on about it is that it's an LCD. I wouldn't be displaying photos on it, but rather my artwork. The stuff I draw is much more like what you would see in a video game, on TV or in a movie. It's meant to be displayed in light, not pigment. So making them e-paper-like would make them less of a temptation for me.

Of course, how one is supposed to make them 'light displays' and large and self-powered is way beyond me.

Did I mention I need it to be at least 10x16? :lol: