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Followers of this blog know that it’s sponsored by FrameMedia, the company behind FrameChannel, a tool to deliver web-based content to digital picture frames and information appliances that Engadget recently called “increasingly standard” in the digital picture frame space.
As demonstrated on this blog, FrameMedia sees the information appliance market – Internet-connected TVs, video game consoles and set top boxes, connected appliances, and more – as a major growth area for the delivery of content via the web.
Those seeking to learn more about the space, and FrameMedia’s take on it, would do well to attend the NAB Show 2009 in Las Vegas from April 18-23.
On April 22, Alan Phillips, the CEO of FrameMedia, will be participating in a panel called “Personalized Content: Is It TV’s Next Given,” in room S222 of the Las Vegas convention.
Other panelists will include Mitch Berman, CEO of ZillionTV, Greg Gudorf, CEO and COO of Digeo, and Ray Milius, senior vice president of programming operations at Starz.
With that much expertise and experience on the panel – to say nothing of what’s available at the rest of NAB Show – if you’re interested in the future of information appliances and web-delivered content, you won’t get much better insight anywhere.
GPS devices are likely to be key information appliances in coming years – after all, they’re not only an always-on provider of useful information, but they’re also virtually always connected to a network. This makes them not only valuable for driving directions, but also as a potential platform for other computing uses.
One such use, of course, is to deliver content frequently updated over the Internet, such as that offered by FrameChannel.
One device that may help even further spread GPS devices into cars everywhere is Navigon’s new 2200T, an entry-level GPS that offers free lifetime traffic status updates. The $229 appliance offers a 3.5-inch LCD screen and all the standard GPS accoutrements – directions, graphics, etc.
GiiNii.com has a neat project for those of you out there who are technically inclined and like to spend your nights and weekends on DIY tech projects.
The project they’ve got – with video instructions, even – is a wall of digital picture frames that can not only provide a neat array of pictures all grouped together, but also offers the possibility of making each frame dedicated to a particular kind of content (each frame could be for a relative who lives far away, for instance, or photos on one screen with sports on another and news on a third).
And since this project is based RSS feeds sending the content to each frame, it would work perfectly with FrameChannel.
Disclosure and Disclaimer: Before you read this post, know that FrameMedia, the company behind FrameChannel sponsors this blog. Also know that, as I write this, I have no inside knowledge of any FrameChannel products or plans and am completely speculating and throwing ideas around. What follows is in no way based on any inside knowledge I have.
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OK, that said, wouldn’t it be neat to have FrameChannel up and running on the iPhone 3G? The iPhone 3G, with its big, beautiful screen and fast, always-on 3G data connection looks to me like a terrific platform for FrameChannel’s combination of photos and frequently updated news, sports scores, cartoons, and trivia.
Before the iPhone 3G, porting FrameChannel to the iPhone would have been a difficult proposition, especially because Apple was not sanctioning third-party applications and installing them required a complicated hack.
Now, though, Apple has launched its App Store, the equivalent of the iTunes Store for programs that can run on the iPhone and iPod touch. Now, if FrameMedia ported FrameChannel to the iPhone, they’d be able to make it available to anyone with one of those devices and iTunes.
A lot of the programs that the App Store launched with made use of some kind of Internet-connected media, whether it’s voice, photos, music, etc. It would be great to see a polished app like FrameChannel there, with its 200-plus channels of free content.
Like I said above, I’ve no idea if this is in the works, but it would be neat if it were. Readers: I’m curious, would you be interested in using FrameChannel on your iPhone? Let us know in the comments.
RedPost, the digital frame and signage company looking to create a network of local, WiFi-updated signs, is making available a new product – Sign Beta.
The device, the display component of the company’s digital signage system, consists of a 19-inch LCD, a Linux-powered PC, a WiFi connection, and software to drive the system. Each screen retails for US$599.
I interviewed Eric Kanagy, the CEO of RedPost for WirelessPictureFrame.com in July 2007. At the time, he was pilot-testing his products and ideas in Goshen, IN. Looks like he’s ready to move out of the pilot and into nationwide distribution.
Digital signage networks like this seem likely to pop up with increasing frequency in the next few years. Adding a tool to them like the ones offered by RedPost and FrameMedia that allow users to create their own content channels will be key to getting the most out of them.
Thinking Screen's mission is to bring millions of connected screens to life by working closely with hardware manufacturers and content providers to transform these devices into dynamic information appliances with superb tools and content.
Our flagship product, FrameChannel, allows frame owners to program a unique stream of images that is updated dynamically, marrying a user's own photos with fresh content provided by FrameChannel and its partners.
Find out more about Thinking Screen at Thinkingscreen.com.
©2008 FrameMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
