Archive for April, 2008
Posted on Apr 29, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:52 am
Here’s another example of how digital frames and other devices that can display photos are becoming smaller, replicating analog products, and becoming more embedded in our lives: a digital picture frame that’s also a refrigerator magnet.
This frame, made by a UK company called Thumbs Up and retailing for £29.99, isn’t wireless – it connects to your computer over USB – but offers 2.4-inch screen, 32MB of memory, and a 11-hour battery life.
Give it a little while and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see WiFi added to products like this. In fact, Whirlpool and Ceiva already offer something similar.
Posted on Apr 25, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:47 am
It seems like you can’t visit any gadget website these days without tripping over the new announcement of a new line of digital picture frames. In just one week in early April, there were no fewer than two major companies, and one smaller one, announcing new lines of digital frames.
Overall, a cursory check reveals the announcement of 8 new lines of digital frames in just the first half of April! That’s a hot market (5.2 million frames sold in 2007 alone, according to IDC).
To me, this says that digital frames are starting to reach critical mass. There’s a lot of growth room for the market – after all, they could easily end up in most homes and businesses and they’re not that ubiquitous yet – but it also tells me that some businesses are going to be looking for the next digital picture frame soon.
Those businesses, looking to get in on the ground floor of a new market, will be seeking areas of big potential growth.
I suspect they’re going to find it in wireless-enabled gizmos. So, while we can count on lots more choice of digital picture frames in the next few years, I think we’re going to see a major explosion of wireless gizmos, too. And I say bring them on.
Posted on Apr 23, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:47 am
Blockbuster is developing a set top box for streaming of rented movies, according to reports from both The Hollywood Reporter and Reuters. The device would compete head-to-head with the Apple TV and Netflix’s forthcoming set-top box movie streamer that is being built in partnership with LG.
The integration of web services into set top boxes, game consoles, and other devices that connect to the TV and home entertainment systems is increasingly ramping up. So fast, in fact, that just having the ability to rent movies over the Internet may not be enough of a selling feature to get consumers to commit to one device or the other. (And they’ll need to. Does anyone envision many houses with both a Blockbuster and Netflix set top box?)
I suspect that the ways that the companies differentiate their offerings will be the add-on features that are available on them. Add-on features that could include things like photo slideshows and streaming web content such as news and cartoons. In short, services like FrameChannel.
This integration of console, web content, and photo slideshow is already in place on Nintendo’s Wii, through the Wii Photo Channel. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other companies jump on that bandwagon to drive sales.
Posted on Apr 21, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:21 am
Gizmodo has an interesting analysis/review of HP’s Media Vault mv2120 home media server, a device designed to sit at the center of a home entertainment network and serve music, movies, photos, and other media to devices throughout the house.
The Media Vault mv2120 is in direct competition with HP’s more expensive Windows Home Server offering, the MediaSmart server, which has been plagued by a Microsoft-sourced data-corruption bug.
As Gizmodo points out, the Media Vault mv2120, which is half the price of the MediaSmart Servers, is easy to use, nearly as full-featured, and even better in some areas.
Though there have been many false starts over the years, the concept of a home media server endures because it’s a good one. In our increasingly networked homes, it just makes sense. But how we’ll get to that point is still unclear.
Given that HP’s apparently very good Media Vault is cheaper and runs Linux, does this mean that Windows home Server won’t be at the center of the smart house of the future?
Readers, if any of you have used these home media servers, leave comments about your experiences.
Posted on Apr 17, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:21 am
Microsoft’s Surface, the aware table-top computer that can interact with objects placed on it, is available for public use today thank to AT&T. It’s not available for purchase yet, but customers at AT&T stores will be able to begin using it today to compare cell phone features.
One of the Surface’s neatest tricks is that you can place compatible devices on it and have the surface automatically interact with them. AT&T stores equipped with Surfaces in New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco will allow users to place eight phones on the device and get information about them (the addresses of those stores are listed here).
Though this isn’t yet the kind of WiFi-enhanced feature that will support pictures and other streaming media applications most interesting to us at this blog, getting the Surface into production and in use by customers is a big step.
If it works well and is as a cool as it seems like it may be, it should generate additional buzz and perhaps show up in more stores — or even homes, where it could display pictures and other streamed data — in the nearish future.
Posted on Apr 15, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:21 am
Online DVD-rental heavyweight Netflix has confirmed rumors that it is interested in porting its movie streaming service to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console.
The company has not confirmed a partnership or deal, but interest in this area has long been rumored.
Netflix’s movie streaming service, called Watch Instantly, is available to subscribers and allows them to watch selected movies on their computers, rather than waiting for DVDs to arrive in the mail. If Netflix brings the service to the Xbox, it will be added to Microsoft’s Xbox Live offering.
This is yet another example of the convergence of entertainment and media offerings routed through set top boxes and game consoles, such as the Rhapsody/TiVO deal mentioned a while back. This kind of integration is becoming more common and is beginning to cement the position of set top boxes and game consoles as home media hubs.
As that happens, users will not just be looking for games or movies. They’ll be looking for personal photos and other web-streamed content. In fact, Wii users can already show their photos on their TVs through the Wii Photo Channel. It may not be long before personal digital photos are being served to screens throughout the house from a TV-connected console.
