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Apple patent inspired idea: networked Front Row Photoframes / Kitchen Clock


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Apple patent inspired idea: networked Front Row Photoframes / Kitchen Clock
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Doxxic
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Amsterdam
 
2006-04-05, 07:14

Well it has been mentioned almost litterally here beit that they're really talking about a photoframe with an iPod docking station instead of a wireless network connection.

While a photoframe you have to stick your iPod in to me doesn't really makes sense, I could imagine some networked photoframes on my walls, connected to the photolibrary of one of my Macs, showing continuously changing photos from one of my libraries, different for every frame in the network, or, if we're talking about a larger one, showing a movie from iTunes...

This same device could also function as a clock, maybe for the kitchen, with a pretty, continuously changing background. With a Front Row receiver and a low end speaker. So I can play vodcasts, photolibraries videoclips on my kitchen clock, hanging on the door of my good old fridge!
Meanwhile, a smaller version the clock could stay in the upper right corner of the frame, jumping & turning red once my eggs are ready...

Damn, those photoframes would be a little pricey maybe, but having such a clock in my kitchen would be sooo nice...

Last edited by Doxxic : 2006-04-05 at 07:29.
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Fahrenheit
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2006-04-05, 07:37

If I won the lottery, I would definitely have em build into my price plan though. but for the average consumer, it would be cheaper to get real photos printed, and framed, and you have to think about the power cables.
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BFG
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Bristol, UK
 
2006-04-05, 07:55

Oh crap i actually really like this idea - nice bit digital photo frame, all my favorite photos streamed to it... wouldn't care so much about the sound etc etc or kitchen clock (hey most of us have clocks ) but photoframe... yeah i could live with one of them

Mr Chuckles the Nipple Monkey
2.66Mac Pro 1900XT and lots of goodies
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Doxxic
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Amsterdam
 
2006-04-05, 08:44

Quote:
Originally Posted by farenheit
... and you have to think about the power cables.
There goes at least the part with the fridge door...

Maybe, price/added value technically, a vPod with networking capabilities, updated Front Row with Clock Modus, and a wall mountable docking station could do the job?

btw It appears to me that a 4 inch vPod would be the ideal picture changing frame anyway... so it just begs for some flexible wall mounting construction...
Anyway Apple would surely be idiots if they didn't allow it to stand in it's docking station in landscape position...

Last edited by Doxxic : 2006-04-05 at 09:00.
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runner91786
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Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2006-04-05, 09:48

Why does frontrow have anything to do with this? Wouldn't it just be Bonjour networking?
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Tom the Piper's son
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Somewhere between France and the UK
 
2006-04-05, 13:05

On the nice iFrame idea:
Would you be able to have a webcam linked up to it... and use it to monitor outside, an entrance hall etc...
You could also stream your favourite TV show/soccer match to it.
and as you move from room to room your audio/video settings would follow you around...
You would miss nothing...
Well, then again maybe I sometimes prefer to miss some shows/TV programmes !
As for the clock... I would love to be able to convert my current screen into a clock when it is not in use... you should even be able to toggle round famous clocks around the world, from Big Ben to Bombay Central Railway Station ! It is a great idea IMHO
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frizz
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2006-04-07, 00:12

Soon your iFrame wil turn into a Mac mini of sorts... Jut in a frame.
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MacGregor
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Stumptown, Puddlecity, many names
 
2006-04-07, 11:58

What if there was a drop menu in iPhoto where you could select to send jpegs to iFrames in the same way that iTunes lets you stream audio to Airport'ed speakers!! That would be a nice, though initially expensive, capability. Send a folder of "landscape" photos to a living room iFrame and your folder of "family" photo's to the hallway or bedroom.

Lastly, you could even send photo's as very small mpegs ... think of it as having Harry Potter - esque photos on your wall!! With Photobooth you could make quick moving photos that loop on iFrames!! Yes, disturbing and creepy in some ways, but you'd at least try it if you could wouldn't you?

They key is to make it so easy within basic iApp programs that it is fool-proof and gives some one just another reason to buy a home Mac!

The "Mother of All" Flip-flops.
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natec
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Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2006-04-07, 19:00

I built my own "iFrame" a year and a half ago with an old "Wallstreet" 233MHz G3 powerbook. I disassembled the screen bezel and flipped the LCD panel behind the back of the computer, and mounted the whole thing inside a two-inch thick black metal frame.

It runs OS9 and uses some applescripts to connect to my wireless network with an 802.11b PC card, start a VNC server, and start a slideshow from a folder on the hard drive using Graphic Converter after started up. I can upload new photos (it even plays full-screen DV video files without dropping frames) using AFP, and I can change other settings using VNC from any other computer on the network, so I don't have to reach around back of the frame to access the built-in keyboard.

Cost of the whole project? A couple of hours of playing around and about $60 for the frame and foam board (for LCD panel protection and centering) and matte material and the 1/4" sheet of wood I painted black and mounted the laptop to for support)...I already owned the PowerBook and wasn't really using it...

Below are some quick snapshots I took of it in action...(forgot to set the right white balance on one or two...whoops!)

-natec

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