Chris Pirillo » digital-photo-frame http://chris.pirillo.com News and Reviews! Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:40:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © chris@pirillo.com () chris@pirillo.com() Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. chris@pirillo.com No no http://chris.pirillo.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpgChris Pirillohttp://chris.pirillo.com 144 144 How to Turn Your PSP into a Wireless Digital Photo Framehttp://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-turn-your-psp-into-a-wireless-digital-photo-frame/ http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-turn-your-psp-into-a-wireless-digital-photo-frame/#comments Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:51:51 +0000 coupons http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=10706 How to Turn Your PSP into a Wireless Digital Photo Frame is a post from Chris Pirillo

Geek!This is Firebucket’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

If you have an old PSP lying around, don’t know what to do with it and you have an absence of photo frames, this might just be able to solve your problem.

If you have a Flickr account and a few pictures (or even hundreds), you can set-up so your PSP grabs those pictures from your account using an RSS feed and then play them in a slideshow.

So, here’s what you need:

  • A Sony PlayStation Portable with the latest firmware (recommended but NOT vital)
  • A Flickr account (www.flickr.com) with at least a few pictures to get you started.
  • Wi-Fi Connection in your home/office or wherever you are.
  • FeedBurner Account (www.feedburner.com)

Let’s get started, shall we?

  1. Open your Flickr account, and tag some pictures with a unique name (like ‘pspfeed’) and take the RSS feed of that tag (You > Your Tags > Select the Tag > and then click Latest at the bottom of the page, next to geoFeed and KML).
  2. Obviously, if you look in your address bar, you’ve got one HUGE address. Now, you could obviously use TinyURL, but FeedBurner is much better when it comes to a) shortening RSS feeds and b) managing them, so we’ll use that method. So, head over to FeedBurner and sign up; don’t worry – it’s free.
  3. When you get to the ‘My Feeds’ page, copy and paste that RSS feed URL we took from Flickr earlier, and paste it into the ‘Burn a feed right now’ option, and click Next. Give your Feed a Name and a shortened URL (Example: Feed Title: My PSP Flickr Feed, URL: feeds.feedburner.com/mypspfeed). Click Activate Feed, and remember the RSS Feed URL you just ‘burned’ using FeedBurner.
  4. Time to get the PSP configured. Make sure you have Wi-Fi all setup and enabled on your PSP (I’m not going to explain this because it varies upon your network, a simple Google search may be able to help you, though). Navigate to the web browser, and open up the address bar. Enter in the RSS Feed URL we made earlier, using FeedBurner, and open it. It will then prompt you to add this to the PSP’s own collection of RSS feeds, so you don’t have to type in the address every time you want to open the slideshow of photos. Exit the web browser and navigate to RSS Channel, and select the feed you just added.

Voila! The pictures that you tagged SHOULD be there, playing in a slideshow. I believe this also works with videos, and if you use a service that allows you to do this (take an RSS feed and place it into your PSP), you should really give it a shot. Hey! Why not even cover up the rest of the PSP (with something, but I have no idea what), and leave the screen showing, so people aren’t put off by the rest of the PSP.

You can avoid the entire wireless setup, and just throw some photos onto a memory card and load that up, like a traditional digital photo frame.

]]> How to Turn Your PSP into a Wireless Digital Photo Frame is a post from Chris Pirillo

Geek!This is Firebucket’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

If you have an old PSP lying around, don’t know what to do with it and you have an absence of photo frames, this might just be able to solve your problem.

If you have a Flickr account and a few pictures (or even hundreds), you can set-up so your PSP grabs those pictures from your account using an RSS feed and then play them in a slideshow.

So, here’s what you need:

  • A Sony PlayStation Portable with the latest firmware (recommended but NOT vital)
  • A Flickr account (www.flickr.com) with at least a few pictures to get you started.
  • Wi-Fi Connection in your home/office or wherever you are.
  • FeedBurner Account (www.feedburner.com)

Let’s get started, shall we?

  1. Open your Flickr account, and tag some pictures with a unique name (like ‘pspfeed’) and take the RSS feed of that tag (You > Your Tags > Select the Tag > and then click Latest at the bottom of the page, next to geoFeed and KML).
  2. Obviously, if you look in your address bar, you’ve got one HUGE address. Now, you could obviously use TinyURL, but FeedBurner is much better when it comes to a) shortening RSS feeds and b) managing them, so we’ll use that method. So, head over to FeedBurner and sign up; don’t worry – it’s free.
  3. When you get to the ‘My Feeds’ page, copy and paste that RSS feed URL we took from Flickr earlier, and paste it into the ‘Burn a feed right now’ option, and click Next. Give your Feed a Name and a shortened URL (Example: Feed Title: My PSP Flickr Feed, URL: feeds.feedburner.com/mypspfeed). Click Activate Feed, and remember the RSS Feed URL you just ‘burned’ using FeedBurner.
  4. Time to get the PSP configured. Make sure you have Wi-Fi all setup and enabled on your PSP (I’m not going to explain this because it varies upon your network, a simple Google search may be able to help you, though). Navigate to the web browser, and open up the address bar. Enter in the RSS Feed URL we made earlier, using FeedBurner, and open it. It will then prompt you to add this to the PSP’s own collection of RSS feeds, so you don’t have to type in the address every time you want to open the slideshow of photos. Exit the web browser and navigate to RSS Channel, and select the feed you just added.

Voila! The pictures that you tagged SHOULD be there, playing in a slideshow. I believe this also works with videos, and if you use a service that allows you to do this (take an RSS feed and place it into your PSP), you should really give it a shot. Hey! Why not even cover up the rest of the PSP (with something, but I have no idea what), and leave the screen showing, so people aren’t put off by the rest of the PSP.

You can avoid the entire wireless setup, and just throw some photos onto a memory card and load that up, like a traditional digital photo frame.

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-turn-your-psp-into-a-wireless-digital-photo-frame/feed/ 5 Digital Picture Frame Questionshttp://chris.pirillo.com/digital-picture-frame-questions/ http://chris.pirillo.com/digital-picture-frame-questions/#comments Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:04:48 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/12/29/digital-picture-frame-questions/ Digital Picture Frame Questions is a post from Chris Pirillo

Who doesn’t have a digital picture frame these days? Steve in Waterford, MI is a new initiate…

I was introduced to Digital Picture Frames this Christmas when my daughter and her husband gave my wife and I a small Digital Picture Frame. Having said that, I have purchased a 4 gig card and will start to fill that up for my wife to display in our living room.

My hobby is photography and I have a have a Nikon D200 and a load of lenses. The D200 is a 10.2 megapixel camera. I generally shoot both RAW and JPG fine images and that way I don’t have to run a time consuming conversion program later when I distribute the pictures to friends and relatives. My JPG fine files are roughly 6mb.

Have said this, I am now trying to do some research on larger screen size and higher resolution Picture Frames. I like the fact that many of these frames take memory cards, but I am wondering if someone makes a frame that would accept an external USB HD like the Western Digital Passport. I am thinking I might like a frame in the 15″-19″ size that will display high resolution and I see there are some out there. I have not found many reviews on these units to date and being new to this, I am a bit confused. I am told LCD is the way to go.

There are many times when friends visit us, and we want to show them our pictures. I would really like to show them on the TV in the living room. I have done this before but the clarity is not good. We generally drag out our laptop and external hard drives. The screen on our laptop is only 14″, but is has a fairly sharp LCD screen.

Sometime in the near future we will no doubt upgrade our living room TV to a flat screen. We can probably handle about 32″ in the cabinet we have. We have a Plazma flat screen in the bedroom running HD and also a dish running HD in the rec. room. Are we better off focusing our attention on a new TV that will display high resolution images than to look at a high resolution digital picture frame for this application?

With that said, I am still interested in a larger digital photo album (8×10 to 15″ possibly) we can leave in the living room to display our Nikon high-res photos…………family, friends, hobbies, etc. What do you recommend in a high picture quality digital photo album?

Not sure about making any specific recommendations. You’re likely best off running a computer through one of your TV’s inputs, and then using some photo / Flickr screen saver to stream in photos that way…?

Current Digital Photo Frame Deals:

]]> Digital Picture Frame Questions is a post from Chris Pirillo

Who doesn’t have a digital picture frame these days? Steve in Waterford, MI is a new initiate…

I was introduced to Digital Picture Frames this Christmas when my daughter and her husband gave my wife and I a small Digital Picture Frame. Having said that, I have purchased a 4 gig card and will start to fill that up for my wife to display in our living room.

My hobby is photography and I have a have a Nikon D200 and a load of lenses. The D200 is a 10.2 megapixel camera. I generally shoot both RAW and JPG fine images and that way I don’t have to run a time consuming conversion program later when I distribute the pictures to friends and relatives. My JPG fine files are roughly 6mb.

Have said this, I am now trying to do some research on larger screen size and higher resolution Picture Frames. I like the fact that many of these frames take memory cards, but I am wondering if someone makes a frame that would accept an external USB HD like the Western Digital Passport. I am thinking I might like a frame in the 15″-19″ size that will display high resolution and I see there are some out there. I have not found many reviews on these units to date and being new to this, I am a bit confused. I am told LCD is the way to go.

There are many times when friends visit us, and we want to show them our pictures. I would really like to show them on the TV in the living room. I have done this before but the clarity is not good. We generally drag out our laptop and external hard drives. The screen on our laptop is only 14″, but is has a fairly sharp LCD screen.

Sometime in the near future we will no doubt upgrade our living room TV to a flat screen. We can probably handle about 32″ in the cabinet we have. We have a Plazma flat screen in the bedroom running HD and also a dish running HD in the rec. room. Are we better off focusing our attention on a new TV that will display high resolution images than to look at a high resolution digital picture frame for this application?

With that said, I am still interested in a larger digital photo album (8×10 to 15″ possibly) we can leave in the living room to display our Nikon high-res photos…………family, friends, hobbies, etc. What do you recommend in a high picture quality digital photo album?

Not sure about making any specific recommendations. You’re likely best off running a computer through one of your TV’s inputs, and then using some photo / Flickr screen saver to stream in photos that way…?

Current Digital Photo Frame Deals:

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/digital-picture-frame-questions/feed/ 12 Wireless Digital Picture Frame Reviewhttp://chris.pirillo.com/wireless-digital-picture-frame-review/ http://chris.pirillo.com/wireless-digital-picture-frame-review/#comments Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:24:38 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/10/17/wireless-digital-picture-frame-review/ Wireless Digital Picture Frame Review is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

When we last left off, I was having trouble connecting the new frame to my wireless network. However, I was able to get past that point, and get everything set up. I am giving this frame a rating of 8.5 out of a possible 10. The biggest downer for me off the bat is the fact that the resolution is only 800×600. I prefer higher resolution on my gadgets, but most people will be fine with this one.

The new eStarling WiFi Digital Picture Frames is living up to expectations in most ways. When I had trouble connecting the frame to my wireless network, I logged in to the website. I downloaded a simple wizard that walked me through getting it connected. The wizard works for Windows and OS X both, which makes the frame more versatile.

I then had to go to the software maker website, Seeframe.com and sign up for an account. It was then time to upload or add my photos from other sources. The site was a bit difficult to navigate, which is a snag for me. However, I LOVE the fact that all management of the frame is done on the Web, instead of via the frame itself. That’s the way it should be. Hopefully the site will evolve over time, and become more user-friendly.

If you have a Flickr account, you can now add photos from there directly to the frame. Simply tag the photo(s) you want to share with the word chrisframe. The next time the frame connects to Flickr to check for photos, it will grab everything with that tag included.

The only other real snag for me is the transition between frames. It has standard Powerpoint-like “dissolve” or “wipe” settings. To me, those are pretty cheesy. There’s no way to turn them off on this frame, so I will just deal with it for now.

Be sure and send your photos to Flickr with the chrisframe tag, email them to me, or email me a good quality photo RSS link. I’d love to add your stuff to the frame!

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

]]> Wireless Digital Picture Frame Review is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

When we last left off, I was having trouble connecting the new frame to my wireless network. However, I was able to get past that point, and get everything set up. I am giving this frame a rating of 8.5 out of a possible 10. The biggest downer for me off the bat is the fact that the resolution is only 800×600. I prefer higher resolution on my gadgets, but most people will be fine with this one.

The new eStarling WiFi Digital Picture Frames is living up to expectations in most ways. When I had trouble connecting the frame to my wireless network, I logged in to the website. I downloaded a simple wizard that walked me through getting it connected. The wizard works for Windows and OS X both, which makes the frame more versatile.

I then had to go to the software maker website, Seeframe.com and sign up for an account. It was then time to upload or add my photos from other sources. The site was a bit difficult to navigate, which is a snag for me. However, I LOVE the fact that all management of the frame is done on the Web, instead of via the frame itself. That’s the way it should be. Hopefully the site will evolve over time, and become more user-friendly.

If you have a Flickr account, you can now add photos from there directly to the frame. Simply tag the photo(s) you want to share with the word chrisframe. The next time the frame connects to Flickr to check for photos, it will grab everything with that tag included.

The only other real snag for me is the transition between frames. It has standard Powerpoint-like “dissolve” or “wipe” settings. To me, those are pretty cheesy. There’s no way to turn them off on this frame, so I will just deal with it for now.

Be sure and send your photos to Flickr with the chrisframe tag, email them to me, or email me a good quality photo RSS link. I’d love to add your stuff to the frame!

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/wireless-digital-picture-frame-review/feed/ 26 Digital Picture Framehttp://chris.pirillo.com/digital-picture-frame/ http://chris.pirillo.com/digital-picture-frame/#comments Mon, 28 May 2007 00:15:45 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/05/27/digital-picture-frame/ Digital Picture Frame is a post from Chris Pirillo


Click Image to Play Video

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Chris got to play around with a pretty cool piece of tech: the Vista Frame by Digital Spectrum. And according to Chris, this is what a digital Photo Frame should be. In fact, Chris calls it the best digital photo frame. That’s high praise coming from a technology pundit.

An exciting addition to any home, the MemoryFrame 8104 Premium features a bright active-matrix 10.4″ LCD screen, built-in stereo speakers, a remote control, an automatic slideshow function and an on-screen menu system. It comes mounted in an attractive frame that can be placed on a desktop or hung on a wall — or it can be mounted into any standard 8×10 photo frame that matches the user’s decor. The MemoryFrame 8104 Premium has a generous 256MB of internal memory. However, with its built-in card reader, wireless capability, USB host and device ports, and universal ‘plug and play’ capability, it can access and play up to 2GB of content in one show. In addition, it can play audio in the background while a slideshow or video is running. All of these features make the MemoryFrame ideal for vacations, family reunions, weddings and many other activities.

Of course, it does have some problems: there’s no diagnostic information, software updates are not automatic, Flickr integration is not intuitive, and some other minor problems. But, for the most part, the Vista Frame is a winner in Chris’s book.

Check out the Vista Frame Review on YouTube and subscribe to our channel!

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv)
]]> Digital Picture Frame is a post from Chris Pirillo


Click Image to Play Video

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Chris got to play around with a pretty cool piece of tech: the Vista Frame by Digital Spectrum. And according to Chris, this is what a digital Photo Frame should be. In fact, Chris calls it the best digital photo frame. That’s high praise coming from a technology pundit.

An exciting addition to any home, the MemoryFrame 8104 Premium features a bright active-matrix 10.4″ LCD screen, built-in stereo speakers, a remote control, an automatic slideshow function and an on-screen menu system. It comes mounted in an attractive frame that can be placed on a desktop or hung on a wall — or it can be mounted into any standard 8×10 photo frame that matches the user’s decor. The MemoryFrame 8104 Premium has a generous 256MB of internal memory. However, with its built-in card reader, wireless capability, USB host and device ports, and universal ‘plug and play’ capability, it can access and play up to 2GB of content in one show. In addition, it can play audio in the background while a slideshow or video is running. All of these features make the MemoryFrame ideal for vacations, family reunions, weddings and many other activities.

Of course, it does have some problems: there’s no diagnostic information, software updates are not automatic, Flickr integration is not intuitive, and some other minor problems. But, for the most part, the Vista Frame is a winner in Chris’s book.

Check out the Vista Frame Review on YouTube and subscribe to our channel!

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv)
]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/digital-picture-frame/feed/ 2 5:01 Click Image to Play Video http://live.pirillo.com/ - Chris got to play around with a pretty cool piece of tech: the Vista Frame by Digital Spectrum. And ... Click Image to Play Video http://live.pirillo.com/ - Chris got to play around with a pretty cool piece of tech: the Vista Frame by Digital Spectrum. And according to Chris, this is what a digital Photo Frame should be. In fact, Chris calls it the best digital photo frame. That's high praise coming from a technology pundit.An exciting addition to any home, the MemoryFrame 8104 Premium features a bright active-matrix 10.4" LCD screen, built-in stereo speakers, a remote control, an automatic slideshow function and an on-screen menu system. It comes mounted in an attractive frame that can be placed on a desktop or hung on a wall -- or it can be mounted into any standard 8x10 photo frame that matches the user's decor. The MemoryFrame 8104 Premium has a generous 256MB of internal memory. However, with its built-in card reader, wireless capability, USB host and device ports, and universal 'plug and play' capability, it can access and play up to 2GB of content in one show. In addition, it can play audio in the background while a slideshow or video is running. All of these features make the MemoryFrame ideal for vacations, family reunions, weddings and many other activities. Of course, it does have some problems: there's no diagnostic information, software updates are not automatic, Flickr integration is not intuitive, and some other minor problems. But, for the most part, the Vista Frame is a winner in Chris's book.[rsslist:http://coupons.lockergnome.com/cgi-bin/feed/rss-custom-feed.pl?search_method=searchstores=category=search_string=digital+photo+framesearch_coupon_titles=1date=0all_coupons_per_store=1]Check out the Vista Frame Review on YouTube and subscribe to our channel!Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv) Media,Blog chris@pirillo.com no No The Best Digital Photo Frame (Review)http://chris.pirillo.com/the-best-digital-photo-frame-review/ http://chris.pirillo.com/the-best-digital-photo-frame-review/#comments Sun, 27 May 2007 09:55:17 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/05/27/the-best-digital-photo-frame-review/ The Best Digital Photo Frame (Review) is a post from Chris Pirillo

Current Digital Photo Frame Deals:

I still own one of the world’s first digital picture frames – the Kodak Smart Picture Frame. It’s still displaying pictures on the stand near my office door. Problem is: it’s not terribly convenient to update (as it once relied on a dial-up connection to the Internet and a monthly digital photo service). It still works, as the last firmware update allowed you to show JPGs (640×480) through the CompactFlash media slot. For years, I’ve been hoping to upgrade to a newer frame… but all of those digital photo frames have fallen short, in my opinion. Until now.

I received this notice the other day:

Digital Spectrum Solutions Inc. announced today that its new wireless MemoryFrame 8104 Premium is now available. This next-generation digital-picture frame is capable of sharing content over the Internet and integrates easily with home media servers. It integrates the new multimedia features of Microsoft Windows Vista and fully supports capabilities such as Windows Media Connect and Windows Connect Now. It also fully supports the features and capabilities of Windows XP used in conjunction with Windows Media Player 11.

Blah, blah, blah… I’ve seen this kind of thing before, and there’s always a caveat. Still, I was hoping for the best, and was pleasantly surprised with the extensive list of features:

  • Built-in multi format card reader
  • Embedded 802.11b/g wireless connectivity
  • Web enabled for photo sharing
  • Plays MP3, WMA audio files
  • Plays WMV video files
  • Built-in stereo speakers
  • USB to thumb drive, camera, etc.
  • Remote control for convenient use
  • Landscape or portrait orientation
  • 10.4″ screen

The best part? No subscription required!!! That was the clincher for me. It’s what held me back from buying or recommending anything from Ceiva. Why lock yourself and your family into endlessly (needlessly) expensive subscription services for digital photo frames!? With Digital Spectrum Solutions, when you get the MF-8104 (”Vista Frame”) – everything’s yours forever. No hidden fees. No hidden costs. Wicked!

I couldn’t wait to get my geeky hands on it, knowing full well that if it worked, I’d likely pick one up for my parents and family – so that we could share photos back and forth through our respective Flickr accounts.

It arrived yesterday, and I did a live unboxing with my audience watching and asking tons of questions about the digital frame. What could have taken a few minutes took a bit longer, as I was exploring every aspect of the frame. This unit (literally) has just about everything you could ever want in a digital picture frame – and I’m hoping they’ll deliver software updates with frequency, keeping its feature set fresh.

If I had to assign a letter grade to it, I’d say B+ (and you must understand that every other digital photo frame on the market today is lucky to score a C- with me). I have no qualms in recommending the frame, but with extreme caveats with its current software revision:

  • Couldn’t connect to my 802.11g router (even though the digital photo frame supports the wireless protocol with TKIP encryption). I tried before installing updates on the frame, so… that may be different now.
  • There’s no way of toggling the dots in a password entry screen to show the characters – which is a challenge when you’re trying to enter long strings of text. Not a bug, but a bit inconvenient as there was no way to tell whether I was making key typos.
  • Diagnostic information is non-existent. If something wrong happened, I wasn’t told enough about the error or mistake. It couldn’t connect to my “G” router, but why? It couldn’t tell me if I did something wrong, or if something else was awry.
  • Software updates can’t be configured to happen automatically, it seems – which is fine, but they should recognize that most people won’t touch the frame again once it’s set up (especially with Internet connectivity enabled). Moreover, it prompted me to power down after an update instead of just rebooting on its own (and telling me that it would beforehand). Then, it installed the updates – but didn’t bother to tell me what updates were installed, what bugs had been fixed, or what was new? I was completely in the dark, which is “user friendly” – but it’s also very troubleshooting unfriendly.
  • It took me a while to figure out how Flickr integration worked. If you don’t enter your user ID in the settings panel before trying to play a Flickr slide show, it will give you an error (without prompting you for the requested information).
  • You can only browse one person’s Flickr (or Webshots, etc.) photo ID at a time – which is a tremendous shortcoming, and is what is largely keeping me from giving this product an A. They assume that only one person would use this frame, or that only one account would be needed. However, they’re missing the entire point of having an Internet-enabled frame. Let me control what I want to see, and from where. As it stands, there’s no way for you to subscribe to a global tag or search term. Hopefully, they’ll fix that part soon.
  • The frame can render JPGs and MP3s, yet… I can’t actually subscribe to a podcast feed. This baffles me, as it’s the entire reason to have an Internet-enabled device. They’re vendor-locking into photo verticals, but what about my Zooomr feed? Photos non grata on the frame for now. That it doesn’t support RSS (text, enclosures, etc.) is another minor disappointment. Hopefully, it will soon.
  • I can only view photos from one ID at a time – not my Flickr friends, not two Flickr accounts interspersed, etc. That was frustrating to me – as I expected that feature to be there. They have full control over software updates, so it must be a matter of time before they figure out that the killer feature isn’t just seeing your own photos – but everyone else’s (which is the beauty of global tags).
  • There’s no telling how often the frame pulls updates from my Flickr account.
  • They increased the size of the font in the last software update, which looked better (for the most part), but some screens weren’t designed properly for a larger font – as it spilled over in places where it wouldn’t have were the typeface a bit smaller. This isn’t really an issue, but I’m guessing it’ll be fixed with the next update (although, I really don’t wanna manually check my frame for updates every day – it should have a setting in there to do it for me, especially when it’s already online).

If they could nail down these oversights, I’d be thrilled.

It still receives my full recommendation, as there’s nothing out there that’s even close (in terms of quality and featuers). It’s a Best in Class, and I hope it only gets better with further revisions. Until they fix the Flickr “bug,” I’ve had to set up another Flickr account where my friends can email photos to – then they’ll be able to see photos on the frame sitting on my desk within minutes. I’ll share that information in the live chat room (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.) for those who care.

The price is quite reasonable (and competitive) at $349 – again, with NO subscription fees. You could likely build your own digital photo frame, but it wouldn’t look half as nice it would likely cost you just as much in parts and labor. I paid that much for my Kodak digital photo frame over five years ago… I’m glad to finally have something better sitting on my desk. When the “hack” Flickr account is approved, I’ll set it out for you to see.

]]> The Best Digital Photo Frame (Review) is a post from Chris Pirillo

Current Digital Photo Frame Deals:

I still own one of the world’s first digital picture frames – the Kodak Smart Picture Frame. It’s still displaying pictures on the stand near my office door. Problem is: it’s not terribly convenient to update (as it once relied on a dial-up connection to the Internet and a monthly digital photo service). It still works, as the last firmware update allowed you to show JPGs (640×480) through the CompactFlash media slot. For years, I’ve been hoping to upgrade to a newer frame… but all of those digital photo frames have fallen short, in my opinion. Until now.

I received this notice the other day:

Digital Spectrum Solutions Inc. announced today that its new wireless MemoryFrame 8104 Premium is now available. This next-generation digital-picture frame is capable of sharing content over the Internet and integrates easily with home media servers. It integrates the new multimedia features of Microsoft Windows Vista and fully supports capabilities such as Windows Media Connect and Windows Connect Now. It also fully supports the features and capabilities of Windows XP used in conjunction with Windows Media Player 11.

Blah, blah, blah… I’ve seen this kind of thing before, and there’s always a caveat. Still, I was hoping for the best, and was pleasantly surprised with the extensive list of features:

  • Built-in multi format card reader
  • Embedded 802.11b/g wireless connectivity
  • Web enabled for photo sharing
  • Plays MP3, WMA audio files
  • Plays WMV video files
  • Built-in stereo speakers
  • USB to thumb drive, camera, etc.
  • Remote control for convenient use
  • Landscape or portrait orientation
  • 10.4″ screen

The best part? No subscription required!!! That was the clincher for me. It’s what held me back from buying or recommending anything from Ceiva. Why lock yourself and your family into endlessly (needlessly) expensive subscription services for digital photo frames!? With Digital Spectrum Solutions, when you get the MF-8104 (”Vista Frame”) – everything’s yours forever. No hidden fees. No hidden costs. Wicked!

I couldn’t wait to get my geeky hands on it, knowing full well that if it worked, I’d likely pick one up for my parents and family – so that we could share photos back and forth through our respective Flickr accounts.

It arrived yesterday, and I did a live unboxing with my audience watching and asking tons of questions about the digital frame. What could have taken a few minutes took a bit longer, as I was exploring every aspect of the frame. This unit (literally) has just about everything you could ever want in a digital picture frame – and I’m hoping they’ll deliver software updates with frequency, keeping its feature set fresh.

If I had to assign a letter grade to it, I’d say B+ (and you must understand that every other digital photo frame on the market today is lucky to score a C- with me). I have no qualms in recommending the frame, but with extreme caveats with its current software revision:

  • Couldn’t connect to my 802.11g router (even though the digital photo frame supports the wireless protocol with TKIP encryption). I tried before installing updates on the frame, so… that may be different now.
  • There’s no way of toggling the dots in a password entry screen to show the characters – which is a challenge when you’re trying to enter long strings of text. Not a bug, but a bit inconvenient as there was no way to tell whether I was making key typos.
  • Diagnostic information is non-existent. If something wrong happened, I wasn’t told enough about the error or mistake. It couldn’t connect to my “G” router, but why? It couldn’t tell me if I did something wrong, or if something else was awry.
  • Software updates can’t be configured to happen automatically, it seems – which is fine, but they should recognize that most people won’t touch the frame again once it’s set up (especially with Internet connectivity enabled). Moreover, it prompted me to power down after an update instead of just rebooting on its own (and telling me that it would beforehand). Then, it installed the updates – but didn’t bother to tell me what updates were installed, what bugs had been fixed, or what was new? I was completely in the dark, which is “user friendly” – but it’s also very troubleshooting unfriendly.
  • It took me a while to figure out how Flickr integration worked. If you don’t enter your user ID in the settings panel before trying to play a Flickr slide show, it will give you an error (without prompting you for the requested information).
  • You can only browse one person’s Flickr (or Webshots, etc.) photo ID at a time – which is a tremendous shortcoming, and is what is largely keeping me from giving this product an A. They assume that only one person would use this frame, or that only one account would be needed. However, they’re missing the entire point of having an Internet-enabled frame. Let me control what I want to see, and from where. As it stands, there’s no way for you to subscribe to a global tag or search term. Hopefully, they’ll fix that part soon.
  • The frame can render JPGs and MP3s, yet… I can’t actually subscribe to a podcast feed. This baffles me, as it’s the entire reason to have an Internet-enabled device. They’re vendor-locking into photo verticals, but what about my Zooomr feed? Photos non grata on the frame for now. That it doesn’t support RSS (text, enclosures, etc.) is another minor disappointment. Hopefully, it will soon.
  • I can only view photos from one ID at a time – not my Flickr friends, not two Flickr accounts interspersed, etc. That was frustrating to me – as I expected that feature to be there. They have full control over software updates, so it must be a matter of time before they figure out that the killer feature isn’t just seeing your own photos – but everyone else’s (which is the beauty of global tags).
  • There’s no telling how often the frame pulls updates from my Flickr account.
  • They increased the size of the font in the last software update, which looked better (for the most part), but some screens weren’t designed properly for a larger font – as it spilled over in places where it wouldn’t have were the typeface a bit smaller. This isn’t really an issue, but I’m guessing it’ll be fixed with the next update (although, I really don’t wanna manually check my frame for updates every day – it should have a setting in there to do it for me, especially when it’s already online).

If they could nail down these oversights, I’d be thrilled.

It still receives my full recommendation, as there’s nothing out there that’s even close (in terms of quality and featuers). It’s a Best in Class, and I hope it only gets better with further revisions. Until they fix the Flickr “bug,” I’ve had to set up another Flickr account where my friends can email photos to – then they’ll be able to see photos on the frame sitting on my desk within minutes. I’ll share that information in the live chat room (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.) for those who care.

The price is quite reasonable (and competitive) at $349 – again, with NO subscription fees. You could likely build your own digital photo frame, but it wouldn’t look half as nice it would likely cost you just as much in parts and labor. I paid that much for my Kodak digital photo frame over five years ago… I’m glad to finally have something better sitting on my desk. When the “hack” Flickr account is approved, I’ll set it out for you to see.

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/the-best-digital-photo-frame-review/feed/ 20 Better Than a Digital Photo Framehttp://chris.pirillo.com/better-than-a-digital-photo-frame/ http://chris.pirillo.com/better-than-a-digital-photo-frame/#comments Tue, 22 May 2007 06:16:16 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/05/21/better-than-a-digital-photo-frame/ Better Than a Digital Photo Frame is a post from Chris Pirillo


Click Image to Play Video

http://live.pirillo.com/ – How do you transfer your digital photo album? Chris shows Ponzi how to transfer her digital photo album to her web album. With a simple right click her set of photos are easily transferred to Picasa:

The easy way to share and manage your photos.

Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you:

  • Locate and organize all the photos on your computer.
  • Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks.
  • Share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it’s fast, easy and free.

Take your photos further with Picasa from Google.

Not only can she easily upload her entire album,. but thanks to Picasa, downloading her entire album to another computer is as simple as another click.

What do you use to manage your digital photo albums?

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv)
]]> Better Than a Digital Photo Frame is a post from Chris Pirillo


Click Image to Play Video

http://live.pirillo.com/ – How do you transfer your digital photo album? Chris shows Ponzi how to transfer her digital photo album to her web album. With a simple right click her set of photos are easily transferred to Picasa:

The easy way to share and manage your photos.

Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you:

  • Locate and organize all the photos on your computer.
  • Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks.
  • Share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it’s fast, easy and free.

Take your photos further with Picasa from Google.

Not only can she easily upload her entire album,. but thanks to Picasa, downloading her entire album to another computer is as simple as another click.

What do you use to manage your digital photo albums?

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv)
]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/better-than-a-digital-photo-frame/feed/ 4 1:27 Click Image to Play Video http://live.pirillo.com/ - How do you transfer your digital photo album? Chris shows Ponzi how to transfer her digital photo album to ... Click Image to Play Video http://live.pirillo.com/ - How do you transfer your digital photo album? Chris shows Ponzi how to transfer her digital photo album to her web album. With a simple right click her set of photos are easily transferred to Picasa:The easy way to share and manage your photos.Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you:Locate and organize all the photos on your computer.Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks.Share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it's fast, easy and free.Take your photos further with Picasa from Google.Not only can she easily upload her entire album,. but thanks to Picasa, downloading her entire album to another computer is as simple as another click.What do you use to manage your digital photo albums?Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MP3 Audio (.mp3), Microsoft Video (.avi), Flash Video (.flv) Media,Blog chris@pirillo.com no No How to Handle Remote Tech Support <em>Using <a href="http://www.gotoassist.com/chris">GoToAssist</a> is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party. </em> chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMThttp://gotoassist.com/chris/ http://gotoassist.com/chris/ Network Tools for Windows You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. <a href="http://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome">SolarWinds ipMonitor</a>: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. <a href="http://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome">Download your free trial today</a>. Or, try their <a href="http://www.solarwinds.com/products/freetools/">totally free tools</a>! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase <a href="http://store.solarwinds.com/s.nl/sc.16/.f">ipMonitor 9.0</a>. chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMThttp://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome http://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome Get Your Own Web Site Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp2">GoDaddy</a> includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp2">code CP2</a> at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order. <p>Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=chris7">CHRIS7</a>, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=chris7">GoDaddy.com</a>.</p> chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMThttp://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp1 http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp1 VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/13766/rn_a32755/">Parallels</a> or <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/17081/rn_a32755/">VMware</a> (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/17081/rn_a32755/">VMware</a> and/or <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/13766/rn_a32755/">Parallels</a>. chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMThttp://chris.pirillo.com/2008/02/19/parallels-or-vmware/ http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/02/19/parallels-or-vmware/ Coupons for Online Shopping <p style="color: red">This feed is fueled by Lockergnome <a href="http://www.lockergnome.com/buy/">Online Shopping and Coupon Codes</a></p> <p> Before you shop next time, see if we have <a href="http://coupons.lockergnome.com/">a coupon</a> first. </p> chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMThttp://coupons.lockergnome.com/ http://coupons.lockergnome.com/