Comments on: Chumby: Digital picture frame for parents and much more http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/ > From inner thoughts to the outer limits of Alexandre Rafalovitch Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:22:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Alexandre Rafalovitch http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-19986 Alexandre Rafalovitch Wed, 28 May 2008 11:58:35 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-19986 Andrew, Thanks for the review. It does look like eStarling has finally ramped up their production. I will keep them in mind for when I want to give a simple picture frame. Chumby is still cooler though, because it also does Internet Radio (among other things). Andrew,

Thanks for the review. It does look like eStarling has finally ramped up their production. I will keep them in mind for when I want to give a simple picture frame. Chumby is still cooler though, because it also does Internet Radio (among other things).

]]> By: Andrew http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-19861 Andrew Mon, 19 May 2008 11:05:10 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-19861 I too had been looking for a digital frame for my parents, with similar issues (still getting over the trauma of my parents and their first PC). I had a good look around and eventually settled on the eStarling from these guys www.udiggit.com they were really helpful. My mum loves it and I regularly email her new photos of her grandson, I also understand that you can now use your photobucket account to send images from as well as the email service provided with the frame by Seeframe. I too had been looking for a digital frame for my parents, with similar issues (still getting over the trauma of my parents and their first PC). I had a good look around and eventually settled on the eStarling from these guys www.udiggit.com they were really helpful. My mum loves it and I regularly email her new photos of her grandson, I also understand that you can now use your photobucket account to send images from as well as the email service provided with the frame by Seeframe.

]]> By: Alexandre Rafalovitch http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-14113 Alexandre Rafalovitch Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:52:00 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-14113 Gilad, Multiple Chumbys talking to each other would be cool. Something like sending signs of attention between two Chumbys (or Facebook's SuperPoke). That might work. Gilad,

Multiple Chumbys talking to each other would be cool. Something like sending signs of attention between two Chumbys (or Facebook’s SuperPoke). That might work.

]]> By: Gilad http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-14104 Gilad Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:41:56 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-14104 I like the idea of placing the chumby at your parents home and controlling the actual pictures remotely. That makes a lot of sense, and I can imagine, a great gift. Still if I get my hands on another chumby, I'd like to develop a more social app. on it. Not just broadcast to the chumby, but also accept input (from its users) - creating this closed, private social network of these physical objects which allow us to share our daily lives! Good luck with your programming. I like the idea of placing the chumby at your parents home and controlling the actual pictures remotely. That makes a lot of sense, and I can imagine, a great gift. Still if I get my hands on another chumby, I’d like to develop a more social app. on it. Not just broadcast to the chumby, but also accept input (from its users) - creating this closed, private social network of these physical objects which allow us to share our daily lives!
Good luck with your programming.

]]> By: jm http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13458 jm Fri, 02 Nov 2007 01:28:54 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13458 Regarding eStarling and using your own RSS feed, I wrote to them asking: "I would like to have the RSS feed of a picture blog of my children shown on the eStarling." Their answer: <em>I'm sorry it is impossible. we currently support Flickr and Picasa.[...] our intention is to support ALL photo feeds</em> I guess your own photo feed does not count... -- Regarding eStarling and using your own RSS feed, I wrote to them asking:
“I would like to have the RSS feed of a picture blog of my children shown on the eStarling.”

Their answer:
I’m sorry it is impossible. we currently support Flickr and Picasa.[…]
our intention is to support ALL photo feeds
I guess your own photo feed does not count…

–

]]> By: Alexandre Rafalovitch http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13427 Alexandre Rafalovitch Thu, 01 Nov 2007 02:09:38 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13427 Ah, eStarling is back. I waited for their product through 2006 and 2007 and they kept changing the delivery date for the updated (this one, I guess) version. The previous version had some major hardware issues apparently. I gave up on them around March. It is good to know they are shipping again, but I would wait a bit before buying for the reviews to start coming in. Ah,

eStarling is back. I waited for their product through 2006 and 2007 and they kept changing the delivery date for the updated (this one, I guess) version. The previous version had some major hardware issues apparently. I gave up on them around March.

It is good to know they are shipping again, but I would wait a bit before buying for the reviews to start coming in.

]]> By: jm http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13426 jm Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:15:52 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13426 >remotely-controlled Flickr-based wireless picture frame for cheaper, the closest ($199) I could find, bigger screen but no remote login, is http://www.estarling.com/products.html It has the intriguing feature "Immediate Direct Photo Emailing to Frame" <blockquote cite="http://www.estarling.com/products.html">Each frame has its own unique email address so that photos can be received from computers or mobile phones. A built-in email filter protects against unwanted photos. No setup is required for senders to send photos to the frame.</blockquote> It's not clear if you can have add any RSS feed or only the one allowed by eStarling (I've emailed them to ask) >remotely-controlled Flickr-based wireless picture frame for cheaper,
the closest ($199) I could find, bigger screen but no remote login, is http://www.estarling.com/products.html

It has the intriguing feature “Immediate Direct Photo Emailing to Frame”

Each frame has its own unique email address so that photos can be received from computers or mobile phones. A built-in email filter protects against unwanted photos. No setup is required for senders to send photos to the frame.

It’s not clear if you can have add any RSS feed or only the one allowed by eStarling (I’ve emailed them to ask)

]]> By: Alexandre Rafalovitch http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13407 Alexandre Rafalovitch Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:45:42 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13407 JM, If I could find a remotely-controlled Flickr-based wireless picture frame for cheaper, that would do just fine for my parents. I could not. I don't believe any of the devices above have wireless connection or pull from online storage. The nearest one I know of is Kodak's ex811 , but it is more expensive and only pulls from Kodak's online gallery. Part of the higher price is screen size (which is worth it), but the other part is that they seem to be using Microsoft code under the covers. From what I have seen of other similar pictures, that last fact inflates the price of hardware and software and is negative, rather than positive feature to me. Chumby does need to be connected to Internet for the current functionality to work. All the widgets are downloaded from the central repository and are configured through the chumby.com's website. It is possible to run local flash widgets and other software from the USB flash device, but at this point only as a hack/debug mode. Apparently, the future versions of Chumby may allow to run local widgets as part of normal setup, which would be very interesting. I haven't seen the ads yet. I think they will show up at some point in the future and the model will be branded games and targeted offers rather than just generic ads. At this point I prefer that over monthly subscriptions. Worst case, if the ads get too annoying, I can always kill the primary interface and just use Chumby as tiny Linux box with an LCD and wireless. I can think of a number of things I could do with that, especially if I punch a firewall rule for it's built-in web-server. JM,

If I could find a remotely-controlled Flickr-based wireless picture frame for cheaper, that would do just fine for my parents.

I could not. I don’t believe any of the devices above have wireless connection or pull from online storage. The nearest one I know of is Kodak’s ex811 , but it is more expensive and only pulls from Kodak’s online gallery.

Part of the higher price is screen size (which is worth it), but the other part is that they seem to be using Microsoft code under the covers. From what I have seen of other similar pictures, that last fact inflates the price of hardware and software and is negative, rather than positive feature to me.

Chumby does need to be connected to Internet for the current functionality to work. All the widgets are downloaded from the central repository and are configured through the chumby.com’s website. It is possible to run local flash widgets and other software from the USB flash device, but at this point only as a hack/debug mode.

Apparently, the future versions of Chumby may allow to run local widgets as part of normal setup, which would be very interesting.

I haven’t seen the ads yet. I think they will show up at some point in the future and the model will be branded games and targeted offers rather than just generic ads. At this point I prefer that over monthly subscriptions.

Worst case, if the ads get too annoying, I can always kill the primary interface and just use Chumby as tiny Linux box with an LCD and wireless. I can think of a number of things I could do with that, especially if I punch a firewall rule for it’s built-in web-server.

]]> By: jm http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13398 jm Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:41:23 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13398 The reason I was asking is that the website says: "Because it's always on, the chumby must be plugged in to an AC outlet. Unlike phones or other portable devices, the chumby does not spend any time in "sleep" mode, so a battery would not be able to power the 3.5" color touchscreen for very long." (and it's not clear if it has to be always connected to the Internet to work, or if it can run from local storage/usb key too) So it fails the "portable/travel" usage I could envision as a digital picture frame (my solution is an add-on to the Nintendo DS - websearch for Moonshell or ImageViewer ). The Chumby target price is "under $200" ($179.95??), close to the devices I was asking about (and they connect to the HUGE tv screen)... It's much more expensive than cheap digital picture frames like 1.5" Digital Photo Cube for USD25 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5913627 or 7" Digital Photo Frame for USD 60 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5679204 or even printing in a digital shop Still, it's nice to have an "open" and "tinkerable" internet widget... One comment on http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/10/new_chumby_is_here.html says "The fact that they sometimes inject "ads" onto your chumby kinda pisses me off." how "annoying" are these ads - visual or also audio ? The reason I was asking is that the website says:
“Because it’s always on, the chumby must be plugged in to an AC outlet. Unlike phones or other portable devices, the chumby does not spend any time in “sleep” mode, so a battery would not be able to power the 3.5″ color touchscreen for very long.”

(and it’s not clear if it has to be always connected to the Internet to work, or if it can run from local storage/usb key too)

So it fails the “portable/travel” usage I could envision as a digital picture frame (my solution is an add-on to the Nintendo DS - websearch for Moonshell or ImageViewer ).

The Chumby target price is “under $200″ ($179.95??), close to the devices I was asking about (and they connect to the HUGE tv screen)…
It’s much more expensive than cheap digital picture frames like
1.5″ Digital Photo Cube for USD25
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5913627
or 7″ Digital Photo Frame for USD 60
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5679204
or even printing in a digital shop

Still, it’s nice to have an “open” and “tinkerable” internet widget…

One comment on
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/10/new_chumby_is_here.html
says “The fact that they sometimes inject “ads” onto your chumby kinda pisses me off.”

how “annoying” are these ads - visual or also audio ?

]]> By: Alexandre Rafalovitch http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13382 Alexandre Rafalovitch Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:22:59 +0000 http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2007/10/chumby-digital-picture-frame-for-parents-and-much-more/#comment-13382 JM, I don't think these things are in the same category at all. Chumby has a tiny screen and is basically designed to show one widget at a time. So, I think it is supposed to be primarily a companion widget rather than an activity gadget. Wii, Apple TV or even a DVD player are supposed to be a center of activity. You turn them on, use them (play, watch, etc.), go on to the next activity. Chumby is like a clock. It is always there and you glance at it periodically. The only similarity I can see is with Wii, in the sense that you can change what's on it (games/widgets). In that sense, Chumby is more flexible, obviously within constrains of smaller CPU/memory environment, as anybody can develop an application. JM,

I don’t think these things are in the same category at all. Chumby has a tiny screen and is basically designed to show one widget at a time. So, I think it is supposed to be primarily a companion widget rather than an activity gadget.

Wii, Apple TV or even a DVD player are supposed to be a center of activity. You turn them on, use them (play, watch, etc.), go on to the next activity.

Chumby is like a clock. It is always there and you glance at it periodically.

The only similarity I can see is with Wii, in the sense that you can change what’s on it (games/widgets). In that sense, Chumby is more flexible, obviously within constrains of smaller CPU/memory environment, as anybody can develop an application.

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