PHOTOGRAPHY: New age photo albums with digital photo frames

IT'S amazing what human beings will collect over the years. The one thing I’m sure we are all guilty of accumulating are copious amounts of photographs. If you are well disciplined you may have set aside a good few days of your life to frame your favourite photos or arrange these into albums for the coffee table. Either that or you have folder after folder of digitally stored photos on your PC.

There is something satisfying about whipping out an ordered photo album when guests are around, or having your favourite ones on permanent display. But this is the year 2011! Enter the digital photo frame.

This piece of technology doesn’t need much explanation – it is what it’s called: a photo frame that stores digital photographs. It has an LCD screen which can display a series of photographs in a slideshow format and a USB port from which to load new photos.

One is also able to choose how long each photo will display itself for and choose what transitions will take place between photos. These digitised frames can also be connected to the internet to download new content and can, of course, be connected to digital cameras.

The best digital photo frames have their own internal memory cards so they can operate independently of your camera’s memory card. Roughly speaking, a two Gigabyte SD card should store up to 1000 images.

It’s also a good idea to get a digital photo frame with a decent battery life. What’s useful is that most digital frames have an internal clock that can be set to switch the device on and off during different times of the day.

One would expect such a modern-sounding piece of technology to be expensive, but entry-level digital photo frames start from around R400.

The more advanced digital frames are obviously pricier but are able to do a lot more. Some can play videos, MP3s and display text. Others come with Wi-fi, have touch screens and light sensors and can connect to the web remotely and stream online galleries from sites such as Flickr.

Imagine a digital photo frame dedicated to your wedding day. It could begin with a worded introduction to set the scene, saying something like “Mr and Mrs Right were married in Perfect Park on a Friday, April 13”. This could be followed by a short video of the ceremony and lead into a slideshow with the wedding couple’s favourite song playing in the background. I smell a money-making opportunity! And that idea is absolutely free. I’m all about sharing.

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SLINGBOX: Embracing broadband and digital media

PAGING through an old GQ the other day I came across a gadget that struck a new interest. The “Slingbox” (weird name) is a TV streaming device that allows you to remotely view your home cable, satellite, or personal video recorder (PVR) programming using a device with a broadband Internet connection.

It connects to the back of your TV and works by redirecting or “placeshifting” up to four live audio/video signals to your personal computer, laptop, or internet-enabled mobile device whether you’re touring China or are in London on a business trip. And there’s no anxiety of having yet another gadget to clutter up your home – once your Slingbox is installed you never have to see it again.

Sling Media has also released a Windows Mobile version of their player which allows users to stream their video over a Pocket PC or Windows Mobile Smartphones, or any web-enabled, Windows mobile-powered cellphone. This is useful for practical reasons as a cellphone is easier to stuff into your duffle bag when traveling to the most remote locations.

The Slingbox also allows you to program your home recording device remotely, which means that you can command your device to record programs from anywhere. So no more having to phone the kids at home to ask them to record Prison Break for you, or having to rely on an unreliable in-law.

Yet, like Manto Tshabalala, the Slingbox isn't perfect. The system is not yet reliable or broadband enough to handle live remote broadcasts, and is not yet available for Linux or other opensource systems. It also requires a fair amount of techno savvy to set up, which can be a bit of a schlep, yet there is decent customer support available. SlingCommunity, for example, is an interactive online community dedicated solely to Sling Media's Slingbox.

Slingbox  cons
It is, however, important to bear in mind that the viewing quality is that of web video (i.e. 320x240pixels). Consequently you basically need to have twenty-twenty vision to be able to view everything properly on the small video-viewer screen. This renders on-screen text such as sports scores, news reels, and the fine-print print in bank adverts as unreadable.

The Slingbox is also only as good as its device support and relies on your primary video device being compatible. So just like upgrading a PC, you might have to buy more than you initially bargained for.

In terms of future developments, it was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that Sling Media plans to release a future feature known as Clip+Sling. This will allow users to share clips of their favorite TV shows (or videos that they have produced themselves) with each other through a hosted web service.

Sling has also pledged that its software will work on the forthcoming Origami Ultramobile PCs (you can read more about this nifty gadget here).

The Slingbox is currently going for $200 (roughly R1400) and appears to be a useful gadget to add to ones collection. Let’s just hope that true broadband hits SA soon so we can play too.

Slingbox links
Slingbox Homepage
Other Sling Media Products
CNET's exclusive First Look video using Sling software.
Related blog post: Welcome to your future

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