The Future of Frames - Digital Media Convergence (whatever that is)
I spent the last few weeks perusing the marketplace, trying to find the best balance between wireless picture frames and that whole concept of “home media convergence” that everyone’s talking about. So here’s the rub- everything tells me this will be as gigantic an industry as everyone says it will be. The problem, though, is that as long as the market fixates on photos (even wireless distribution/acquisition of photos), it’s still just a new way of displaying the same old pictures in the same old birchwood frames. It’s a nice novelty, but they are capable of so much more.
Manufacturers are increasingly realizing the inherent potential of the medium, adding more and more functionality to these wireless displays every day. I look back at movies like Back To The Future, Star Trek, and Minority Report, and I remember the sheer number of little buzzing screens with little household jobs: grocery lists, laundry timers, family videos, television, security systems, climate control, etc…that’s the future. So how are manufacturers answering the call?
A good number of frames play music and videos…okay, but why? This isn’t only the year of the photo-frame. Devices are coming out in droves that send your music, videos, and pictures to your television- where they’re supposed to be watched. But what about using these little smart displays to control media around the home? That’s more like it.
Hopefully in the coming months wireless frames will find their niche in the household. It’s only a matter of time until home automation, news, weather forecasts, WIFI, music, and photos all collide into a messy amalgam of everything we need wherever we need it. Then there’s the job of cleaning it up and creating standards. Now let’s tip our hats to GUI designers and beg Apple to get into the game.
