Ask eStarling to Add FrameChannel
FrameChannel uses the open RSS standard that millions of devices can interact with. FrameMedia uses RSS in order to make using FrameChannel as easy as possible for both users and frame manufacturers.
But PF Digital, the company that makes the eStarling, doesn’t allow its users to add whatever RSS feed they’d like to their eStarling frames. We think they ought to.
The eStarling frame currently supports a handful of external RSS feeds: Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, and a few others. The company’s position on adding new RSS feeds is:
More RSS support will come. Please send email to suggestions@estarling.com to
include a new RSS.
We’re asking WirelessPictureFrame.com readers and FrameChannel users to email PF Digital/eStarling and ask them to add FrameChannel to their list of supported RSS feeds.
PF Digital needs to open the eStarling to other RSS feeds — including, but not limited to, FrameChannel — for a number of reasons.
Not allowing users to add whatever RSS feed they want is similar to Microsoft creating a version of Internet Explorer that can only visit certain websites. No one would stand for that — or probably use that browser for too long. PF Digital isn’t Microsoft’s size, of course, so they may need to move more deliberately. This would be a good next step.
PF Digital should also open up their RSS feeds because open standards and systems are better for users. When companies leverage open systems, interoperability increases, in turn increasing the value of products to customers. After all, the open Internet has proved to be more appealing than cloistered systems like AOL.
PF Digital isn’t the only frame company that isn’t open enough when it comes to RSS. Kodak needs to open up, too, and we’ll revisit that issue in the future.
The companies that have opened up already, like BigEFrame, should be applauded for their forward-looking stance. More frame makers are certain to be joining that list soon.
We hope that the eStarling will join those ranks, too, and if you’d like to see them do so, please email suggestions@estarling.com and ask them to add FrameChannel to their list of supported RSS feeds.
Digital Picture Frames, Featured, Wireless Picture Frames
Bigeframe, eStarling, Kodak, PhotoVu, wireless-digital-picture-frames
2 Comments
Sam Costello wrote at May 31st, 2007 at 10:32 am
Good question, Jennifer! I don’t think it’s so much an issue of not wanting to work with FrameChannel as it is that they need to see a demand to make the frame compatible with it. Once they see that people want to use it, I’m sure they’ll be open to the idea.
Jennifer McNabb wrote at May 31st, 2007 at 8:00 am
Why wouldn’t they want to work with FrameChannel?