Marketwire has the scoop about Thinking Screen Media’s latest !
EW.com Is First to Provide iCal Content With Updates on Major TV, Music, and Movie Events
WELLESLEY, MA–(Marketwire – October 1, 2009) – Thinking Screen Media (www.thinkingscreen.com — formerly FrameMedia Inc.), the company that is defining the content experience for screens in the Connected Home, today announced that it now supports iCal-formatted calendar- and event-based content on FrameChannel (www.framechannel.com). Entertainment Weekly’s EW.com, the first content provider to participate, has launched several iCal-driven channels on FrameChannel, through which users can view details on the hottest upcoming TV, music, and movie events.
“We are always looking for new ways to share our content, and FrameChannel is a great example of that,” said Cyndi Stivers, Managing Editor of EW.com. “Those who subscribe to our iCal content for FrameChannel will get EW editors’ picks for the best in pop culture every day of the week.”
FrameChannel is a Web services platform that allows users to browse online and select from more than 1,000 content channels, configured for delivery on media players, connected TVs, digital photo frames, video game consoles, Internet radios, telephones and other information appliances. The FrameChannel platform is featured on dozens of devices in the market today from top brands such as Kodak, Motorola, Samsung, Toshiba and many more. Users can combine their personal content (photos, tweets, messages, and favorite RSS feeds) with commercial content such as news, weather, sports, financial and local information.
“We are experts at configuring a wide range of digital content formats for an optimal viewing experience on connected screens,” said Jennifer Sagalyn, VP, Content Partnerships for Thinking Screen Media. “As millions of connected screens hit the market, FrameChannel becomes the perfect service for combining all your photos, social media and information channels, providing a constant stream of personalized information at a glance. iCal support is an ideal addition, giving users access to calendar-based appointments and events from any ical formatted feed.”
Thinking Screen Media is a leader in delivering content to “the 4th screen,” a new category of Connected Screens that includes WiFi photo frames, connected TVs, media players, set-top boxes and more. Its free FrameChannel service (www.framechannel.com) can be customized for any screen, and is today available on a growing number of products by top brands such as Kodak, Samsung, Toshiba, Motorola, ViewSonic and D-Link. FrameChannel users can easily select their favorite local, national, social networking, or photo sharing content from more than 1000 channels, and program their devices to feature that content. FrameChannel intelligently streams real-time content from the selected channels, so users can always view the very latest information as they move through their connected home.
Rollip.com has developed a new site that lets you give any digital picture the classic look and feel of a vintage or Polaroid picture, and I am having a blast with it!
This actually is MY Christmas tree, by the way, from one of the “experiments” I was doing as I played around on the Rollip website. It’s so easy – the website guides you through each simple step - and such fun!
Rollip’s website gives people many more options than most similar sites, I’ve discovered. There are many options for customization, as well as better quality effects of various kinds. Rollip’s format – online – makes it much easier to share pictures across the social web.
Rollip is also addictive: I’ve been playing with it all evening!
You can also share your newly-made “vintage” pictures via email, as well as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and almost every other social media outlet.
Go on, click on Rollip.com and give it a try. You’ll be hooked, too. And just think how cool your wireless/digital picture frame will be, with all those “Polaroids” slideshowing across it!
Posted on Sep 21, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
According to the Market Alert over at In-Stat.com, digital photo frames will be purchased mainly as a gift for someone else. Well, it IS almost time to think about the holidays!
The leading reason future digital photo frame purchasers will buy a frame is as a gift, according to new research from In-Stat http://www.in-stat.com. Among consumers planning to purchase a digital photo frame in the next 12 months, 38% of respondents to In-Stat’s survey said they would buy the photo frame as a gift for someone else. As a result, the coming holiday season will be crucial for competitors in the digital photo frame market such as HP, Kodak, Pandigital, Philips, Samsung and Sony.
Overall, global shipments of wireless and wired digital photo frames are on the rise, as prices decline to affordable levels. In-Stat expects worldwide unit shipments of digital photo frames to reach 50 million by 2013.
The weak economy is certainly slowing growth in this market, as consumers cut back their discretionary spending. However, pricing continues to fall and awareness is growing. In addition, competitors are introducing next generation digital photo frames that support advanced functions, such as multimedia playback of movie clips and audio files, and include support for Wi-Fi or bluetooth connectivity.
Hey Apple, check this thing out! Toshiba just blazed into IFA on a 7-inch multimedia tablet, the JournE touch. It’s dominated by the touchscreen display, but underneath there’s support for a wide range of codecs (H.264, DivX, WMV), 802.11b/g WiFi, some online multimedia services like YouTube and Flickr, and some light internet duties thanks to Internet Explorer running on Windows CE 6.0 Pro. Despite the size and multimedia prowess (it can output sub-1080p video over an HDMI plug in the dock), the device measures a mere 14mm thick and weighs just under a pound. There’s only 1GB of built-in storage, but that can be expanded via the SD slot, and the device can access external storage over USB. Word is it’ll retail for 250 Euro in Q4 this year.
The device feels pretty nice in hand, but there’s still a bit of a prototype vibe about it — maybe because it’s still a prototype. It’s clearly a resistive screen, and the device will include a stylus for non touch-optimized apps. Toshiba seemed to be having fun with the multitude of Apple comparisons, namely since there isn’t an Apple device to compare it to yet. They also call the video output the tablet’s killer app, and promise to show more once they can track down a WiFi signal. Sure, it’s just a MID at the end of the day, but we’ll be happy to humor them — it’s a pretty hot MID.
Update: We’ve got some video hands-on of the JournE right after the break — gaze upon its G-Force displaying prowess!
Update 2: Added one more video after the break, just in case you didn’t get enough the first go ’round.
Be sure you watch the video on the Endgadget website! Some of the commenters have left links to video for the Toshiba JournE, too!
Marketwire has the scoop about Thinking Screen Media’s latest !
