Giant’s InTouch: Versatility in a Wireless Digital Picture Frame

The International CES isn’t until January 8, 2009, but already the electronics companies are giving us glimpses of what to expect there!  Giant’s booth is one you won’t want to miss.

Jacqueline Emigh, of BetaNews, gives us several peeks into some new gadgets, including Giant International’s InTouch wi-fi-capable web access and audio-enabled photo frame.

Emigh tells us that “. . . priced at $349.99, the gadget contains a 7-inch touch TFT LCD display with 800 - by - 480 resolution, along with 128 MB of internal memory, built-in stereo speakers, and a USB port.  It also accommodates SD, CF, MS, MMC, and XD-Picture cards.  A power adapter is included, but the frame will also run on rechargeable batteries for about 90 minutes.”

The main menu contains icons for photo, media, tools, and RSS news feeds.  The feeds can be set up with the use on an on-screen QWERTY keyboard.  Giant also holds deals with vTuner for Internet radio and Web video access, and with FrameChannel for end user tools for managing content from Picasa, Flickr, Webshots, Facebook, and other Web sites.”

I’m always excited to hear about a wireless digital frame that is compatible with FrameChannel!

Giant’s sales director for new products, Thomas W. Silveria, tells Emigh in the article that one of Giant’s upcoming products is a system which adds phone functionality to the existing frame.

The BlogHer08 Channel!

All over the web, people who went to the huge BlogHer conference in San Francisco are putting their pictures on their websites and encouraging each other to help themselves. On Flickr, there are several BlogHer 08 sets, and I should know, because I have one, too!

Most BlogHers had to wait until they got back home to upload their many BlogHer pictures from their camera’s memory card, but I didn’t. My BlogHer pictures were already slideshowing on my Digital Spectrum MF 8104 wireless digital picture frame before I ever set foot on the plane in the San Francisco airport for my trip back home.

I used an Eye-Fi card at BlogHer, so my pictures were appearing on my wireless picture frame just a few minutes after they were taken; my family in Indiana saw my BlogHer pictures even before I did!

Here’s the thing, you see: I set up a FrameChannel channel for my Flickr BlogHer pictures; in other words, every picture in the BlogHer 08 Flickr set that’s tagged “BlogHer08″ or “BlogHer2008″ is being picked up and included in the slideshow! FrameChannel is like magic! My Digital Spectrum MF8104 is like a magic mirror, and all I have to do is stand and look at it and it lets me relive all those wonderful memories of the good time I had at BlogHer 08 in San Francisco last week.

So, come on, BlogHers!  Tag your pictures with “BlogHer08″ or “BlogHer2008,” and let FrameChannel be your content provider.  Whether you’ve put your pictures in Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Picasa, etc, FrameChannel can turn them into a channel that people can subscribe to!

You can make a subscribeable channel of anything, you know.  It’s a great way to share reunions, parties, graduations, etc, too!

Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Webshots, Photobucket, MSN: FrameChannel Can Manage Them All!

If you have pictures on Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, webshots, Photobucket, MSN, or almost any other website, you can manage them with FrameChannel!

You can create your own channels, subscribe to dozens of cool channels, get the news, weather, sports, and pretty much anything else, with Framechannel, too.  Plus, your family and friends can email pictures to your Framechannel account!

You can manage your FrameChannel account from any computer, anywhere. It just has to be connected to the internet!

If you have an Eye-Fi memory card in your digital camera, you can send your pictures directly to your Framechannel account, which means that FrameChannel will put them immediately on your wireless digital picture frame!

I have a Digital Spectrum MF 8104, and an Eye-Fi card, and a FrameChannel account, and they all work together like a well-honed machine.

Before I got my wireless digital photo frame, I wasn’t really all that “into” electronics.  That’s all completely changed now.  My wireless digital MF 8104 has improved my life.  Seriously, it has.

Pure Digital’s Flip Video Ultra Uploads Directly To Computer, Television, and Wireless/Digital Picture Frame!

This is a Flip Video Ultra by Pure Digital, and I have one!

It’s the simplest and coolest video camera ever, and one of the MANY reasons I adore it is that I can upload videos directly to my wireless digital picture frame.

That’s right.  Directly.  See that usb flash drive coming out of the side of the camera?  That plugs directly into my wireless picture frame, and transfers video just as a regular USB flash drive would upload pictures.

I can also upload the videos directly to my computer, or even to my television!  If you’re a person who utilizes YouTube, or any of the social media networks such as FaceBook or MySpace, this is the video camera you’ve been waiting for!

This ultra-cool Ultra Flip camera is about the size of a cell phone and is as light as a feather.  I keep mine in my purse.  It’s the perfect gift for people who aren’t very tech-savvy because there is really only one main button to push, and it’s very large and smack in the middle of the back of the camera.  Push it once to start filming; push it again to stop. Your grandmother could learn to use this camera in less than a minute!

It comes it your choice of five cool colors.  Mine is orange.

The video quality is quite good, and the audio is good, too.   The Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra camera was never intended to replace your handheld video camera, but for those small things that come up suddenly, this little camera is IDEAL.  It will hold about an hour’s worth of videos.

I LOVE IT that I can shoot a little film, flick the switch on the side of the camera with my fingernail, and immediately plug the USB flash drive into my wireless/digital picture frame.  This would, of course, work with both wireless AND digital frames.

It’s more electronic magic, and more ways to use your wireless/digital photo frame.  It’s AWESOME.

WalMart has the Flip Video Ultra for $160.00, but you can order it directly from the Flip Video Store for $149.99.  However, the best deal on this camera that I’ve found, so far, is WalMart.com, where you can order the Flip Ultra for only $129.84, with 97-cent delivery!

This camera is cute.  It’s tiny.  It’s light-weight.  It’s reliable.  It’s tough.  It takes clear, bright videos with clear, bright sound.  It fits in a purse or pocket.

And, it’s inexpensive and easy to use.  What more could you ask?

Oh, did I mention that it uses standard AA batteries?  And that those batteries last a long time?