Over at ThinkGeek, they take the wonder of wireless pretty seriously. They figure, and rightly so, that there are people nowadays who go where the wireless is, and that these wireless-loving people DON’T go where there is no wireless.
I’m one of them and I want this shirt.
This t-shirt actually tells you, and everyone who’s looking at you, how strong the current wi-fi signal is. That’s right. Wherever you might be, if there is a wireless connection there, this shirt will give you its strength.
You’ll be the Pied Piper. People with laptops will follow you around, sitting down only when your shirt tells them they’ve got a strong enough signal to get some work done. Vacationers with wireless digital photo frames back home will shadow you, desperate to get those beach shots of the toddlers to the wireless frame over Grandma’s mantel and to the wireless frame on their own living room wall. You’ll be the coolest person in the pub. Strangers will buy you drinks.
The animated wireless signals glow. Not just in the dark, either. This shirt will give you the signal strength for 802.22b or 802.11g. You can take the decal off when the shirt needs washing.
The wireless signal will run for hours off the three AAA batteries in the small pocket inside the shirt. You won’t even feel it.
Remember, don’t put the battery pack or the decal in the washer. Peel it off first, and remove the batteries.
This awesome shirt is black, and it’s 100% cotton.
You can order it over at ThinkGeek. It’s about thirty bucks, even if you wear XXL.
eStarling, Inc. announced last week that its new 8-inch wireless digital picture frame is now available to consumers.
The new wireless frame has many unique features designed to enable users of social networking sites to send and share photos without using the internet. Each wireless digital frame has its own unique e-mail address, so photos can be received and displayed from computers or cell phones almost immediately. There is no special setup, and there are no monthly fees.
Users with more than one eStarling wireless frame can use them all with a single email address. You can even use the timestamp setting to make sure certain pictures are posted on certain dates. Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary! Merry Christmas! Etc!
You can even email someone’s wireless digital eStarling frame from YOUR wireless digital eStarling frame.
Andrew Caffey, senior vice president of eStarling, says that “There are millions of photos being stored on web sites today, and now customers of those sites have an alternative to viewing those photos beyond their computers and cell phones. By using eStarling’s API, these sites will easily integrate with eStarling’s online web service, SeeFrame live, letting users duplicate their online experiences for the first time with a connected wireless digital picture frame.”
The new eStarling wireless digital photo frame supports the following RSS photo feeds: AOL, Flickr, Gallery, Photobucket, Picasa, and Smugmug.
We here at FrameMedia really like this new eStarling frame, but we really, really wish eStarling would allow its wireless digital frames to access FrameChannel, as we consider FrameChannel to be the very best media-sharing photo feed on the internet today. Maybe someday? And why not now?
This new eStarling wireless digital picture frame can be purchased on Amazon ($269.00), thinkGeek, and the eStarling website. ($259.00)
This past April Fool’s Day, there were some spectacularly classy foolers on the internet.� Our favorite prank was THIS ONE, perpetrated by ThinkGeek, and the cause of much hysterical laughter.
There were many other excellent jokes that day, but we here at FrameMedia are still laughing so hard at this one, we can’t offhand think of any specific other.� If we ever stop laughing, we’ll work on that.
If we ever stop laughing.
Our eStarling wireless digital picture frame did arrive prior to Christmas as promised. Thanks to ThinkGeek and eStarling to making sure it arrive prior to the holidays!
Our immediate reaction to the frame is that the 7 inch screen display is impressive. Photos look crisp and clear on the frame and it’s industrial design is nice (although we could do without the large eStarling logo on the front). It did take a few hours of mucking around with the settings to get the frame connected to the wireless network but after some playing we were able to have it pull pictures from a Flickr rss feed which is pretty neat. We are working on a more thorough review of the frame now along with some tips to get it up and running quickly as we learned a lot from our first days with the frame but in general our congratulations to eStarling for launching the frame, the first wireless frame we’ve seen in the affordable price range ($249 on ThinkGeek and sure to drop in 2007 as more wireless frames emerge).
We did get this note from ThinkGeek to eStarling owners. It is early in the space so it is not surprising that there are a few issues but it is great to see companies like ThinkGeek and eStarling taking the initiative to get this right. Here is the note from ThinkGeek:
Hi Fellow Smartmass,
Thanks for your purchase of the eStarling Wi-Fi enabled photo frame. We want to make you aware of an issue with the eStarling that manufacturer PF Digital has brought to our attention. Apparently the Wi-Fi range of the eStarling is reduced due to a lower amperage power adapter that was incorrectly packaged with the unit. This causes the eStarling to only function properly when it is within 20 - 30 feet of the wireless hub. Obviously this short distance limits where you can place the eStarling in your home or office.
ThinkGeek is coordinating with PF Digital to remedy this problem and we will be mailing out replacement power adapters to everyone who ordered an eStarling at no additional charge. These new adapters will restore the range on the eStarling to that of a standard Wi-Fi enabled laptop (around 200 feet … but this of course will depend on your Wi-Fi network configuration). We hope to have these replacement power adapters shipped out to you within the next week. The replacement adapters will be sent to the same address where we originally shipped your eStarling. If you ordered more than one eStarling you will get the appropriate number of adapters. No confirmation or action is required by you to receive the replacement adapter.
In the meantime we want you to be able to experience the cool Wi-Fi enabled features the eStarling offers. You can certainly use your eStarling frame right now, but keep in mind that when you configure the eStarling for the first time it must be within 20 feet of your Wireless hub. If it is not close enough, you will get an error message about the eStarling not being able to connect to the Internet.
Please reply to this e-mail if you do not understand this notice, or have any other questions, comments or concerns. We want you to be happy geeks, not sad or angry geeks. Thanks!
