Thinking Screen Adds iCal Support to FrameChannel, Bringing Timely Calendar Content to Internet Connected Screens

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.”

Content providers interested in featuring their content on FrameChannel should go to http://www.thinkingscreen.com/content_partners.html. Consumer electronics manufacturers interested in customizing, co-branding, and integrating FrameChannel with their devices should go to http://www.thinkingscreen.com/hardware_partners.html.

About Thinking Screen Media, Inc. (www.thinkingscreen.com)

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.

Intel Demo to be Streamed and Shared Via Wireless Digital Picture Frame

From Reuters comes a preview of what Intel will be doing at the upcoming Intel Developers Forum, September 22-24, 2009:

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(Business Wire)–
PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLXT), a leading global supplier of silicon and software solutions for enterprise and consumer markets, today announced a combined demonstration plan of its market-leading products at the upcoming Intel
Developers Forum (IDF), September 22-24, 2009. PLX will demo an emerging enterprise usage model of its latest PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 switches and merge it with several new consumer applications by using its network attached storage (NAS) devices, thus showcasing the convergence of the connected world.

The PCIe element of the demonstration will highlight a PLX PEX 8696 PCIe Gen 2
switch supporting multi-host/multi-root connectivity by having two computers
communicate simultaneously through a single switch posing as two different
systems. At the same time, a separate PLX PEX 8609 switch will demonstrate
non-transparency (NT) capability, a PLX-exclusive feature, by having the two PCs
be able to send messages through the NT port of the unique switch.

NAS is the future of consumer content-sharing and storage and PLX will highlight
some modern usage models. The PLX OXE810 system-on-a-chip (SoC) will showcase
the high-performance management of multiple high-definition (HD) quality videos,
audio, and pictures via wired and wireless networks. Dual HD monitors along with
a netbook and a smart cell phone will represent the sharing. Audio transfer via
the OXE810 NAS device will be demonstrated by streaming an Internet radio player
while, simultaneously, photographic images will be streamed and shared in a
digital photo frame.

IDF 2009 will be held in San Francisco, Calif., on September 22-24 at the
Moscone Center West. Attendees can register on the Intel Website for full access
to the event, while budget-restricted patrons can register for free (Thursday
showcase only) by visiting https://secure.jackmorton.com/idf09/ and using the
promo code DCPECD1.

PLX Technology today offers more than 20 ExpressLane PCIe Gen 2 switch devices,
with more in development, all of which are listed on the PCI-SIG Integrators
List. The company is now investing in the development of products compliant with
the Gen 3 specification and is working closely with key designers and
manufacturers to meet their PCIe needs.

PLX is also a market leader in external consumer storage NAS and DAS solutions,
which are backed up by sophisticated firmware and technical support for rapid
designer customization. PLX enables OEMs to deliver world-class solutions to
consumers by supplying ready-to-go application firmware that has been
extensively stress-tested by PLX and enables custom applications that meet
manufacturers` precise specifications.

About PLX

PLX Technology, Inc. (www.plxtech.com), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., USA, is a
leading global supplier of high-performance, feature-rich, system-interconnect
semiconductors, SoCs and software solutions for the communications, storage,
server, compute, embedded-control, and consumer markets. The company provides a
competitive advantage through an integrated combination of experience,
innovative silicon, powerful design tools, and synergetic global partnerships.
These unmatched PLX solutions are based on established technologies including
PCI Express, USB, SATA, Ethernet, and FireWire that enable our customers to
develop equipment with industry-leading performance, scalability, security, and
reliability, and bring their designs to market faster.

ExpressLane, PLX Technology and the PLX Technology logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of PLX Technology, Inc.All other product names that appear
in this material are for identification purposes only and are acknowledged to be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.Other names
and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

CommonGround Communications (for PLX)
Jerry Steach, 415-222-9996
jsteach@plxtech.com

Frame Media Reinvents Itself as Thinking Screen, Goes After Larger “Connected Screen” Market

Xconomy.com’s Wade Roush has posted a wonderful article about FrameMedia’s new name and additional new goals!  As Thinking Screen Media, the former FrameMedia is still the leader in content delivery to connected screens worldwide.

Wireless digital photo frames, considered one of the hot new categories in consumer electronics back in 2006 and 2007, haven’t taken off as quickly as expected. People love digital frames, but they’ve tended to buy them as gifts pre-loaded with photos they uploaded to the Web, meaning many frames still don’t come with their own connection to the Internet. That’s a problem for Wellesley, MA-based Frame Media, whose whole business, when I last profiled the startup in 2007, revolved around providing fresh digital content for the frames, such as news and sports headlines, weather, and photos shared by friends.

But while Wi-Fi-equipped frames are still playing catchup, another channel for the company’s programming is emerging: so-called “connected screens,” meaning a whole variety of Internet-ready displays that are turning up in homes and offices. As a result, Frame Media is rechristening itself Thinking Screen Media, and going after what CEO Alan Phillips calls “a whole category [of displays] defined primarily by the fact that, unlike PCs, they are limited in their ability to easily search and configure content.” That includes not just digital frames but high-definition TVs, cable set-top boxes, game consoles, Internet radios, and even printers.

Through its FrameChannel platform, Thinking Screen works with publishers such as Time magazine, the New York Times, People magazine, and Weatherbug to offer more than 1,000 channels of content customized for such screens. (Users choose and configure the information feeds at Thinking Screen’s website.) The company is also partnering with virtually every consumer-electronics company on the block—names like Kodak, Motorola, Nintendo, Philips, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba—to make it easy

“Most of the connected screens haven’t hit the market yet, but they will over the next six months,” says Phillips. In particular, Phillips says, “We’ll see an aggressive push by TV manufacturers to enable TVs to go beyond video.” A taste of what he’s talking about already familiar to millions of video game fans is the home screen of the Nintendo Wii, which, in addition to games, offers links to news, weather, shopping, and photos.

The 15-employee startup collected $5 million in Series A funding from Longworth Venture Partners and CommonAngels in May 2008, and there are plans to raise a Series B round this fall, Phillips says. When it comes to supplying content for tomorrow’s connected screens, Thinking Screen has both technical and strategic advantages over existing and potential competitors, he says.

San Diego-based Chumby, whose interactive media player displays information through “widgets” analogous to Thinking Screen’s channels, is the company’s closest competitor, in Phillips’ judgment. But he thinks Chumby will have a hard time delivering content to devices other than its trademark soft-sided appliance, since the widgets depend on Adobe’s Flash video format, which most other connected screens can’t handle. Thinking Screen’s data, by contrast, is delivered using the Media RSS format, created by Yahoo in 2004 and used by thousands of content publishers.

Thinking Screen also has a network of content and manufacturing partners that would be hard for any other company to match, Phillips says. “The barrier to entry is about partnerships on the content side and more importantly on the screen manufacturer side,” he says. “As we create a critical mass of users, the revenue from advertising is shared with both content providers and screen manufacturers, so there is a stream now that encourages the screen partners to make sure that FrameChannel is enabled on their devices.”

Two new products set to emerge from Thinking Screens in the coming months are designed to widen the service’s appeal to consumers. One is a line of inexpensive digital frames dedicated to a single type of content—examples might include a frame that just shows celebrity news from People magazine or news and scores for the Boston Red Sox.

The other is a selection of 35,000 channels aggregating local information. For example, Phillips says, “You could have a Hopkinton, Massachusetts channel, where we’ve licensed content from local news sources, traffic, weather, relevant sports scores, stock quotes for companies, lottery numbers, a Twitter feed from your state representative—everything to do with Hopkinton. So you can imagine watching the Today show at seven in the morning and as a picture-in-picture experience you’re also getting your local town’s feed.”

Wade Roush is Xconomy’s chief correspondent. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at (617) 252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wroush.