Posted on Jul 4, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:26 am
The Garmin nuvi 880, a new, full-featured GPS which will hit your charge card to the tune of US$999, is coming soon.
If $1000 seems expensive for a GPS device, consider what this one offers: speech recognition so you can talk to the GPS device rather than navigating the sometimes-difficult onscreen menus, Bluetooth connectivity, an FM transmitter, routes to geotagged JPEGs, MSN Direct support, and much more.
Though the Garmin 880 may be overkill for some users’ needs, the expanded functionality seems likely to trickle down to lower price points in coming years — which should make life interesting indeed.
GPS devices seem like natural applications for services like FrameChannel, which can send photos, sports scores, news, and more to the devices while they’re not in use. When combined with features like text-to-speed and voice recognition, that pairing could be exciting indeed.
Posted on Jul 2, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:09 am
The GE PhotoPhone is exactly the kind of convergence device that would have been predicted for the year 2000 maybe 30 or 40 years ago, and now here it is. The device does almost exactly what you’d expect — it’s a phone that displays a picture of the person calling and doubles, when the phone is not in use, as a digital picture frame.
The device sports a 7-inch LCD screen, a wireless handset, and weighs in at just under 4 pounds. It can be had for about US$140.
While it doesn’t have any Internet features yet, it does seem that that kind of expansion would be reasonable, especially in light of devices like the OpenFrame.
Posted on Jun 30, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:10 am
A report from market research firm Forrester Research predicts that by 2013 Apple will be selling digital picture frames, networked clock radios, and other wireless gizmos. The predictions were made in a report published in late May.
These moves make sense, especially as Apple increasingly makes a play to sit at the center of the digital home with devices like the AppleTV and iTunes’ ability to stream content to wireless speakers. Whether they’ll actually happen, of course, is more in doubt. Apple likes big-margin products and this kind of consumer item is often the site of margin-slashing price wars.
Still, Apple has shown a genius from coming late into a market and improving it so dramatically as to make their own category (music players and cell phones come to mind), so perhaps in 2013, we’ll be waking up to our iClocks and using touch-sensitive picture frames throughout the house.
Posted on Jun 27, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:14 am
No doubt sensing a growing market, Microsoft recently announced the availability of Windows Embedded NavReady 2009, a new version of the Windows operating systems for embedded devices designed specifically for use in Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs), such as GPSes.
The new NavReady 2009 OS is designed to facilitate easy wireless connections between cell phones, computers, PNDs, and the Internet. It offers features including:
- Live Search – designed to provide Internet-based searches for points of interest
- Bluetooth Support — to enable wireless connections for features such as phone book access and hands-free use
- MSN Direct — integration with the MSN Direct service, which can provide real-time content such as gas prices and traffic information
- Windows SideShow — support for the desktop gizmos/widgets debuted in Windows Vista.
With a dedicated OS from a major developer, and support for Windows SideShow, the possibilities for using PNDs as a platform for deploying applications is expanded. Now software developers can create applications for these devices that will expand their functionality. Gas prices and traffic reports are of course one set of applications, though others, such as photo slideshows, sports scores, or personal photos displayed when the PND is not in use also seem likely.
Posted on Jun 23, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:12 am
It’s not hard to see where this LCD from NEC is going: the heart-shaped LCD panel is obviously going into digital picture frames for your mom and your valentine (not the same person, hopefully!).
While some may argue that this shape isn’t the most tasteful, go check the picture frame aisles of your local big-box stores and I guarantee that you’ll find traditional frames in the shape of a heart. And why? Because they sell, I suspect.
Having digital frames of the same shape will just help push digital photo frames into more homes and more rooms. And, if NEC can make these panels thinner, perhaps we’ll even get digital Valentine’s cards in the not-so-distant future.
Posted on Jun 20, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:43 am
I’ve written a number of times before about the coming integration of TV set top boxes and the Internet that will allow content streamed over the web to be displayed on your TV.
A company has done that future one better — they’ve added a PC to a their LCD HDTV to create what they’re calling a “Digital Canvas.” The TVs, which come in 34-, 43, and 52-inches, include a 2.1Ghz Intel processor, 2GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, and WiFi.
The TVs seem designed specifically to take advantage of the wireless features as a way to make art installations with motion and video. No reason they couldn’t be used to stream web content to your living room, though.
The Digital Canvas models are being sold through an eBay and start at US$4,777.
