Inspiration Strikes
This post is going to be all over the place, so please watch your step. Make sure to read to the end though — that’s where the meat is.
Yesterday was my birthday. I’m now 26. 26 sucks. 25 was fun, what with the quarter century mark and all, but 26 is just 26. I think it’s going to be that way until 29, which will be exciting for the “ohmygodI’malmost30″-ness of it. Bah.
Two people I haven’t heard from in a very long time sent me emails today. That was weird. The only emails I ever get are from mailing lists I’m subscribed to, forwards from my mother, and spam. Emails from long-lost friends are nice, but they should have coordinated and spread out the love a little, instead of focusing it all on one day.
Like everyone else in the world, I recently finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Of course, before I could read that, I had to read books 4 and 5 again because I forgot what happened in them.
Those of you who have read any of the Harry Potter books might recall that one part of all the magic in that world is in the photographs. Pictures are not just still images… they move. And some even interact with you. Of course, much of the world of Harry Potter will never be possible without real magic, but I think that at least a portion of the “alive” photograph idea can be.
In fact, I’m kind of surprised no one has done it yet (at least, not that I’ve heard of). There are picture frames you can buy these days that will display pictures from digital cameras in a slideshow-like fashion, but no one has taken the next step: displaying video. If you could take a short, 15 second or so video, and put it on one of those digital picture frames, you’d be pretty damn close to Harry Potter.
Most of the current digital picture frames, besides the still picture limitation, also have another drawback: the method of getting pictures on to the device is limited. Some have to be plugged into a phone line, and you have to sign in to a website to manage the photos on the frame. Others read the pictures off of the same type of card your camera records them onto.
My dream digital frame would therefore be the following: a choice between the standard 5×7 size and a larger portrait size, multiple frame style choices, the ability to playback video, auto brightness adjust to the light level of the room, high resolution, and wireless connectivity to drag-and-drop photos/videos that you want displayed from another computer. Bonus: the ability to load and playback photos from Flickr.
With about $2k and a bunch of time, I bet I could build one. But I’m poor and lazy, so someone make one for me and price it at the $200-$300 level. K, thnx.
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