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Picture Frames need PHDs

After reading Tony Ryb's blog about how it shouldn't take a PHD to get a wireless photo frame working I have to share my story of the Sharper Image wireless picture frame called the MemoryFrame from DigitalSpectrum Incorporated. This device is perhaps the most complicated and worst designed product I have ever used. It is buggy and a nightmare to get a WEP key into. In order to get the key in you have to put a file containing the key on an SD card and insert it into the device.

Even after spending countless hours on getting it to work properly on a WiFi network, I was disappointed that it didn't synchronize photos from the internet the way it is supposed to. It may have been my firewall causing the problem but who knows? Moreover, I have a Linksys firewall so if this access point is the problem, one would imagine the company would have found a way to work with the world's most popular consumer WiFi AP.

I think that if consumer electronics companies want to last for the long haul, they need to focus on making things simple. Especially at the ridiculously high price I paid ($350) for this frame from the Sharper Image.

The frame now goes for $250 on the Sharper Image website and it is still too much money for this frame in my opinion. I just cant recommend this product.

Is the wireless picture frame market just another area where Apple will eventually come into, make simple and gain 95% market share? Time will tell.

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Cisco Invests in SoonR

Cisco has just invested in SoonR a company which supplies a service allowing computer files to be easily accessed by mobile phones or other internet devices. As mobile devices become more powerful and wireless broadband becomes more pervasive, this segment of the market is obviously going to be more important.

I recall in 2000-2002 that a few companies focused on solving this problem went out of business. I can't even remember the company names anymore but as happens often, the ideas were good but the timing was not.

But although this is just an investment, I get the feeling Cisco is eyeing what Microsoft, Apple and Google have done in the mobile market and wants in.

Let's not forget RIM and the company's soaring stock price. Certainly mobility has much potential and if SoonR competes with anyone today, perhaps it is RIM with the company's popular Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) software.

I think we will see Cisco making acquisitions and/or rolling out more products in the mobility space this year. Call it mobile unified communications or whatever you want... The end result is there is a great deal of money to be made in mobile devices and services and Cisco will likely want to be better positioned to get a piece of this business.

One last point is that SoonR has said in the past in a GigaOm article it is looking to service providers and companies like WebEx to partner with as they have existing billing relationships. Coincidentally, Cisco just happens to own WebEx.

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Striking Writers to Launch New Company

Perhaps the headline of this post should be ended with the he disclaimer "With the help of investors who may or may not pony up $30 million."

The worst nightmare of the studios and networks dealing with the writer's strike is not that it will go on but instead that the out of work writers will start a new company which allows writers to develop content which viewers can view on the web.

According to an article on swarmcast, some of the writers are indeed now looking to start their own production and distribution company.

Aaron Mendelsohn, writer of the Disney film Air Bud and an active WGA member, is captaining the efforts, and says he has gotten a group of “A-list” film and TV writers on the team. He’s also partnering with online community experts from Silicon Valley and raising “north of $30 million” in venture capital, with the idea of launching a company called Virtual Artists later this year.

On the technology side, the company is looking to foster communities around its content and include viewers in the development process. Henri Poole of CivicActions and Brian Behlendorf of the Apache Project and CollabNet are serving as advisers.

If this company does get funding it could be a very scary problem for Hollywood to have to deal with. In fact if it is able to make money by distributing content online it will show how disruptive technology is now changing how writers negotiate. All of Hollywood will be shaken up.

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