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.