Ipevo's Kaleido R7 digital photo frame displays photos wirelessly from a PC.
(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News)Ipevo CEO Royce Hong and I have something in common: we hate digital photo frames.
In his words, digital photo frames so far have been expensive, with poor design, a difficult user interface, and poor image resolution. I have to agree. But the Ipevo Kaleido R7, which his company created, tries to tackle these concerns.
First, there's no need for an SD card. The device uses Wi-Fi to get photos directly from your PC's hard drive, or from a photo-sharing service like Picasa or Flickr. Or, with the 512MB of memory included in the frame, up to 5,000 photos can be stored on it. The Kaleido also comes with a remote control and software that allows you to organize your photos into channels or playlists, and then schedule what pictures are rotated through the display, and when.
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For a conference about getting work done, there are sure a whole lot of toys here at Office 2.0 in San Francisco. Sure many of them are old hat, like the the Nabaztag/tag, but there's some new stuff here too like Pano Logic's zero client desktop. This shiny metal cube is actually a computer--well kind of. Actually it involves setting up a a beefy server to give everyone in your office a full version of Windows sans hardware. Just give give them a keyboard, mouse, monitor and one of these shiny cubes and they're ready to go.
For Skype fans there are also several handheld receivers from iPevo that hook up to your computer via USB and look cooler than wearing one of those headsets. The newer model of the handsets even has a screen to let you access your buddy list and start a call without having to manage your contacts inside the Skype app. The top of the line "Solo" is an entire desktop phone, complete with a keypad that doesn't require a phone at all. Just jack it in with a LAN cable, sign in to Skype, and you're ready to make and receive VoIP calls.
There are also e-Readers on hand, the first generation model from Sony, along with iRex's iLiad that launched last year.
On a side note, all conference attendees had their choice between a brand new iPhone, or a Sony Playstation 3. The few who chose the PS3 were seen (unhappily) lugging around the giant black boxes throughout the day. One Yellow Dog Linux-running PS3 was hooked up to a 40"+ plasma, although only to show off the conference schedule on Firefox--games were nowhere to be found. I've embedded some shots of the gadget goodness below.
(Credit:
Everything USB)
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: More is not always better, when it comes to combo or all-in-one devices. And even when the combination of functions makes some sense, it's often at the cost of atrocious aesthetics.
Take, for example, the "Trio" Skype phone from Ipevo. Its features are logical--a handset, speakerphone and digital recorder, according to Everything USB--but just look at this thing. We first thought it was some kind of Taser or one of those handheld metal detectors that airport security uses when you've set off the threshold alarm.
On the other hand, if it really does make good on its claims to clearly pick up voices 1.5 meters away, we'd be willing to put up with its distinct ugliness. But we won't hold our breath: Crave has yet to find a speakerphone that doesn't sound like the Holland Tunnel.
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