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A WiFi color eInk picture frame

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Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#71

Post by c22 »

dexterdog wrote: post #61
mthoms wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's cool. Do you know if these are hackable at all? Or do you have to use their service to push pics?

That is the key on a product like this. $5+/mo for a service to occasionally update photos on a device that is already sold at a profit is robbery.

If you're pushing to fewer than 5 frames per account then their free tier works fine. They used to cap the free tier to 1000 photos (we just deleted older photos to keep the collection fresh) but now the free tier supports unlimited photos. I'm sure some day they'll go bust or get bought and it'll stop working but I feel like we've already gotten our money's worth out of it.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#72

Post by Waterluvian »

Thousands of price tags at my local grocery stores use color eink screens like this. Not sure how colourful they are but they at least have red.

It’s a neat idea. To be able to remotely set all tags once they’ve been properly localized.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#73

Post by kfarr »

sudobash1 wrote: post #59
kfarr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another great option is Pimoroni's combo eink display + pico w https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inky-frame-7-3?variant=40...

How is the battery life on the Pimoroni? I've used RPi Picos before, and I love working with them, but IIRC they are comparatively power-hungry, even in deep sleep.

Haven’t tested this particular one but using the badger eink display has been a blast. Super low power — you can run that one off of a lithium coin cell battery. You can control when it wakes. I presume this one will draw more with a larger color screen and wireless, but again you can control when and how it wakes to balance power draw vs. more frequent updates.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#74

Post by jamiek88 »

konschubert wrote: post #69
jamiek88 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know, right? What a hideous frame. It somehow makes the screen look worse! I smile fondly and lightly jab at hackers complete lack of concern for aesthetics.

Puh, that's harsh. But you are right, the frame is too wide. I am trying to make it narrower.

I’m genuinely sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#76

Post by worthless-trash »

jbverschoor wrote: post #60
kfarr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another great option is Pimoroni's combo eink display + pico w https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inky-frame-7-3?variant=40...

Why aren't there any CMYK screens?

Because its not print. Only print nerds love CMYK.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#77

Post by kfarr »

worthless-trash wrote: post #76
jbverschoor wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why aren't there any CMYK screens?

Because its not print. Only print nerds love CMYK.

It’s a valid question because colors from an emitting light source use RGB whereas reflective would make sense to use CMYK. As a practical example a 4 color CMYK eink display may look better than or at least equal to the 7 color display above.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#78

Post by bradbeam »

andygcook wrote: post #65
catapart wrote: post #3

Wow! There's a dynamite product in here that pairs a daily nagging app and one of these displays so that people are reminded to take a new picture, ever day, and have it show up on someone's (or all subscribed) photo frame. I'm thinking, like, "take a photo of the kids so it will show up on Grandma's frame" kind of functionality. Though, obviously, it would also be used for porn, so there's a market there, too. Anywa…

If the grandparents enjoy getting physical mail and like hard copy photos to have around the house, then https://nanagram.co is a good option[1] You just text in your photos and they printed and shipped once a month. We use it for my mom to send baby photos and she loves it. [1] Full disclosure: my older brother built this service, but I don’t have an affiliation other than being a proud brother and happy customer.

Agree, used it a few years ago and it brought joy to my grandpa.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#79

Post by ByThyGrace »

squarefoot wrote: post #66

"... With only 7 colors and a refresh time of about a minute ..." Ouch, even worse than expected. The project is interesting, but I'm totally unimpressed by these numbers; I wouldn't pay a premium for a sub par display that is slow as a dead sloth. A traditional LED screen plus some tricks to save power would make a much better picture frame IMO. I would for example use a PIR/microwave sensor (they're cheap!) to dete…

It seems the state of the art for color e-ink is at the level LCDs were in the eighties, perhaps nineties for b&w e-ink.

You'd think the company holding the patents has little incentives to push the tech forward at a faster pace, given the slow advances seen in the last decade and a half.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#80

Post by blkhawk »

phkahler wrote: post #40

Solar power? Could enough energy be stored from indoor light to power the daily download? That's about the only improvement I can think of.

Short answer: no.

long answer: while solar is actually the best indoor energy harvesting solution its still in nA land. This uses 56µA for the DCDC alone. that means you would need at least 1mA for maybe an hour to just keep that going without any screen updates or communications.

A windowsill setup might work but thats hardly "indoor" to me.

This lasts 1 year on 2 AA rechargeables - just swap the batteries.

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