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I turned my old iPad into the ultimate digital picture frame

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Re: I turned my old iPad into the ultimate digital picture frame

#5

Post by pflats »

A company already makes these at http://www.theipadframe.com/ . My wife got me one for Valentine's Day; we keep it in the living room to charge the iPad when we're not using it on the couch. I love it; it's a nice way to give the iPad a home without it just laying around on a table or having an empty dock hang around most of the time.

The difference seems to be the one I have is easier to load/unload (just slides in/out), not matted but has a thicker border, and uses an acrylic peg or two to stand it up instead of the wood piece. Also, it doesn't look like the iFrame can be in portrait mode, and the one I have didn't come with a wall wart.

Oh, and this one has a tiny brass peg that presses the home button for you, if you ever need to hit it. And it's a bit more expensive - I never actually saw the price until now.

I think I prefer the style with the matting, but I think, in the end, I'd prefer the ease of use (no clips) of the one I have.

Re: I turned my old iPad into the ultimate digital picture frame

#6

Post by drivebyacct2 »

Seems like an expensive solution... silly anecdote I feel like sharing ahead: 4 years ago as a senior in highschool, I built a wireless digital picture frame using a laptop purchased for $90, a customized frugal distribution of linux on a CF->IDE adapter and a friend's wifi dongle. A bit (heh) thicker than this (used a lightbox and just put the border piece at the front of the box) and a less pixel-dense screen, but otherwise comparable. Told my father to put pictures in a folder that was shared via Samba and they magically appear and rotate on the picture frame. It's still running, though I had to edit the wireless key on it once (fortunately I was forward thinking enough to create a separate FAT partition where my config files are read from). Somehow feels a bit techier/satisfying than throwing a $500 iPad in a frame.

Re: I turned my old iPad into the ultimate digital picture frame

#8

Post by mark_up »

polemic wrote: post #4
kennywinker wrote: post #2

Hard to get excited about this... all I can read is "I made my 2-year old $500 device heavier and less portable".

Or - how to re-purpose old hardware?

In my country, iPads are USD$1100. You could very easily sell your 2yr old ipad here for USD$400.

Re: I turned my old iPad into the ultimate digital picture frame

#9

Post by panacea »

polemic wrote: post #4
kennywinker wrote: post #2

Hard to get excited about this... all I can read is "I made my 2-year old $500 device heavier and less portable".

Or - how to re-purpose old hardware?

Exactly. Apple should love this. I'm sure there are many people with the original iPad thinking 'I want the new iPad but the old one still works fine. It would be wasteful to get the new one.' This potentially solves that dilemma.
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