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Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

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Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#61

Post by samb1729 »

ratg13 wrote: post #14
misterbwong wrote: post #9

This is really cool! I love pet projects like this. Although, I can't help but wonder why OP didn't put a frame around an ancient Fire tablet or something else with an LCD screen and web browsing out of the box. Seems like it would result in a better experience (color) with much less work and about the same price point.

You’d have to constantly power an LCD display. With an e-ink device you could create something that only needs to be recharged 1-2 times a year, or that is passively charged off your WiFi.

> passively charged off your WiFi

I had no idea this is possible. Is there a name for power-over-wifi?

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#62

Post by vineyardmike »

LASR wrote: post #45

For those who want less tikering: Two 24 inch monitors bought from a design house auction connected to 3rd Gen Chromecasts. They automatically boot up and display a Google Photos album that contains pictures of the family and pets. These monitors are set to power on at 8 AM and off at 10 PM. Initially my wife hated the idea of having two monitors in the living room. But after I put them in place, we both found it is…

…or buy a cheap digital picture frame from .

When my g-parents passed, and the family moved away, we bought everyone a cheap digital frame linked to a shared family album. They’re like 50-200$ depending on size. My grandmother was always bringing the family together, and we wanted to honor that with way to see each other across geographies.

Our chosen company’s albums have an email address that you email a photo to, and it displays on everyone’s frame. Very easy for everyone to contribute.

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#63

Post by Lord-Jobo »

robluxus wrote: post #39

> iCloud photo albums have no API. However, if you share an iCloud photo album to a public link [...] How do folks feel about the security vs. convenience aspect of this? I almost talked myself into doing this for our shared family albums, but I know I really shouldn't do it. Some of our older family members run Windows and iCloud sharing is just horrible there. Basically, the photos keep disappearing from their comp…

Its actually damn near impossible to retrieve all of your photos/videos from icloud for a backup if you are using a windows machine to do so. It will constantly fail to sync fully, duplicate files, takes eons to download even on a fast connection, and there are bizarre file format conflicts with certain types of images. Very infuriating, and its been an issues for at least 5 years. 'Buy a mac if you want to actually adhere to proper backup standards' i guess this is the apple stance on the issue.

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#65

Post by ghaff »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #40
paxys wrote: post #34

While I'm sure this is great as a nerd project, I can't imagine giving someone this as a gift over, say, a $30 digital picture frame which is better and more functional in basically every way.

As a parent your perception of value changes. I would much rather have a pile of garbage my daughter spent hours creating than something drop shipped from China at any price point or functionality. I can imagine the authors parents showing all their friends and family the frame their nerd child made for them and explaining that while it’s not as functional as the $30 frame from China their child made it from a used n…

I think it depends. My dad would absolutely prefer something that just worked. He certainly appreciates things I make and do but, even the books I've written, he appreciates that I've written something and leaves it out in his apartment but I'm quite sure he's only flipped through the semi-technical content.

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#67

Post by rmccue »

For anyone who wants a hackable e-ink display, the Inkplate combines a recycled Kindle display with an ESP32 (which also supports the Arduino framework). You can also buy them with both a 3D printed frame and a battery already attached, so all you need to do is program it.

(No affiliation, although I recently bought an Inkplate 10.)

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#68

Post by ghaff »

afhfah834 wrote: post #33

To me the interesting part of an e-ink frame is that it wouldn't require any battery/cables (otherwise you might as well just get a regular digital frame) I would love if there were a product where you just program the frame with a picture once by plugging it into your phone and using an app Then you never worry about batteries/cables and you can always change the image later To me that is the killer app

At that point, why not print a few photos, put one in an easy to change photo frame, and spend a couple minutes swapping them out now and then?

My brother tried to get my dad setup with Apple Music which he spent an afternoon frustrated with. OK, the UI isn't the best but I'm not sure anyone else's is better. I ended up getting him a desktop CD player, gave him a bunch of CDs I don't need any longer, and he's very happy. Sometimes the old (OK not quite) analog approaches are better.

ADDED: My (younger) brother rolled his eyes a bit and was a bit surprised CDs even existed any longer but sometimes simpler approaches really are better. And I'm the one with engineering degrees :-)

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#69

Post by fnordpiglet »

ghaff wrote: post #65
fnordpiglet wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a parent your perception of value changes. I would much rather have a pile of garbage my daughter spent hours creating than something drop shipped from China at any price point or functionality. I can imagine the authors parents showing all their friends and family the frame their nerd child made for them and explaining that while it’s not as functional as the $30 frame from China their child made it from a used n…

I think it depends. My dad would absolutely prefer something that just worked. He certainly appreciates things I make and do but, even the books I've written, he appreciates that I've written something and leaves it out in his apartment but I'm quite sure he's only flipped through the semi-technical content.

I bet he leaves it out in his apartment more reliably than if you gave him a book off Amazon. The fact he can’t access the contents of the book isn’t the point. It’s that he takes pride in something he wouldn’t normally read is because it’s yours. That’s why a DIY project for your parents is better than a shrink wrapped piece of future garbage.

Re: Building an e-ink picture frame that displays an iCloud photo album

#70

Post by riotnrrd »

vineyardmike wrote: post #62
LASR wrote: post #45

For those who want less tikering: Two 24 inch monitors bought from a design house auction connected to 3rd Gen Chromecasts. They automatically boot up and display a Google Photos album that contains pictures of the family and pets. These monitors are set to power on at 8 AM and off at 10 PM. Initially my wife hated the idea of having two monitors in the living room. But after I put them in place, we both found it is…

…or buy a cheap digital picture frame from . When my g-parents passed, and the family moved away, we bought everyone a cheap digital frame linked to a shared family album. They’re like 50-200$ depending on size. My grandmother was always bringing the family together, and we wanted to honor that with way to see each other across geographies. Our chosen company’s albums have an email address that you email a photo to,…

What brand and model did you buy? I've been looking for something like this for my family.
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