We’re taking more digital photos than ever, but we’re not very good about printing them out to enjoy them in our homes. Meanwhile, the digital picture frame market has filled with cheap products that haven’t kept up with technology developments, like ubiquitous Wi-Fi, better photo quality, and higher resolutions, in order to instead chase ever-lower price points. Aims to pick up where the industry left off, by offering a digital picture frame that’s beautiful enough to be hung on the wall, but also takes advantage of modern technology, like retina displays, mobile apps, facial recognition, gesture control, and sensors.The end result is a digital picture frame that’s actually not terriblein fact, it may even be something to lust after.Aura was founded by Abdur Chowdhury, the Summize founder who became Twitter’s Chief Scientist, and CTO Eric Jensen. It’s the latest product from their company, which previously had tried its hand at.The co-founders had both had horrible experiences with the digital picture frames they had bought themselves, which prompted the idea for Aura. They realized there was opportunity to innovate in the digital picture frame market, which had not evolved with the times.“When we looked at the digital picture frame market, we were shocked at what we found,” explains Chowdhury. “It was and is the anti-technology story.
2006 they take off, but in the next decade, the resolution has not changed. Many no longer exist, and those with Wi-Fi are all but gone.
It was a market, in my opinion, ahead of its time, in that the technology did not meet the consumer’s expectations,” he says.With Aura, the team has built an attractive, 8×12 picture frame that comes in two colors, ivory with rose gold trim or black with charcoal trim. The frame is acrylic, is edged in anodized aluminum, and the kit comes with a stand or accessories for wall hanging. Unfortunately, there’s still a power cord, but it’s wrapped in a cloth material to make it less garish.gallery ids='13078'Meanwhile, the screen is basically the same retina display in your iPad (2,048 x 1,536 resolution), which makes pictures look really crisp and clear.But what makes Aura interesting, also, is its use of technology in terms of interacting with the device and feeding it content. You use the accompanying mobile app to sync an album you create to the device, or you can take advantage of Aura’s facial recognition software to automate the process.gallery ids='130,13068'The app will identify the faces in your photos, then you can toggle on a “Smart Select” feature to automate updating the frame with images. The software not only identifies which photos to send, and continues to update as you take more pictures, it also filters out blurry and bad photos – like those with your eyes closed, duplicates, and those that won’t crop well. There’s a nudity filter, too, for privacy’s sake.Plus, you can invite family members to collaborate on albums, for a more social experience.In addition, the frame includes sensors that determine if you’re in the room, and then only changes the photos after you’ve left.
That way, when you return, you’re always greeted with a new and different experience. And it can sense when you’ve shut off the lights, so it will turn off, too.Another clever feature is gesture control. That is, you can use “Minority Report”-like swipe gestures at the sensor to move back and forth between your photos. (I was able to test this myself, and it worked fairly well, though there’s a slight lag. It’s something I could see kids having a lot of fun with, however.)Though the team was not planning on raising funding, when they talked with Spark Capital GP Kevin Thau, he was interested in this idea of a device that’s ambiently aware of you, and trying to display what you love the most.
ABOUT TRIPP LITE. From desktop to critical infrastructure, Tripp Lite products and solutions power and connect the computers, networking equipment and electronic devices that form the foundation of our digital world. A digital photo is made up of a series of pixels (picture elements). Most of today’s digital photos use a “24 bit RGB” system to colour each pixel.
Welcome to TDP forum's 'Image of the Week' competition. Each week photographers may submit their images for the title of 'Image of the Week.' Weekly winners will then compete on a monthly, quarterly, and, finally, in our annual poll for the title of 'TDP Image of the Year.' .
The Week 21entry period will be from Monday May 20ththrough/including Sunday, May 26th. Please supply a title for your image. This is an open competition for landscape, portrait, architectural, macro, or any other appropriate photographic style. Images should have been either recently taken or processed. Enter as many times as you would like.