What makes iGala not only an excellent picture frame, but also one that becomes part of daily family life? The biggest point, after all, with these kind of cool gadgets is that they tend to be used less after an initial period of extensive use (cause it's new). Well, the weather forecast helps for certain and so does iGala's ability to receive fresh photo content through the internet.
In my humble opinion, iGala should be a communication device for all family.
- leave notes (iGala is the ONLY picture frame with a keyboard!) for your family members
- have it function as a birthday calendar
- leave a note wherever you are through the internet, to pick it up later when you arrive home on your iGala.
All of this (and more) can basically be achieved with one function: integration with Google Calendar, so it displays certain events or memo's (with the possibility to include a photo of course). I guess I'd set-up a two-way sync with Google Calendar, so entries made on iGala can be synced with Google Calendar too.
What do you think?
Ok, this one is being done
We now have decide to do this one, even with a better twist to it.
Thanks!
Good news, thank you! I'm looking forward to see your 'better twist'...
Applications by developers
Thanks for the input. We are considering to release the environment so that external developers' can freely add applications just like you described.
Good idea, but have a look at competitors
It's certainly a good idea to release the environment. I was suggesting this feature to give iGala a rich 'built-in feature set' and this one in particular to set it apart from:
- almost all other WiFi frames
- televisions that nowadays come more and more with UPNP and DLNA support, and will serve increasingly as a picture frame...
Moreover, it gives iGala a steady and profound profile as picture frame with Google support.
Note, there is one competitor who's already offering Google Calendar integration (Ality WirelessPixxa). However, their way to share pictures is far too complicated ;-)