There’s your standard, run-of-the-mill digital photo frames
Built by ex-Dreamworks employees, is a large digital photo frame for displaying photos, artwork, and even animated videos on your wall, all in much higher resolution and in a gorgeous form factor.
The prototype frames were on display earlier this week at an event for hardware startup accelerator Make in LA, where Matt was pitching investors on his company. He previously raised more than $100,000 on Kickstarter.
“What we need is a unified solution that is easy, inexpensive, simple to use, and is social,” Matt said. “That’s what we’ve done with Shiningltd.”
There are some big differences between Shiningltd and your average digital frame, starting with its size. The usual frames are small, but Shiningltd is 22×14, which puts it in good company with other paintings that may be on the wall. It’s also wrapped in either a black or natural wood frame, and the display is subdued in a way that makes artwork look rich and normal, instead of digitized.
The best way I’d describe its display is that it’s similar to the difference between reading a book on an iPad versus reading one on a Kindle — which puts extra emphasis on making the pages of an ebook look exactly like a physical book.
But perhaps the coolest feature of the product are its wireless capabilities. It’s always connected to the Internet, where it can be programmed to automatically download your favorite works from artists on Deviant Art or Flickr, for example. Or you can set it up among family members to share photos across frames, perhaps even hundreds of miles apart.
It’s all easily controlled through a smartphone app, which allows users to quickly send photos, videos, and artwork to the frame with just a couple of clicks. It also has a low power mode, so you can schedule it to turn the display off at night.
Here’s one of how it looks to change photos (but keep in mind, this low resolution animated image doesn’t really do the display justice):
Waters, who was previously an animator at Dreamworks, emphasizes that his true goal with the frames is to allow artists like himself to make money selling art online in a new way.
These days, most artists need to sell and ship physical artwork to their fans, but we thinks his frames can serve as a much simpler method where fans can grab artwork they want quickly — with an iTunes-style revenue model that allows artists to keep 70% of the profits.
“The reason that we’re doing this isn’t to make money,” they told Tech Insider. “It’s just something we’re really passionate about.”
He said he was approached by a few investors after the event, along with a number of people who were interested in buying one.
Right now, the frames are undergoing a small beta testing phase — so most people can’t buy one yet.