

Picwing (YC Summer 08) on Engadget - edawerd
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/25/picwing-intros-social-digital-picture-frame/

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netcan
Great idea for a product to work on. Ballsy too, taking on hardware production
& dealing with all that physical production, economies of scale, ploughing
fields & the rest of that 19th century stuff. I can see a lot of potential for
this.

Nice thing is that you have a product and you can just sell it, in exchange
for money. Just like any web retailer. On that note, you might want to take
advantage of some of this PR for SEO and give your site a quick once over.

I see that for digital photo frame, picwing appears 6-7 time in the first 100
Google results via reviews & press but your site doesn't even come up if you
search 'social photo frame'.

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stcredzero
How about a version of this with an OLPC daylight-readable screen that doubles
as an eBook reader? (How about a deluxe version in 8x10" format?) I could
imagine one on the nightstand, the end table by the couch, or on the coffee
table. It would be in a convenient place to pick up. You could make this
touchscreen, but you wouldn't even have to do that. Just have simple D-pad
navigation, perhaps behind the frame.

An add-on with some simple remote control facility would make it a 3-use
device. (It should be possible to control a MythTV, Tivo or Front Row with
this.) Again, it would be in a convenient place.

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maxklein
Aww, common guys! Change the casing! You'll have the best of everything, but
that casing will kill you. Your outside has to be the very best part of your
frame, because it's decorative. Right now it's too big, the screen is
depressed. People have to pick up the case and love the device. Right now it
looks a bit...ugly.

I'm not an industrial designer, so I can't say how you can make it better. But
I can say that the picture does not really appeal to me. It's not sexy just
looking at it. That's what you need to change, because if you are offering a
premium product, first make sure it LOOKS premium!

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edawerd
Hey Max,

Thanks for the feedback. As with most beta products, we know that the design
isn't great just yet. Design is really important to us, but we've been
concentrated on having great functionality and usability for the past 3 months
at YC.

With that said, I promist the final product WILL look much better in the end!

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maxklein
Okay, good that you guys are still going to improve the casing. If I were you,
I'd take a look at the frames that really expensive paintings usually are in.
Those frames are gorgeous, and your product should have something like that.

And please don't put "Loading..." when it starts. Make ripples or water
droplets falling or even just a white line passing through like an EKG...

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steveplace
This is a kickass product. Wish I had thought of it.

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edawerd
This came as quite a surprise to us, but hey we're glad it happened!

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netcan
Who's buying the things at this point?

I'd be putting money on people buying them for their mums. Could be a huge
Mothers Day hit. Not beta friendly though.

