Doug Aamoth…

The Vizit photo frame is an interesting twist on conventional photo frames. Forget about setting it up over Wi-Fi or USB—this thing connects to AT&T’s network and pulls in photos sent via e-mail, MMS, browser upload, Photobucket, and Flickr.

I had a chance to play around with a beta version of the frame, so this isn’t so much a review as it is a quick look at what you might expect from the finished retail version that’s set to begin shipping out this month.

Setting up the frame is easy; you plug it in. That’s it. The frame is pretty thin and light and sort of looks like an old school LCD monitor. The 10.4-inch LED-backlit touchscreen has an 800×600 resolution and photos look crisp and bright. No complaints there.

Each frame has a special e-mail address, and photos sent to that address from approved e-mail addresses will show up in a matter of moments. You add approved contacts on Vizitme.com under your account section, which houses all your photos as well.

You associate an e-mail address and cell phone number with each of your contacts and from there on out, photos sent from that e-mail address or as MMS messages from that cell phone number will pop up on the frame. Retail versions will have an SD card slot and working USB port (my beta one didn’t) but the over-the-air features are the main selling point for this product.

The frame will also pull in photos from Photobucket and Flickr accounts. The company, Isabella Products, has a partnership with LIFE.com to pull in a new photo each day as well. It’d be nice to be able to pull in photos from other sites via RSS. Perhaps that’ll get added.

You’ll get a little pop-up notification on the frame when a new photo comes in, and you can reply to whomever sent it directly from the frame itself with one of a few pre-loaded messages: Thanks! Wish I was there! Miss you!—that kind of stuff. You can also share the photo with anyone you’ve added as acceptable senders. So get a photo from mom and forward it on to your sister right from the frame. You can mark certain photos as favorites, rotate them, and delete them directly from the frame as well.

The resistive touchscreen takes a fair amount of direct pressure (the company recommended I use my fingernail to get the best response) in order to select photos and menus, but the overall UI was clean and relatively snappy for a beta product.

Here’s a quick video demo:

And now for the elephant in the room. The frame’s retail price “is $279.99 plus a required basic or premium photo plan.” That’s a spicy meatball for a connected photo frame, especially the “required basic or premium photo plan” part of the equation. On the other hand, well-heeled gift givers will find this frame to be just about the perfect present to give grandma so she can watch all the photos from her kids and grandkids come pouring in automatically. And being able to directly reply to and forward photos is a nice, unique touch as well.

Vizit Photo Frame [Vizitme.com]

My oh my, what have we here? The “NEO SNES/SFC MYTH FLASH CART” is basically a cartridge that you pop into your Super Nintendo (you do still have your Super Nintendo, don’t you?) that’s got 256MB of onboard memory upon which you can load up ROMs. So take a tally of your legally-owned SNES cartridges, download them all in ROM form, and put all the originals in an airtight container for safekeeping.

You’ll then be able to play those games as nature intended—with an actual SNES controller on an actual TV, just like the good old days. It’d be nice if the wizards behind this project would have thrown in support for original NES games but, hey, I don’t want any trouble.

So that’s it. Go ahead and order it without looking at the price tag.

You want to know the price, don’t you? It’s $169. That’s not a typo, either.

NEO SNES/SFC Myth Flash cart + 256M [IC2005 Smart Shop via Wired]

My oh my, what have we here? The “NEO SNES/SFC MYTH FLASH CART” is basically a cartridge that you pop into your Super Nintendo (you do still have your Super Nintendo, don’t you?) that’s got 256MB of onboard memory upon which you can load up ROMs. So take a tally of your legally-owned SNES cartridges, download them all in ROM form, and put all the originals in an airtight container for safekeeping.

You’ll then be able to play those games as nature intended—with an actual SNES controller on an actual TV, just like the good old days. It’d be nice if the wizards behind this project would have thrown in support for original NES games but, hey, I don’t want any trouble.

So that’s it. Go ahead and order it without looking at the price tag.

You want to know the price, don’t you? It’s $169. That’s not a typo, either.

NEO SNES/SFC Myth Flash cart + 256M [IC2005 Smart Shop via Wired]

Now we’re cooking with a substance that appears to be similar in smell, flame size, and cost per energy unit as “gas.” Asus’ impending Eee PC 1005PR is a 10.1-inch netbook with a 1366×768 resolution screen, Broadcom HD decoder chip, and up to 11 hours of battery life.

Under the hood there’s an Intel Atom N450 CPU, up to 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, 6-cell battery, VGA output, three USB ports, card reader, b/g/n wireless and optional Bluetooth, webcam, and a weight of 2.8 pounds.

No firm pricing or release date yet, but SlashGear seems to think it’ll cost “about $400.”

Eee PC 1005PR [ASUS via SlashGear]

MSI has added another skinny notebook to its X-Slim series with the announcement of the 13-inch X360 model. This one makes use of an Intel Core i5 ultra low voltage CPU clocked at 1.06GHz alongside Intel’s HM55 graphics chipset.

Other features include Windows 7 Home Premium, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 13-inch screen at 1366×768 resolution, 250/320/500GB SATA hard drive options, HDMI and VGA out, two USB ports, card reader, Bluetooth, b/g/n wireless, and webcam with face identification software.

The machine measures just under an inch thick and weighs three pounds with the standard 4-cell battery. There’s an 8-cell battery available, too, which should provide up to 9 hours of battery life, although it’s unknown how much extra weight and girth it’d add.

No word on pricing or availability yet, either. I’d expect it to start at well under $1000, though—maybe around $700 to $800 or so for the base-level configuration.

MSI Proudly Unveils the X-Slim X360 [MSI via DigiTimes]

Summer will be here before you know it, so that means it’s time to stock up on anything that’ll keep you out of the sun. In that spirit, Amazon has discounted both the standard and Collector’s Edition of the new-ish Star Trek Online franchise.

The standard edition will set you back $28 (selling for $45+ elsewhere) and the Collector’s Edition, which features “additional bonus items including unique packaging, descriptive material, and in-game items,” is on sale for $48 (selling for $80+ elsewhere).

Both games are for the PC and the sale is good today only.

Star Trek Online – Standard and Collector’s Editions for PC [Amazon.com]

Short Version: A bit of a twist on traditional induction chargers, Case-mate’s “Hug Wireless Charging Pad and Case” attempts to offset its $100 price tag by adhering to the Wireless Power Consortium’s universal charging standard, which promises interoperability with other charging pads and devices that are developed using the same technology.

Full Review: One of the larger barriers to adopting new technology is the relatively high price tag pitted against the uncertainty of whether or not that technology will become widespread enough to spawn future devices. What’s the sense in dropping $100 on an induction charger for your iPhone if there’s a possibility you’ll switch to a different phone in the future?

Case-mate makes the plunge a bit less frightening by basing its “Hug” system upon an open wireless charging standard, the Wireless Power Consortium’s eCoupled technology (the same technology used in Palm’s “Touchstone” chargers for the Pre and Pixi lines). This theoretically means that you’d be able to charge your phone on any wireless charging surface based on the same standard—Case-mate offers a bedside table, Starbuck’s coffee table, and airplanes as examples. We’ll have to see how this eventually plays out in real life, but you get the idea.

It also means that you’ll be able to use the included charging pad to juice up any other devices that use the same standard—a different model phone with an eCoupled-enabled case, for instance. So while $100 may seem a bit steep, you’re investing in what the WPC and Case-mate hopes becomes a widespread standard. You may have to buy different cases and/or battery covers for different devices in the future, but that charging pad should be the last one you ever need to purchase (in theory).

As a charging solution, the Hug system is surprisingly nimble. I was able to take my iPhone 3GS from near zero percent battery to 100% in two hours. That’s pretty good considering early induction charging systems have operated at a much slower trickle. The first one I reviewed, almost a year ago now, took overnight. That system was for Wii remotes, too, which aren’t quite as important as having an adequately charged cell phone.

The system is comprised of the charging pad and a protective iPhone case, which Case-mate describes as “slim.” We can go back and forth all day about using slim as an adjective but I can tell you that the case added some noticeable bulk to my phone. It doesn’t feel like it’d be super protective, either. It’s made of two plastic pieces that snap together; the backing of the larger main piece feels somewhat solid but the sides of both pieces are pretty bendy. I definitely wouldn’t want to drop my phone, and let’s remember that there’s induction technology built into the case that probably shouldn’t be bumped around too violently.

The fattest part of the case measures about 0.8 inches thick, versus an unprotected iPhone at less than half an inch thick. It’s still pocketable, though it definitely feels lumpier.

Charging time, as I said earlier, is a respectable two hours for full recuperation of an iPhone 3GS battery. I noticed a very faint, quickly repeating ticking sound as my phone was recharging and every time I’d put the case down on the pad my battery indicator would spike a few percentage points for some reason. Not a big deal either way, but it’s there.

Conclusion:

So would I carry my phone around in this case all day long? Maybe not presently, but I’d definitely do it if all these magic charging surfaces start popping up everywhere. Absolutely. It beats lugging around cables or spare emergency batteries for sure. If the WPC really wants this standard to take off, it should give the charging pads away for next to nothing for a while. For $5 to $10 apiece, I’d put them all over my house and in my car.

For now, it’s still a bit too early to tell. The Hug is a nice example of how well the technology actually works, though, and if it reaches more widespread adoption, you may find yourself pricing out induction cases and covers for all your commonly-used gadgets. If you’re intrigued by induction charging and you’re ready to take the plunge, the Hug ought to be a safe bet provided you don’t mind the $100 price tag and the bit of extra bulk it adds.

Hug – Wireless Charging Pad & Case [Case-mate.com]

You may have seen the “Sausage Finger” iPhone photos making the rounds early last month. I could have sworn we posted it but I can’t seem to find it. Anyhoo, it was a photo of two guys on a South Korean subway car using little sausages to manipulate their iPhones while wearing gloves. Everyone had a chuckle and then we all moved on—UNTIL NOW!

You can get your very own “iPhone Sausage Screen Stylus” for 99 cents, plus around five bucks for shipping. The product is “not for consumption” but is compatible with all versions of the iPhone and, therefore, the iPod Touch as well.

You could also pick up some sausages at your local grocery store every week to avoid the shipping charges and the whole “not for consumption” rule.

iPhone Sausage Screen Stylus [CaseCrown.com via OhGizmo!]

I’ll leave the comparisons between the Ezy Tablet PC and a certain device to be launched in a little under a month up to you. Actually, aside from the casing and the 10.2-inch multitouch LCD, there’s not a whole lot else in the way of commonality.

The Ezy Tablet PC features the following:

• 10.2-inch multitouch display with 1024×600 resolution
• Intel Atom N270 CPU at 1.6GHz
• Intel GMA 950 graphics
• 250GB SATA hard drive
• 2GB of RAM, upgradeable to 4GB
• 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi, plus 3G mobile chipset
• 1.3 megapixel webcam, card reader, three USB ports
• VGA output, Ethernet port
• 2100mAh battery good for up to 3.5 hours
• Weight of 2.2 pounds
• Windows 7 or Vista OS

The product sells for $680 with 2GB of RAM and no operating system–Windows 7 or Vista will set you back $180 each. It’s also not quite clear what kind of 3G card is built in to this thing other than the product number “WCDMATD-SCDMACDMA2000.” I see “CDMA” in there.

It ships from Malaysia, too. That’s far, far away for most of us.

Ezy Tablet PC [ShopKami.com via Chip Chick]

Touchscreen keyboard sentiment can be divided into two camps: those who don’t mind it and those who can’t do without a physical keyboard. If you’re part of the first camp, you may be excited to hear that Acer might just be working on a notebook so thin that it uses a frameless screen and touch keyboard, according to DigiTimes.

It’s apparently expected sometime in the second half of this year. According to the article:

“Acer is expected to adopt Corning’s reinforced glass substrate and simply print color on its back to allow the substrate to function like a notebook cover for a frameless design. The design will help reduce the thickness of the ultra-thin notebook and can also reduce material costs.”

In order to keep everything as svelte as possible, DigiTimes’ sources mentioned that “Acer will also adopt a touch keyboard to allow the notebook to be even thinner.” And judging by Acer’s relatively aggressive pricing strategy, I’d guess that the whole thing might cost less than you’d expect. Details are pretty scant at the moment, though, so let’s take this all with a grain of salt until we get some more concrete information.

Acer to launch a frameless-screen ultra-thin notebook with touch keyboard in 2H10 [DigiTimes]