July 2018 – SoFun

Nixplay WiFi Cloud Frame review

REVIEW – Several years digital photo frames were a popular gift idea. I reviewed at least a dozen of them until their popularity grew stale. But what’s old is new again and today digital photo frames are making a comeback. One new frame that I’m going to show you today is the Nixplay WiFi Cloud Frame. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Nixplay WiFi Cloud Frame is a digital photo frame that can be used to view your favorite images. Nixplay makes a variety of frames but their Cloud Frames are available in 15 and 18-inch screen sizes. I was sent the 18-inch version.

Hardware specs

Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768 pixels
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Brightness: 350 cd/m2
Supported Photo Format: JPEG / JPG / PNG
Supported Video Format: H.264 HD 720p
Speakers: 2 x (1.5W) Stereo Speakers, 3.5mm Stereo Headphone Input
Ports: USB Drive / SD / SDHC
Wireless: 802.11 b/g/n
Width: 18.4 inches (467mm)
Height: 11.4 inches (290mm)
Depth: 1.3 inches (33mm) – without stand, 4.5 inches (115mm) – with stand
Weight:2.72kg – without stand, 2.80kg – with stand

What’s in the box?

Nixplay WiFi Cloud Frame
Screw in stand
IR remote
AC adapter
Quick start guide

Design and features

This is the largest digital photo frame that I’ve reviewed and I have to say that if you’re going to buy a digital photo frame, go big or forget it. This 18-inch frame is big and well made. It has black 1-inch bezels on all sides to make it look like a picture frame.

The Nixplay has two sensors that are built into the lower part of the frame. In the lower left corner is the motion detection sensor and there’s also the IR sensor for the included remote control.

The remote control has a membrane style keypad with functions to control the photo slideshow and video playback.

The back of the Nixplay Cloud WiFi Frame has mounting slots to help you mount the frame on a wall in either landscape or portrait orientation.

There are also speakers built into the back of the frame and a set of control buttons in case you lose the IR remote control.

The back of the frame has an SD card slot and a USB port if you want to load your own images from flash memory. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power port.

If you don’t want people messing with the ports, you can block them by using the included cover.

The port cover is secured by two screws.

If you don’t want to mount the Nixplay on a wall, you can attach the included stand which snaps into the back of the frame and is secured by a brass thumb screw.

I opted to do my testing of the frame with the stand. However, by using the stand, you can only use it in landscape orientation.

Loading your images and videos into the frame

To see slideshows of your favorite images and video, you can load them on an SD card, a USB flash drive, or you can connect the frame to your wireless network and then load images from a selection of social media sites like Dropbox, Facebook, Google Photos, Instagram, Flickr, and Verizon Cloud by using the Nixplay web app. Note that except for the Dropbox dynamic playlist, the other social media sites will not automatically sync new images to the frame. You will need to update the playlists when you add new images that you want to show up on the Nixplay frame. Don’t worry though, it’s as easy as dragging and dropping the images into the playlist from the Nixplay web app.

Another way to get images into the frame is by email. Each frame has an email address assigned to it once you create a Nixplay account. Images sent to the frame using this address will be added to a special playlist.

Last but not least, you can install the Nixplay app on your smartphone or tablet and send images from your device to the frame that way too.

Before you can use the frame, you’ll need to create a Nixplay account which is free and allows you to easily configure a variety of settings on the frame. The free account also allows you to create and modify playlists of up to 10GB of photos for up to 5 different Nixplay frames. If you need to manage more frames, Nixplay offers a Plus account where you’ll have 10 frames per account and 30GB of storage.

For example, if you load an album of photos from Instagram or Google Photos like I did, you can remove images that you don’t want to see or disable the playlist altogether.

Note that the images will be loaded on to the frame itself so that even if you log out of the Nixplay account or lose WiFi connectivity, the frame still continues to work.

Most nicer digital photo frames allow you to set a sleep schedule so that the frame goes into standby mode during the nighttime hours when no one would be seeing it anyway. The Nixplay will allow you to either have the screen turn off or it can display a clock during the sleep schedule hours. But that’s not all. The Nixplay WiFi Cloud Frame goes even one step further by implementing a motion sensor that will put the display in sleep mode when it senses that there’s no one in the room. I love this feature and have found that it works really well.

Another feature worth mentioning is that you can control your Nixplay frame with Alexa. You can ask it to play specific playlists just by using your voice. I don’t have an Amazon Echo set up to test this feature, but you can find out more about it by visiting the Nixplay site.

Display quality

A digital photo frame is only as good as the display quality right? Well, there’s nothing to worry about with the Nixplay because the glossy LED-backlit display is bright, crisp, and vibrant with excellent viewing angles so that you can see image details even if you’re not directly in front of the frame.

The frame has a 16:9 aspect ratio so images that you take with your phone will probably not fill the screen and you’ll send up seeing bands on the sides or the top and bottom of the screen. The cool thing is that Nixplay makes the color of the bands match the image on the screen.

This way the bands aren’t just white or black.

Here’s an example of a panoramic image that I took while on vacation in Three Rivers California. See how the Nixplay is showing top and bottom bands?

Here are some other examples. Click the pics to see the full image.

You’re probably wondering if there’s a way to fill the screen with the image to get rid of the bands and yes, there is. Actually, there are a few other ways to display your favorite pictures on the Nixplay frame.

You can set the images to fill the frame which Looks good as long as the subject of the image is in the center of the picture and is small enough that certain details don’t get cut off with the image fills the frame. See the image above, it’s an Instagram picture which is typically a square image. I’ve set the image to fill the screen.

And here’s the original image. See how the tops of the mailboxes are cut off when it’s using the fill display mode?

Here’s the snapshot display mode which shows each new image on top of the previous image.

And here’s the tile display mode which shows two images side by side. This mode works great for images that are up and down (portrait) instead of wide (landscape).

In addition to the multiple viewing styles, the frame also has 11 different transition styles when it loads a new image. You can specify the one you like best or just set it to random so it uses all of the styles.

What I like

Great display
Doesn’t require a paid subscription
SD card and USB readers
Alexa enabled
Motion sensor

What to consider before buying

Price

Final thoughts

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this review, I’ve reviewed at least a dozen digital photo frames in the last 2 decades, but the Nixplay is the first digital photo frame that has actually impressed me on all fronts. It makes my images look great and the built-in features like motion detection and sleep schedules make this an enjoyable digital photo frame to use.

Price: $279.99
Where to buy: Nixplay and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Nixplay.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Art, Digital Photo Frame, Photography

Nixplay WiFi Cloud Frame review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 31, 2018 at 12:00 pm.

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Back to school supplies – dorm room food edition

ARTICLE – It’s not long until classes start again for college students in my area. I was thinking about doing a couple of back-to-school supplies posts, so I talked to my daughter about things she recommended for college students living in dorms. Several things leaped immediately to her mind.

Many of the things she mentioned were for preparing foods and beverages. Naturally, your student will need a dorm fridge and a small microwave, too. And they’ll also need a few dishes, cups, glasses, and flatware. Some of the other things she mentioned include the following items, most of which I got at Amazon.

One of the things she most liked that we had gotten for her was her breakfast muffin maker. She said the eggs always cooked perfectly, and the muffins, Canadian bacon, and cheese were nicely heated. She often used it to make breakfast before classes. The Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker is perfect for making a tasty breakfast egg muffin in five minutes. It’s $24.99 at Amazon.

Rachel is a big fan of both tea and coffee. There are three things she needs for her caffeine fix. First up is the Proctor Silex Electric Kettle she’s had since her freshman year. It has a 1000W heating element that they claim heats water faster than a microwave can. She used the water for instant oatmeal and ramen noodles, too. It’s $14.99 at Amazon.

For coffee, she used the AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker. (We have one at home, too. It’s great for making a single cup quickly.) It operates a bit like a French press, but it makes a single cup. Measure in your coffee grounds, pour hot water in, stir, and then press to express the coffee into a cup. It’s quick and tasty. The AeroPress is $29.95; an AeroPress with a travel bag included is $31.95. Both versions are found at Amazon.

For tea, nothing works like the Ingenuitea Bottom Dispensing teapot. Put loose tea in the pot, add water of the correct temperature for your type of tea, steep it for the recommended time, then set the pot on top of a mug to drain the tea into your cup. The Ingenuitea is $19.99 for the 16-ounce size or $29.00 for the 28-ounce pot. Both are available at Amazon.

Depending on your student and how much they want to cook for themselves, they might also want a slow cooker or Instant Pot, a toaster, or a toaster oven. Be sure you check the dorm regulations at the college to be sure these cooking appliances are allowed before purchasing anything.

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Back to school supplies – dorm room food edition originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 31, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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A beautiful multifunctional fire hydrant for the future

NEWS – When you think of a fire hydrant, a certain image pops into mind, doesn’t it? It hasn’t changed in, like, eons. But is it time for a change? Dimitri Nassisi thinks so. According to an article in Dezeen, as an industrial designer, Mr. Nassisi redesigned the fire hydrant to provide drinking water for people and their pets in addition to functioning as a water source to fight fires. He realized as he observed his surroundings in Switzerland, that there were just not enough drinking fountains for people to hydrate, so why not use the existing fire hydrant infrastructure to solve this problem? While he was redesigning it, he wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing to people, yet practical for use by firefighters. His design adjusts the water pressure depending on what it is being used for. It is currently a prototype but perhaps such a clever, practical, functional, beautiful fire hydrant will become a commonplace item in the future!

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A beautiful multifunctional fire hydrant for the future originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 31, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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YI Cloud Home Camera review

REVIEW – When the YI Cloud Home Camera review offer came along I thought it would be nice to review and contrast it with other cameras that I have reviewed. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose – keep reading to find out which this was.

What is it?

The YI Cloud Home Camera is an indoor surveillance camera that has quite a few useful features including motion tracking and cloud storage.

What’s in the box?

YI Cloud Home Camera
Power cord and wall plug
Quick connect sheet
Window stickers
Wall mount bracket

Design and features

The YI Cloud Home Camera features a 1080p full HD camera with “Complete 360° Coverage”, enhanced night vision, smartphone control, baby crying detection, motion detection and real-time activity alerts as well as two-way intercom audio capability.

The YI camera was fairly simple to set up. The process begins with signing up for a YI account and verifying your e-mail with a link they e-mail to you:

After a pointless 4 page intro, you simply tap the “+” to add a camera and follow the simple on-screen directions to connect to the camera and your home wi-fi.

The camera has a much-too-small QR code on it that you must scan with the phone camera to pair it to the camera, it took it a little while to finally focus well enough on the camera to get it to connect. The camera has audible voice prompts as well, which I thought was a nice touch.

Once connected you’re presented with the default screen for the app, which is a list of the cameras you have connected, which also features an image from the last session as well as options for viewing Sharing, Alerts, Settings, and Watching cloud-stored video. Tapping the image starts the viewing of live video from the camera.

The settings section for the camera is fairly extensive, providing quite a bit of control and options.

I liked how that during viewing of the camera, you can choose between SD and HD video or choose the Auto option to have the app decide, presumably on your available bandwidth. Other controls include the microphone, record video, take photo, take a panoramic photo, and view full screen. There are also three icons at the bottom of the screen that allows for manual camera positioning, motion tracking, and alert viewing.

The manual camera positioning is a nice feature, however, it is slow to respond, which makes the positioning of the camera less than easy. The motion tracking feature works very well and is able to track a person as they walk through the room and was even sensitive enough to pick up my motion while just sitting at my desk.

The panoramic photo feature is very poor. When you take a pano image, the camera rotates and takes a picture, repeating this throughout a full rotation and then stitches the images together to produce a 360° image. However, the image stitching is very poor, often leaving gaps in the image coverage up to 3 feet wide.

Another thing that the app needs to improve on is the turning on and off of the motion detection/alert feature. You have to go into the Camera Settings, then once in the Camera Settings you have to tap on the Smart Detection settings, then toggle the Motion Detection setting. This would be really annoying if you had multiple cameras. There is also no indication from the main screen of the app that the camera is set for Motion Detection, so you have to go through the above steps just to see if its on.

Perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks of the YI Cloud Home Camera is the cloud storage subscription price. The options range from $8.66 a month for 7-day storage to $19.99 a month for 30-day storage. You can choose to either upload motion detected videos only (up to 5 devices) or 24/7 around-the-clock upload for only 1 device. I thought these prices were a bit high. The camera also supports a micro-SD card, but that wouldn’t do you any good if the thieves also steal your camera.

The app also notifies you of new logins to your account, which is a nice security feature.

What I like

Audible “Waiting to Connect” voice prompt when turned on
Activation link email
High quality still photos
Manual camera control
Login notifications

What needs to be improved

Very poor pano stitching
Alert frequency ranges from low, medium, and high with no indication of what that time period is
Notifications are inconsistent. I did not always get a notification while using the app, even if I was not viewing the camera at the time. There’s just an in-app Alerts icon that gets a red dot over it
Works only with the app, no website or IP camera capability
Motion Detection setting is too buried in the app

Final thoughts

Although the YI Cloud Home Camera features look inviting and seem to have everything you’ll want, the actual use and storage options may be a bit of a turn-off. However, if you’re looking for a budget camera for casual monitoring, this camera might be one to consider, it really depends on what you intend to use it for.

Price: $44.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by YI Technology

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: security camera

YI Cloud Home Camera review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 31, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Crochet Yoda, you will.

NEWS – I know crocheting isn’t normally something you’d expect to read about here, but it’s not the craft we’ll be interested in. With this Star Wars Crochet kit, you’ll be able to make Star Wars characters. The kit includes materials needed to craft a Yoda figure and a stormtrooper.

A full-color book included in the kit has instructions for creating both Yoda and the stormtrooper with the supplied materials, plus it includes instructions for making Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Jabba the Hutt, and other characters. There’s a lot of gift giving possibilities here. You could give the kit to a crafty Star Wars fan, or you could make the figures yourself to give to a Star Wars fan / collector.

The Star Wars Crochet kit is $23.87 at Barnes & Noble.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Crafts, Star Wars

Crochet Yoda, you will. originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 31, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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