7. The Picture Behind The Frame

As fascinating an exercise in compromise as the frame is, what is going on behind the scenes at Pacific Digital is just as compelling. Unfortunately, I can't yet say much about it. But what I can tell you is that (among other things) they will be moving forward with their memory frames and helping to realize the consumer electronics industry's vision of convergence. In fact, Michael Hope, the enthusiastic Marketing Manager of Pacific Digital, said they want to move beyond that. "We are no longer working on convergence. We want it to exist. We want it converged."

As an example, Pacific Digital has been working on adding functionality to one of its other frames, which we hope to get our hands on soon, called the MF-810S Wireless Photo Album. Currently, this 8x10 frame allows you to send pictures to it over your wireless network, or from a USB-connected camera. What they are adding is the ability for the frame to pull content off the Internet at user-defined intervals and display it on the screen. That means the MemoryFrame could load up tomshardware.com when you wake up in the morning and have it there ready for you to read as you brush your teeth.

Wake up to us every morning!

Or perhaps it could retrieve pictures from the webcam monitoring your kids at home. See them misbehaving? Send a picture of you grimacing and taking off your belt to the MemoryFrame in their room. Since the PV1 heralds the MemoryFrame's arrival into the sphere of video, the possibilities become limitless.

Forthcoming deals with content providers mean that future models of the MemoryFrame (with, ahem, more memory) could download the latest movie trailers to watch during your morning routine, or how about receiving the video email your girlfriend sent you? Exciting, isn't it. (I am referring to the technology, of course - not the video from your girlfriend.)

It's certainly ambitious, but Pacific Digital is working on the technology to do it. We just need production costs to go down.