Photo frames are pretty much commoditized at this point, but the subtle differences among them still make it difficult to choose the right one. I recently tested Aluratek’s 11″ product (MSRP $230), and while it doesn’t offer anything revolutionary (still waiting for a workable frame that receives emailed photos…), it does an elegant job of displaying photos, and it requires virtually zero technical ability. Bottom line: It’s a great photo frame for mom’s living room.

The Aluratek comes with a power cord, USB cable, remote and 1GB memory card in the box. In my case, I plugged the frame in and then connected a USB flash drive. A library of my photos popped up immediately, and by clicking “enter” on the remote I got the full-screen visual. The remote also has a handy “slideshow” button for one-click slideshow action. No need to drill down into menus. I have to admit I had momentary difficulty getting the remote to work until I realized the need to remove a plastic covering. Chalk that one up to user error.

Manipulating photos on the Aluratek frame is extremely easy. Pressing “enter” a second time zooms in on photos, and pressing “up” or “down” rotates them. For complicated maneuvers you can go into the menu to do things like add photo transitions. You know, if you want to get fancy.

My one beef with the Aluratek is that if you get up close there is some graininess. (Click on the thumbnail right for a close look.) Photos look perfectly fine at a distance of a foot or more away, but if resolution is your thing, the Aluratek is not the best choice. There I’d still go with a Westinghouse. (Similar frame sizes are comparably priced on Amazon under $190)

Other cool features on the Aluratek include video and music modes. I plugged in my Flip video camera and instantly had access to the video stored there. (Some digital photo frames still don’t support video.) Unfortunately I couldn’t hear the sound on the videos, but I’ll give Aluratek the benefit of the doubt on that - perhaps it had something to do with the Flip, rather than the frame. In slideshow mode when the frame was just showing demo images from the Flip the demo music was perfectly audible. Decent quality too.

All in all, I’d recommend the Aluratek frame. It’s stylish (I like the cherry-wood color) and it’s easy, easy, easy to use. Lots more photos after the jump. Full specs available here. (more…)

ABC and Cox Communications have announced a new VOD service that will let cable subscribers watch primetime network shows any time they want. The catch? No fast forwarding through commercials.

This project seems similar in approach to Time Warner’s network-DVR applications, Start Over and Look Back: It gives consumers more control over access to content, but less control over the ads they’d likely prefer to skip. ABC and Cox actually announced the application last May, but it appears they’ve now run field tests and are ready to launch.

Between new on-demand ad technologies and the un-skippable commercials in content streamed over the Internet, advertisers are fighting back against several years of falling TV revenues. Not that they ever should have been worried. There’s always been alternatives such as product placement and, with the move to digital television, it’s always been clear we’d be hitting the reset button on the TV advertising model.

DVRs gave us a free lunch for a while, but advertisers are finding other ways to make us pick up the tab.

I officially entered old age last week (though that might be a slight exaggeration…). But on the bright side I got a lot of great birthday greetings and gadget gifts.

Messages came in over Facebook, via text, voicemail, e-cards, and (my favorite) via a Flip video - from my old office colleagues wishing me a happy birthday, and it was a perfect snapshot of what goes on in that den of iniquity every day.

As far as presents go, I got an Eye-Fi (Dave digs it and something I’ll write about when I get it out of the box), a digital photo frame (not one I’ve reviewed yet, so I’ll let you know), and the new Slacker portable device! The Slacker radio isn’t actually here yet, but it should be arriving any day. Dave thinks the Slacker business model has a rough road ahead, but if the player works as well as it’s supposed to, I’ll definitely be one one of the ones pulling for their success.

More to come as the presents are fully unwrapped.

Chris Albrecht on NewTeeVee posted an interesting analysis last week on Yahoo’s difficulty integrating its video properties and services on the Web. While Yahoo has re-launched its video section, it hasn’t managed to highlight all the things you can with video using Yahoo’s services. Specifically Albrecht points to the fact that there’s no link to Yahoo content that complements a movie trailer shown on the new video page, and the fact that there’s almost no reference (just a tiny link at the bottom) to Yahoo’s Jumpcut video editing application, which would dovetail nicely with the video-uploading app featured at the new Yahoo Video.

I’ll add to Albrecht’s list by mentioning that there’s no link to Yahoo Go TV. Go TV is designed to bring video from Yahoo to your television, and seems like a natural fit with the Yahoo Video site. Of course, Dave predicted the demise of Go TV over a year ago, and since it’s still hanging on only in beta, maybe it’s being left online by Yahoo higher-ups only to die a slow death. (Also, where’s My Channel? - debuted at CES 2007 and shown bottom right above)

In any case, the point about Yahoo not being able to consolidate its assets into a single compelling video platform is valid. And it’s a problem many other companies face as well. I always hear how well positioned Sony is given the combination of its movie studio and CE business, and yet the two divisions of the company seem to operate worlds away from each other.

Yahoo does have a lot of goodies in its war chest, but if it can’t sell the value of its treasure as a whole to consumers, then spinning off pieces of it or selling out to Microsoft may be Yahoo’s only options.

I love March Madness. But even though I no longer trek to an office, it’s difficult to be near a TV during all of the match-ups I want to see. After all, we are talking middle-of-the-work-day, middle-of-the-work-week broadcasts.

Luckily, this year CBSSports.com is expanding their free web streaming service March Madness on Demand (MMOD) to include all tournament games. Meaning, even if I’m in the local broadcast blackout zone without a TV nearby, I can still watch Duke trouncing this year’s upstart 16-seed. Traditionally, local blackout restrictions have been observed online. But CBS has decided it can push the proverbial envelope, knowing most people will watch the games on TV (via local affiliates) given the choice. As CBSSports.com SVP Jason Kint told paidContent.org, “It’s an across-the-board decision by all partners that this is additive–not cannibalistic.�

This no-risk move by CBS is a good way for the company to fortify its public image as a progressive broadcaster when it comes to content distribution. Both programmers and broadcasters are learning they have to be a bit more open-minded about distribution models in a world where consumers expect to be able to watch what they want, when and where they want. Otherwise they end up with a lot of unhappy sports fans.

Ah, the Ojo Video Phone. Engadget posted the rumor that the phone and service have now gone kaput. And I can confirm it. After two plus years, the Ojo in my living room has finally reached the end of its run.

Because I work for Motorola, I became the proud owner of two Ojos back in late 2005. This was right before Motorola gave up on the product and turned it back over to WorldGate, its original manufacturer. I was the coveted demographic for the video phone, a new parent and daughter of new grandparents, all with broadband connections. And despite a few hiccups here and there, we would have made a fantastic case study. Until last week, we used the Ojos regularly. My two-year-old has literally grown up seeing her grandparents on the phone every few days. Now it looks like we’ll have to default to webcams, a sorry substitute.

So why didn’t the Ojo survive? There are many, many reasons.

1. No interoperability. You could only talk to an Ojo from another Ojo.
2. An original retail price of $1,600 for a pair of Ojos, plus a monthly fee. (Price came way down later on)
3. Timing. As widespread as broadband is, there are still quite a few grandparents without it or without the tech savvy to do more with a broadband connection than check email. Maybe in five more years.
4. Routers. It was virtually impossible to make the Ojo compatible with every router on the market, which means a lot of customers could not get their Ojos to work at all without another new piece of hardware.
5. Wired connection. The Ojo only worked with an Ethernet line, and while being tethered wasn’t a big deal (you could still move the Ojo around for different perspectives), finding a place to put the Ojo within Ethernet reach was. We ran an Ethernet cord up from our basement, through a vent to our living room.

Some time soon I believe video will become an expected, add-on feature for all of our phones. And then we’ll probably hook them into our TVs for big-screen display. And then we’ll be able to interact with the video, marking up our screens like any WebEx presentation. And more, and more, and more. It’s all coming.

Just not for the Ojo.

What happens when the virtual world gets ahead of reality. (Thanks, KJ)

Amazon announced today that it is acquiring Audible.com, the best known digital audiobook company around. The resources of Amazon behind Audible? That’s great news for consumers. And for Amazon itself, what a way to build up digital content. As Brad Linder over on Download Squad points out, we’re seeing an Apple vs. Amazon arms race. With Audible.com and its growing selection of DRM-free music, Amazon is certainly building an impressive stockpile.