What Will They Think of Next?: Facebook Photos go Straight to Digital Frame

eStarling's WiFi digital photo frame now works with the Facebook.com social networking Website: enter your Facebook log-in information into the eStarling frame management Website just once. Then any time thereafter, photos you post to your Facebook account will automatically appear on your photo frame, as long as it's connected to the 'net. Photos that you friends upload can also be set to appear on the frame.

While this is a great way to keep families and friends up-to-date on your going's on (especially if they aren't techie enough to take and display their own images), this is also a great way to play jokes on people. Imagine setting a frame back home to display embarassing photos of your spouse while you know he/she has friends over. The possibilities are endless!

In addition to Facebook, the eStarling photo frame is also compatible with Photobucket; RSS feeds from sites like Flickr, Picasa, and AOL; and text messages from compatible mobile phones. Another neat feature is that the frame has its own e-mail address, so images can be sent to it directly from PCs or mobile phones (a filter is said to "protect against unwanted photos").

AOL Settles Suit

AOL has just settled a U.S. suit for $3 million bucks. The money will be awarded to customers who claimed the company continued to charge them for service even after they canceled their accounts.

Apparently it was difficult to cancel an AOL account. VERY difficult. The first thing that comes to my mind about AOL in Canada is the massive marketing promotion it held back in the dial-up days. I’d be surprised if there’s anyone out there who doesn’t recall having received an AOL installation CD through the mail, or some other promotional means. The CD was clearly emblazoned with the promise of a “free trial”. The only exception was that you had to provide a credit card number, and, unless you called to cancel before the trial period was up, charges would begin incurring each month. Fair enough, as long as the rules and regulations were clearly stated. Ahh, memories...

Anyway, back to the U.S.: according to the suit, which was settled with 48 states and the District of Columbia, AOL will, in addition to refunding money to subscribers, ensure that customers are able to easily cancel an account online.

The Globe & Mail report cites one particular consumer complaint as helping to get the wheels of this suit in motion. One Vincent Ferrari not only wrote about his cancellation woes on his blog; he also recorded and posted audio conversations he had with reps trying to cancel the account! This led to a swarm of commentary from others, as well as a slew of TV and radio interviews.

It’s safe to assume that AOL call centre reps in the States have been provided with updated training on dealing with account cancellations.