I’ve held off on trying FlickrFan, a new Mac application written by Dave Winer last month. In case you haven’t heard about it, it’s an OPML / RSS program that allows you to subscribe to Flickr feeds so you can view slideshows of pictures on your Mac. Dave originally wrote it to further bridge the web with high-def televisions. So why did I, with a diagonal total of 121-inches of HD goodness on three televisions, not look into FlickrFan yet? Simple: I don’t hook up my MacBook Pro to any of my HD sets and I don’t have a MacMini (which is the perfect platform for this type of application).Still, I was intrigued by what I’ve heard about FlickrFan and, given my mobile technology mindset, I wanted to see if the usage of it could go beyond the confines of my living room.
I installed FlickrFan last night, which was a relatively easy process. By default, Dave has the client subscribed to high-resolution photos from the Associated Press; once I saw those on my two-monitor MacBook Pro setup, I was hooked. The problem for me is: I don’t use a screen saver. I simply use the machine too much when it’s on and I put it to sleep when I’m not sitting in front of it. So how to enjoy the great photography that’s pulled down to my computer throughout the day became the burning question. Then it hit me as I looked at my iPhone minding its own business, docked to the MBP.Not that I use this feature too often, but doesn’t the iPhone have a slide-show function in the Pictures app? OK, that’s a start, I thought. Then it was a matter of figuring out how sync the photos over. I’ve moved photos back and forth through iPhoto, so I started there. After three minutes of using Mac Automator (a new personal record by 17 seconds), I gave in. I then tried to configure some folder actions, thinking I could easily duplicate the photos from FlickrFan into an iPhoto Album. Nah… too difficult on a late Monday night after the brain shuts down. Hey… wait a second… can’t I pick what photos to sync right in iTunes?Yup, that simple premise is the quick-and-dirty answer. Here’s the easy step-by-step once you’ve got FlickrFan up and running:1. With your iPhone in the dock, open iTunes.2. Choose your iPhone in the sidebar and then select the Photos tab.3. Check the “Sync photos from” box and choose the Select Folder option.4. Navigate to where FlickrFan saves the Flickr photos, which by default is Users/yourname/Pictures/photoFan/screenSaverPics.
5. Choose which photos you want to synch; I’m only synching the AP wire photos in this example.At this point, on every sync, the photos will be optimized and sent over to your iPhone. Tap the Photos shortcut on your phone and you should see an album of the synchronized photos which you can tap and hit play. Depending on your settings, the iPhone will show each photo for a few seconds and then transition to the next. I play each slide for five seconds and use the Ripple effect for the transition. I just can’t turn anything down with the word Ripple in it for some reason; Fudge Ripple in particular.While the photos do take up space on your iPhone, I found that viewing them with friends (which we did last night) was quite entertaining and sparked a bunch of good conversation. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep this setup going, but I’m no longer confined to a room in the house to enjoy these great photos I’m subscribed to. Even when I am in front of my Mac, the iPhone is usually tucked in the dock and there’s no reason I can’t have a photo slide-show on my new “photo frame” at my desk. Or should I say “photo iFrame”?Although the intent of FlickrFan is focused on a high-def television set, I’d love to see a true mobile application of it. I’m hoping that when the Apple iPhone SDK hits, we might see a way to subscribe to photo streams without the Mac in the equation. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Anyway, that I’ve got a mobile Flickr photo frame, got any any good Flickr accounts I should subscribe to with FlickrFan?
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