Your idea, on the screen.

The frame shows whatever 800 × 480 black and white picture a small program prepares for it. That program can be ours, yours, or one an AI assistant writes for you.

Render of the frame showing a morning note an assistant wrote, with example values — Render. Example values.

Pick what to showA feed such as the next buses or the weather, your photos, a reading from home, or something new.

Write it, or ask for itA short program on a computer at home. Describe it to an AI assistant and it writes the code and the layout.

screen = Panel(800, 480)
screen.title("Departures")
for bus in next_buses(stop, 3):
    screen.row(bus.line, bus.to, bus.min)
screen.send()

Draw the pictureThe program turns the result into one 800 × 480 black and white image, with a time stamp and a source line.
The frame shows itThe frame fetches the picture over Wi-Fi from a computer at home and keeps it with no power.

API keys and personal data stay on a computer at home, not on the frame.

Try it

Two things it could show.

Example: a drawing of the Andes, dithered to black and white dots as the panel would show a photo — Example: a drawing of the Andes by Sergio, dithered to 800 × 480 dots.

A photo frame

A photo becomes black and white dots, spaced so its greys survive. Try one of yours: it is converted in your browser and never leaves it.

Send a photo from a computer at home, and the frame shows it.

Tuesday 4 November07:40

9° · rain from 14:00

First meeting 09:30, design review.

Take a coat: 6° by the evening.

Leaving home08:12

Bus 5 in 7 min

To Västra Hamnen. The next one is in 19 min.

Rain from 14:00.

This evening21:05

Tomorrow 08:15, dentist

Bins out tonight.

4° overnight.

You ask “Weather and my first meeting” “When should I leave?” “What is on tomorrow?”

Example values.

A screen an assistant writes

Ask in plain words for what the frame should show. An AI assistant on a computer at home gathers it from sources you choose, writes it short and lays it out; the frame fetches the picture as it fetches a painting.

The art itself is never AI: it stays the credited open-source generators.

How the art moves

One painting, a day long.

The whole Shan Shui painting, with a box at each time on the scale — Where the frame was, at the planned pace: 4 px every 5 minutes, about 21 hours per painting (calculated).

The panel's 800 × 480 view of the Shan Shui painting at the chosen time — Where the frame was, at the planned pace: 4 px every 5 minutes, about 21 hours per painting (calculated).

One painting, two motions

Scroll mode moves the panel's 800 px view along a 1 800 px painting. Card mode puts one whole bird or fish on screen.

Your own data

Skånetrafiken is a feasible first feed.

Trafiklab’s Timetables API covers Skånetrafiken real-time and static data. A small program at home can look up a stop, ask for its next departures and draw the chosen lines for the screen. The API gives a 60-minute departure window and caches answers for 60 seconds.

The data firmware on the prototype sleeps 30 minutes between updates, too slow for a departure board. A shorter schedule needs API quota checks and battery measurements first. A key is required and stays on the computer at home; the screen credits the data, for example “Data from Trafiklab.se” (CC BY 4.0).

Trafiklab Timetables Request guidance

Home statusA sensor, energy reading or status already on your Wi-Fi.
Session summaryA small count or latest activity from a source you choose, once the data and privacy boundary are agreed.
Something elseAnything with a reachable data source and a useful screen-sized summary can be looked at.

The frame

See the hardware.

Specs, limits, what is inside, and the first batch.

Dreamcaster Reserve one