HP DreamScreen

HP's Dreamscreen rolls Pandora, Facebook, weather and more into a slim 13.3-inch screen.

Not a photo frame, not a computer, not a television. The HP DreamScreen defies easy description, except perhaps for this: It’s like a Chumby you wouldn’t ashamed to bring to work.

The 10.2-inch or 13.3-inch screen could pass for a simple photo frame, but inside the slender black frame, there’s a lot more silicon horsepower than it would need to simply rotate some JPEGs. The Dreamscreen will play full-screen videos, stream music from a connected PC, HP SmartRadio, or Pandora, and even ding you with status updates and upcoming events from Facebook. The built-in calendar and alarm clock make it a viable option to prop up on the bedside, and if you wanted to treat it like a mini TV, HP includes a tiny palm-sized remote for operating it from afar, too.

As you might expect, it uses a built-in Wi-fi radio to pull of all of its Web-connected functions. As you may not expect, it doesn’t use a touch screen. Instead, the controls have been worked into the bezel, where they light up in white during use and fade into near-invisibility when off.

HP offers the Dreamscreen in two variants: the Dreamscreen 100 (with 10.2-inch screen) and 130 (with 13.3-inch screen). They sell for $250 and $300, respectively, making them significantly more expensive than comparably sized photo frames, but also significantly more capable. And though the aforementioned Chumby runs for $200, it also has a much smaller 3.5-inch screen. More details can be found at HP.