These reusable digital Polaroids are a clever way to cover a fridge in memories
You can update this photo as often as you want. I love when my friends have their fridges covered in Polaroids. It’s often a visual crash course of what’s been going on in their lives chronicling recent adventures, get-togethers, and other fun moments. But I don’t love the idea of schlepping around a clunky instant camera or paying a premium for instant film with hit-or-miss results. That’s why I’m infatuated with these magnetic digital Polaroids from a small company called Vida Bay. They look like instant photos, but use NFC tech and color E Ink screens so you can change the image as often as you want without ever having to charge a battery. At roughly 4mm thick and 2.5 inches in size, the VidaBay NFC E-Paper Fridge Magnet — also known as the Snap — reminds me of Xteink’s tiny X3 e-reader, but it doesn’t have any buttons, ports, or connectors. The Snap is more like a very tiny version of the Aura Ink digital photo frame you can stick to your fridge. VidaBay NFC E-Paper Fridge Magnet Where to Buy: $35.99 $30.99 at VidaBay $99.99 $88.99 at VidaBay (three-pack) $27.99 at Amazon The Snap uses the same kind of NFC chip that lets your smartphone double as your credit or debit card. Using an accompanying mobile app images are wirelessly transferred by aligning your smartphone’s NFC antenna to the one located inside the lower left corner of the Snap. Changing the photo the Snap displays takes about 25 to 30 seconds. While the actual image transfer is a 10-second process, the rest of the time is used to refresh the Snap’s E Ink screen. Unlike devices such as the Kindle Colorsoft that use a black and white e-paper screen overlaid with a color filter so screen refreshes happen almost instantly, the Snap uses e-paper with multiple color pigments that take much longer to refresh. The results look better, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for them. The process of updating the Snap with a new image using NFC is easy once you master it, but it can take a few attempts to get t