Daily Prophet Is A Magic Newspaper! (Kinda)

A few gadgets around the house make for excellent display and conversation pieces, but when an artifact from the wizarding world finds its way into a muggle household? Well, you frame it.

Okay so in reality this is really an animated picture frame with a Harry Potter theme — specifically the fabulous newspaper, The Daily Prophet, from the series of novels and movies. Conceived by [Piet Rullins Jr.] after a trip to ‘The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’ attraction at Orlando Studios, he wanted an inventive way to showcase the videos of his vacation.

The seven inch display is secured inside a poster frame, surrounded by a customized front page of the wizard paper — weaving the tale of his trip — and controlled by a Raspberry Pi 3. When someone approaches, an Adafruit infrared sensor detects the movement and activates the display, shutting it off after five minutes in order to preserve the screen and save power. A USB power cable hidden inside the cabinet it’s mounted on adds to the effect of a magical periodical. What, did you think it was powered by magic too?

For another bit of Harry Potter-inspired magic, check out the Weasley’s family ‘clock’ made real!

14 thoughts on “Daily Prophet Is A Magic Newspaper! (Kinda)

      1. Its animation is not bad when the area being updated is small. There was an article on HaD where a guy made an animated picture frame using an e-ink display and it actually looked pretty good.

    1. Exactly what I was thinking. Here’s what my thought was in detail to address the poo-pooers who replied to you earlier: The headlines and possibly the articles could be columns of e-ink. This way the text changes only when required, and it maintains the look of print. The photos would be LCDs to allow animations. The whole thing is plugged into the wall behind the frame, so however little power it uses anyway doesn’t matter. Yes, it will cost a lot more, but can you put a price on magic? I’m sure you could, and depending on your e-ink supplier and sizes, it could cost hundreds of dollars to possibly a thousand or so. If you want it badly enough, it’s doable and awesome.

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