App turns desktop wallpaper into a changing photo collage

If variety is the spice of life, then most of us live a fairly bland existence on our desktop computers, whose background wallpaper we tend to leave the same, day after day. Enter Wallcast, a new application that transforms desktop wallpaper into a dynamic photo collage featuring a rotating selection of the user’s favorite pictures. To get started, users of Wallcast — which is now in beta — create an online account, upload at least five pictures and download the free desktop application. Wallcast then turns the user’s static desktop background into an array of photos that’s refreshed every three hours, or however often the user requests. Users can select a background image from among various options offered by Wallcast. Meanwhile, each Wallcast account gets a unique email address, so pictures can be added online, by email or via a separate iPhone app. Even friends and family can be invited to contribute photos to a user’s Wallcast account, and Wallcast will detect and display those new photos automatically. Wallcast is available as a free download for PC and Mac; its iPhone app is available through Apple’s App Store. Created by Canadian LimeFlag, Wallcast may well end up serving ads if its terms of service are any indication. If that’s the case, then an even better approach might be to offer consumers something like this as a brand butler service instead, with no ads to spoil the personalized effect. How could your brand help consumers personalize their computers even more…? (Related: Digital photo booth uses free photos as brand marketing tool — Collaborative photo books help groups tell stories — Online portal gathers wedding photos from guests.) Spotted by: Marie Asselin