All of us have at the very least one technologically challenged relative. We are able to e-mail pictures or put up them on a personal Web page for some of our beloved ones, however there are others who need nothing to do with a computer, not to mention the Web. The right gadget for sharing images with the computerless is the digital image frame. This can be a system about the dimensions and form of an odd picture body. It comprises an LCD display, which displays a number of images in a slideshow format, Memory Wave Workshop and it connects to the Internet via phone line to download new pictures and data to display on the display. The frames are fairly related in development, though they do supply some completely different features. On this version of HowStuffWorks, we'll take a look at the Ceiva Digital Photograph Receiver. Before we get into exactly how it works, let's see what it does. The thought is that a one who does have a computer, a digital digicam and computer abilities buys the frame, units up the account and passes it on.

Once the account is arrange, you (the individual with the pc) add images to the Ceiva Web site. Every night, the digital picture body (in the computerless particular person's house) makes use of the cellphone line to connect to the Ceiva servers and obtain any new photos. It's also possible to management the entire body's settings via the net site. It has most of the identical components as the pc on your desktop, but they're too much simpler within the frame as a result of they solely must perform a single process. The central processing unit (CPU) within the Ceiva digital image frame is similar to the kind used in small, electronic handheld games. Probably the most processor-intensive job performed by this CPU is downloading photos from the net site. The rest of the time, it doesn't break a sweat. It additionally has some Flash Memory Wave Workshop, which is the place the pictures, settings and Memory Wave a few of the operating software program dwell.

Both types of memory are persistent -- no data is lost if the unit is unplugged. The body has a 33.6-Kbps modem, which it uses to hook up with the Internet and download the brand new images you submit. The show is a 640x480-pixel, passive-matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) with a viewing area of about 5 by 7 inches (thirteen by 18 cm). This sort of display is skinny sufficient that the digital frame isn't a lot thicker than an bizarre image body. The images are displayed in 12-bit shade, which implies that approximately 4,one hundred totally different colours can be presented on the display. The one person-operated controls on the frame are a black button, which adjusts the brightness of the show, and a white button that turns the frame on when the consumer first plugs it in and may also be used to manually dial in. The Ceiva body makes use of an embedded operating system known as PSOS.

This operating system is designed for gadgets like PDAs, electrical-testing equipment and set-high boxes. Let's check out how the Ceiva frame works. If the consumer presses and holds the white button on the back of the body, Memory Wave it dials up and connects to the Internet. The $50-per-12 months price for the Ceiva service consists of access to the Web by the use of a local cellphone number. The connection to the Web is used solely to download the new photographs and settings to the frame. There isn't a interactivity, no Internet access and no e-mail. The system is designed to behave like a picture frame, not a pc. As soon as logged on, the frame compares the images already on the body to the ones waiting to be sent, downloading any new ones. It additionally downloads any new settings. When it is finished downloading, the frame hangs up the telephone line and starts displaying the new photographs one after one other.