We all have at least one technologically challenged relative. We will e-mail photographs or post them on a private Web page for some of our liked ones, but 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 picture body. It is a system about the dimensions and shape of an strange image frame. It comprises an LCD display screen, which displays a number of images in a slideshow format, and it connects to the Web through phone line to obtain new pictures and information to show on the display screen. The frames are fairly related in building, though they do offer some totally different features. On this version of HowStuffWorks, we'll take a look on 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 pc, a digital digital camera and pc skills buys the body, sets up the account and passes it on.

As soon as the account is arrange, you (the person with the pc) add photographs to the Ceiva Web site. Every night, the digital image body (in the computerless individual's home) makes use of the phone line to connect with the Ceiva servers and download any new photos. It's also possible to control the entire frame's settings via the net site. It has most of the same components as the computer in your desktop, but they're quite a bit easier in the body as a result of they solely should perform a single job. The central processing unit (CPU) in the Ceiva digital image frame is just like the sort utilized in small, digital handheld games. Essentially the most processor-intensive job carried out by this CPU is downloading pictures from the online site. The rest of the time, it does not break a sweat. It additionally has some Flash Memory Wave, which is the place the pictures, settings and a few of the operating software live.

Each types of Memory Wave Experience are persistent -- no knowledge is misplaced if the unit is unplugged. The frame has a 33.6-Kbps modem, which it makes use of to hook up with the Internet and download the new photographs 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). One of these show is thin enough that the digital frame is not a lot thicker than an peculiar picture frame. The photographs are displayed in 12-bit shade, which implies that roughly 4,one hundred completely different colors may be introduced on the display. The one consumer-operated controls on the frame are a black button, which adjusts the brightness of the display, and a white button that turns the body on when the person first plugs it in and can also be used to manually dial in. The Ceiva body uses an embedded operating system known as PSOS.

This operating system is designed for devices like PDAs, electrical-testing gear and set-top bins. Let's check out how the Ceiva frame works. If the user presses and holds the white button on the back of the frame, it dials up and connects to the Web. The $50-per-yr payment for the Ceiva service includes entry to the Internet by means of a local cellphone quantity. The connection to the Web is used solely to obtain the new images and settings to the body. There isn't a interactivity, no Internet entry and no e-mail. The device is designed to behave like a picture body, Memory Wave Experience not a pc. Once logged on, the frame compares the pictures already on the frame to the ones waiting to be sent, downloading any new ones. It also downloads any new settings. When it is completed downloading, the frame hangs up the phone line and starts displaying the new images one after another.