We all have at least one technologically challenged relative. We can e-mail photos or post them on a personal Web page for some of our loved ones, but there are others who want nothing to do with a computer, let alone the Internet. The perfect gadget for sharing photos with the computerless is the digital picture frame. This is a device about the size and shape of an ordinary picture frame. It contains an LCD screen, which displays multiple photos in a slideshow format, and it connects to the Internet via phone line to download new pictures and information to display on the screen. The frames are fairly similar in construction, though they do offer some different features. In this edition of HowStuffWorks, we'll take a look at the Ceiva Digital Photo Receiver. Before we get into exactly how it works, let's see what it does. The idea is that a person who does have a computer, a digital camera and computer skills buys the frame, sets up the account and passes it on.

Once the account is set up, you (the person with the computer) upload photos to the Ceiva Web site. Each night, the digital picture frame (in the computerless person's house) uses the phone line to connect to the Ceiva servers and download any new pictures. You can also control all of the frame's settings via the Web site. It has most of the same components as the computer on your desktop, but they're a lot simpler in the frame because they only have to perform a single task. The central processing unit (CPU) in the Ceiva digital picture frame is similar to the kind used in small, electronic handheld games. The most processor-intensive task performed by this CPU is downloading pictures from the Web site. The rest of the time, it doesn't break a sweat. It also has some Flash memory, which is where the pictures, settings and some of the operating software live. Both types of memory are persistent -- no data is lost if the unit is unplugged.

The frame has a 33.6-Kbps modem, which it uses to connect to the Internet and download the new photos you post. The display is a 640x480-pixel, passive-matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) with a viewing area of about 5 by 7 inches (13 by 18 cm). This type of display is thin enough that the digital frame isn't much thicker than an ordinary picture frame. The pictures are displayed in 12-bit color, which means that approximately 4,100 different colors can be presented on the screen. The only user-operated controls on the frame are a black button, which adjusts the brightness of the display, and a white button that turns the frame on when the user first plugs it in and can also be used to manually dial in. The Ceiva frame uses an embedded operating system called PSOS. This operating system is designed for devices like PDAs, electrical-testing equipment and set-top boxes. Let's take a look at 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 Internet. The $50-per-year fee for the Ceiva service includes access to the Internet by way of a local phone number. The connection to the Internet is used only to download the new photos and settings to the frame. There is no interactivity, no Web access and no e-mail. The device is designed to behave like a picture frame, not a computer. 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 finished downloading, the frame hangs up the phone line and starts displaying the new photos one after another. It turns itself off at the set time in the evening, and back on at the set time in the morning. Now let's take a look at the Web side of this device.

After you buy the frame, you go to the Web site to register it and pay for the service. This creates an account on the site that is exclusive to your frame. You can then upload your pictures and determine the settings. Now you can give the frame to a friend or family member who doesn't have a computer. All that person has to do is plug the frame into a phone line and a power outlet and hit the white button on the back -- simple tasks for even most technologically resistant among us. The first time the frame connects, it dials a toll-free number and downloads the settings you created from the Web site. One of the settings is the local dial-up number to be used by the frame. Now that the frame has these settings installed, it connects to the Internet again, this time using the local dial-up number, to download the pictures you posted to the Ceiva site.

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