Craig Crossman photo Craig Crossman
National Newspaper Computer Columnist

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DIGITAL PICTURE FRAMES COMPLEMENT CAMERAS

The number of ways to show the images taken by a digital camera have been increased. Your choices include being displayed on a computer's monitor, a TV or printed out on a color printer. Now add the digital picture frame category. Digital picture frames have been out for a while but as with many new products, they were a bit pricey for the average consumer. The top-of-the-line Sony digital picture frame, for example still costs around $800 but it's loaded with features including the ability to display short movies with sound.

Other offerings include Kodak's Smart Picture Frame ($349) and the Ceiva Internet-Enabled Photo frame ($250). These mid-range priced models offer many of the desired features found in the Sony frame such as removable memory media that lets you expand the frame's capacity. Other desired features to look for in a digital frame are some sort of slide show ability that lets you program the frame to display all or a particular set of images contained in the frame at a user-defined speed. The Ceiva frame is the first to be able to directly and automatically download digital photos from the web. it can also bring you customized sports scores, news headlines and local weather reports. You must subscribe to the Ceiva network to take advantage of the frame's operations.


www.kodak.com


www.ceiva.com


www.kensington.com
 
Kensington has just introduced two new digital frames that break the price barrier by not trying to be everything. By offering less features, the Digital Photo Album is basically a cool digital picture frame capable of storing 12 images ($79), or 24 images in the Plus version ($149). There's no memory card and no service fees. The frame's matt silver finish gives it a modern, high-tech look. The 7.4 inch diagonal color screen displays a 640 x 480 resolution. The frame's timing can be set to display a different image every second to once every 24 hours. The included Album Manager software lets you edit the photos and choose from either a landscape or portrait orientation before downloading them to the frame.

All of the digital frames either directly connect to a computer via a USB connection or require some sort of removable flash memory card reader/writer. A digital frame will make a novel gift for your technology or photography lover this holiday.

Is it a computer or a stereo?

In the ever narrowing gap between desktop computers and stereo equipment comes Sony's latest VAIO computer, the PCV-MXS10. Different configurations let you choose how it's equipped. The basic model offers a Pentium 4, 1.7 GHz system with an 80 GB hard drive and 512 MB of memory. It also includes a TV, an FM radio tuner with unlimited presets, a personal video recorder that lets you digitally record and playback TV shows to the hard drive, along with a DVD, CD and MiniDisc player and recorder. We used to kid around that the next generation of computers would have a dishwasher and microwave oven. Seeing the ever growing trend towards these all in one multimedia marvels, perhaps that's truly what we may be seeing next. Check Sony's web site for available VAIO configurations and prices.

www.sonystyle.com/viao
Craig Crossman is a McClatchy-Tribune newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the nation's longest running nationally syndicated radio talk show on computers and technology, Computer America, heard on both the Business TalkRadio Network® and the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network®, weeknights at 10PM Eastern time.  Visit his website at http://www.computeramerica.com

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