http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/ Engadget Comments for Ceiva announces low-cost, WiFi-ready Digital Photo Frame lineup http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/
The frame plus the plan can be a bit on the expensive side, but in no way would I characterize it as a rip-off.

These things are perfect to give as gifts to non-tech savvy people As an example: my mother in law still worries that her frame calls our house at 3 am and might wake the baby, and my mom can never save files on her computer because she thinks the "open folder" icon is the save icon, since "you are opening a folder to put something in it", but both of them feel comfortable with their Ceiva.

All of the administration can be done remotely (even when it turns on and off) so I can manage everything and the recipient literally only has to plug it in. It's hard to overstate how much easier this is than having to send them an SD card or something like that.

That being the case, a wifi add on strikes me as totally useless. The type of person this was meant for doesn't have a wireless network, and someone that does would be sophisticated enough to find other options cheaper and more versatile.

]]>Dec 7th 2006 1:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 2:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Dec 7th 2006 12:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/iTunes - iPod
iPhoto - iFrame

Apple could keep it real simple to.
No need for 15 different disk formats or WiFi
Just Bluetooth and 512 MB of NAND Flash memory.
iPhoto should scale the photos down and sync them to the iFrame.]]>Dec 7th 2006 1:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/]]>Dec 7th 2006 1:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/
For those of use that don't mind shelling out a few bucks for something that is easy and idiot proof, this seems pretty cool. I like the automatic phone dial-up feature. I'm pretty sure my Dad can figure out how to plug it in to a phone jack.

It sounds like people that have actually used the Ceiva service like it. Is that accurate?

FYI, I called Ceiva and these newest models aren't shipping yet. They are accepting orders and expect to ship within 5-7 business days but will not "guarantee" that they will be delivered pre-Christmas. Somebody, somewhere at Ceiva messed up pretty badly on the timing on this thing. Whoops.]]>Dec 7th 2006 4:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/
I remember back around 1999 or 2000 talking to someone there at the company (about product development) and I was underwhelmed to put it politely. I knew more as a 27-year old than what I presumed to be their head of engineering, or whatever.... "They'll be belly up in 12-24 months" I told my business partner.

Well I admit I was wrong. Shows you how much I know.

But how in the name of God have they survived? Who is buying their product? I mean, is Granny, who is too poor/cheap/scared to move away from dial-up, going to need/allow something like this in her house? Not to mention the whole distasteful subscription B.S., that's what I really thought would be Ceiva's kiss of death.

Sorry, I have nothing against them, in spite of how my rant may sound. I just remember thinking when I saw their first product (in my best Chris Rock impression): "Just because something CAN be done, doesn't mean it's to be done!!!"

Well, AOL seemed to know how to hang on in spite of the odds, I won't count out Ceiva either.]]>Dec 7th 2006 6:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/
I just picked up a 10" digital frame (via ThinkGeek) for $180 +freight and the angles, contrast and brightness are good, though not what I would demand from an HDTV. It plays images and MP3s and also AVIs (though ironically it is more able to play downloaded movies than camera-generated files, esp. if only 15fps).

I only a see benefit in these monthly-payment plans if your grandparents don't have wifi and you really need to send them constant updates. If it is for personal use I recommend peeps take a look at the new 7" eStarling which has wifi and can be configured with RSS feeds and email, so you can send it updates for free.]]>Dec 7th 2006 11:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/
Also, judging from the pictures of the back of the frame on their website, it appears that the CEIVA does indeed take USB thumbdrives for pictures. ]]>Dec 9th 2006 3:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/Jan 5th 2007 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/07/ceiva-announces-low-cost-wifi-ready-digital-photo-frame-lineup/http://www.digivista.com.au/product_bluview_5_6_inch_bluetooth_digital_photo_frame.html
Cheers,
Henry
]]>Apr 30th 2007 1:51AM