Receiving Digital Pictures Without a Computer
When my husband and I get home from a weekend in the country or at the beach we always have a few stories to tell and some digital pictures to share. Since email is a common means of communicating for us, we think nothing of dashing off a quick message, with digital photos attached, to our friends and family members.
Our dilemma has become how to send the same email and photos to those in the family who do not use email. We don't want them to feel left out, or have them miss receiving an important message or precious photo along with the rest of the family.
Perhaps you have a parent, grandparent, or older uncle or aunt who resists computers and the advantages they offer because they seem too complicated or expensive to deal with. Fortunately, several products have appeared on the market which may offer the reluctant relative or close friend easy access to this technology.
Celery® is a service that uses a color fax/printer with a standard phone line, and its operation is as simple as pressing just two buttons to send and receive correspondence. This service allows people without a computer to receive email and digital photos as well as text messages sent from cell phones. It also allows those Celery® users not comfortable with typing to write out messages that can be sent to friends and family.
The people at Celery® designed this system to be easy for anyone to use. To send a photo or email to the Celery® device, you use the typical email addressing format such as MyNana@celery.com. MyNana will get a phone call which she uses to accept the correspondence on the Celery® machine. She can then easily respond back by inserting her hand-written reply into the Celery® machine and pressing the send button to the designated email address selected from an address book on the device. This message can be read as a regular email. A fax machine is not needed on the other end to receive emails sent via the Celery® system.
If you have friends or family members in assistive living or nursing situations, a simpler, one-way means of communicating photos might be a simpler solution. There is lovely digital picture frame from CEIVA™ Logic, Inc., that displays a rotation of digital photos like a slideshow. It uses a standard phone line to silently dial a local number each evening to pick up any new photos that were sent to you that day.
Both the Celery® fax/printer system and the CEIVA™ picture frame have low-cost subscription services that allow you to tailor the distribution of pictures and messages to the needs and skill level of the friend or family member to whom you want to send digital information.
Keeping connected is achieved today with many electronic options such as text messaging, email and digital photos. Now there are options that help those who don't own a computer or cell phone to receive the same communications. Our loved ones no longer need to feel left out or isolated from receiving the emails and digital photos we've come to rely on as part of our everyday life. They can be included too.
AARP does not recommend or endorse any of these products or web sites. Please be advised that there are other similar products and web sites available which were not reviewed and are not listed here.
About the Author
Susan Ayers Walker is a leading-edge boomer with over 35 years experience in emerging technologies.
