Digital Photo Frame Developments

Pricey but nicey

For those who'd prefer to invest in a fashionable yet functional accoutrement, the Parrot Grande Specchio ($649.99; parrot.com) is easy on the eyes but hard on the wallet.

Designed by French designer Martin Szekely, this digital photo frame, when powered off, is a 10.4-inch mirror with a gold finish.

And similar to the Kodak Pulse, this product is Wi-Fi enabled, so it can join your wireless network to pull media from your nearby computer, or you can send photos via e-mail from any cell phone or computer. The Grande can also be set up to show pictures from online photo gallery sites, including Yahoo!'s Flickr and Google's Picasa.

Speaking of Google, because the Grande is an Android OS-powered digital frame — that is, it uses the same operating system from Google that runs many smart phones — you can also surf the Internet, run downloadable applications ("apps") from the Android Market and access information from RSS (really simple syndication) sites that provide news, weather, stock quotes and other "pushed" info to the frame.

The interfaceof the Grande is designed with a small black trackball on top of the frame, surrounded by four touch-sensitive buttons. The screen itself doesn't offer touch support as the Kodak Pulse does, but that would likely leave smudges on the mirror.

And as with Kodak's product, this frame does not handle video.

Parrot Grande Specchio digital photo frame. — Parrot SA