Norman’s dream of a world populated by information appliances became one byte more real with the launch of the Kodak electronic picture frame that synchronizes with a website via Wi-Fi.
Kodak EasyShare EX1011 (10 inches, $250, Kodak.com). Now here’s a thought: add Wi-Fi to a frame.
Once it’s on your wireless network, Kodak’s beautiful two-toned black frame can display pictures that sit on a Windows computer elsewhere in the house, provided it’s running Windows Media Player 11. Unfortunately, Macs need not apply.
But here’s the best part: Once you’ve signed up for a free account at Kodakgallery.com and set up some photo albums there, the frame “sees” them immediately and begins a slide show of the albums you select.
This is huge. It means that you can give the frame to a technophobic relative and send photos to the frame from thousands of miles away. The lucky recipients wake up each morning and enjoy the updated photos from your life. (If they’re a bit more ambitious, they can copy their favorites to the frame’s memory, or even connect a printer to the frame.)