What is a digital picture frame? Think of a digital picture frame as a slide show of sorts for your picture. Like a flat screen TV, digital picture frame is sleek, elegant and classy. You can buy a stand-alone reader that produces images from a memory card, or one connected to a phone line. The latter allows you to receive pictures sent from computers around world.

Let's talk more about this modern innovation and how it may impact your life.

How A Digital Picture Frame Works

A digital picture frame, much like an ordinary picture frame, displays pictures. The difference however is this... a digital picture frame has an LCD screen. This screen can display many photos like a slideshow. Most digital picture frames connect to Internet or a computer using a phone line. They then download pictures and display them.

Unlike a traditional frame most digital units do not have a glass barrier separating picture from user. Digital picture frames usually are about same size as a traditional photo frame. Some digital picture frames contain a memory card to store photos. If you use this type of frame you don't need to connect to a computer to display images.

Some digital picture frames work by having you upload your pictures to a Website. Then digital frame connects to sight and downloads your photos. New pictures show up on their own as this happens. You can adjust setting on your digital picture frame to produce a slideshow of pictures. Most frames allow you to adjust speed with which images change.

If you do log into a Web site you may need to buy a subscription service. These are generally cheap, ranging about $10 a month and up. The price is worth it. Some sites will allow you to upload pictures and news, sports and other information to your digital frame. You can even order prints online through companies like Kodak.

Digital Picture Frame Choices

You can select many features for your digital picture frame. Here are some considerations when buying:

• Number of Pictures - Some frames allow you to display an unlimited number of pictures. Others have an internal memory that allows a defined number of images to be stored and displayed. If you want to store many pictures, you might consider a digital frame with a removable memory card. This will allow you to store more images.
• Portability - Some frames are smaller than others. You may buy a digital picture frame that plugs into a wall, or one that runs off batteries. Obviously a battery powered digital frame is more portable than a plug-in.
• Resolution and Size - The larger your digital picture frame, more expensive. Many display images 5x7 or smaller.

Must-Haves For those fortunate enough to be able to build a new data center, fire protection options abound. Thanks to increased importance of technology and subsequent higher profile for data centers, architects and builders are more aware that these centers have special issues. That’s led to creation of more clean-agent fire suppression systems that use chemicals rather than water.

The systems work by breaking up chemical reaction of fire. Each product employs this strategy in a slightly different way, but most target oxygen that fire uses to spread. With no oxygen molecules, fire essentially smothers, and equipment is safe because there’s no toxic residue or chemical damage with tactic. Systems include Inergen, Sapphire, and ECARO-25.

When building a new center, planning on incorporating systems such as these is essential, says Peter Sacco, president of design firm PTS Data Center Solutions. “When you’re constructing a new center, you’re going to have to put in a different system than rest of building will have,” he notes. “Most likely, every other part of building will have sprinklers, so an IT manager will have to be involved in planning to make sure that’s not automatically put into data center, as well.”

One of newest fire suppression systems is aerosol-based, he adds, coming into data center world from space industry. These systems, such as Aero-K, either deliver an oxygen-snuffing aerosol gas or use aerosol to propel other types of gas that hang in atmosphere and basically wrap a protective blanket around systems. Although these aerosol-based systems are only just starting to be introduced in new center construction, Sacco believes they should be more widespread within next few years. (For more information on Aero-K, see “The Coolest Thing: Aero-K” sidebar below.)