It's great if you use Facebook or Instagram a lot, but what about your family members who don't? ABC7 News spoke to an inventor who's re-imagining an old gadget for the new world we live in.
Naomi Leslie just got back from a trip to Monterey and she took lots of gorgeous pictures, but there's only one problem. She said, "I have two parents out of four who are on Facebook, and so half of my parents get to see my photos."
She tries to share with the others by email, which is a breeze compared Jewel Simonson's situation. She has two adorable nephews and two grandparents who want to see their smiling faces.
"I usually go over there because you can't send them anything because they don't have a computer or anything like that," said Simonson.
There's was a Kickstarter fundraising video created for one man's effort to solve that problem. He calls it Famatic. Speaking via Skype from the Netherlands, he says it's a digital picture frame that works with social media.
"If you upload a photo on Facebook of your daughter is riding a bike for the first time, then it instantly in a matter of seconds shows up in the living room of your grandparents," and Thijs Suijten, the Famatic co-founder.
Now there are lots of digital picture frames out there and some of them even connect to the Internet. Famatic wants to be different by selling a high tech frame that's tailor made for your low tech parents.
"It would have to plug in and work. Done," said Leslie.
And that's pretty much what Famatic does. For $169, it's actually an Android tablet on the inside, but on the outside, it just shows pictures. You control it remotely from a website, your parents or grandparents just see all your latest photos. They can sit back and watch the show or swipe through and leave comments. They've tested it with dozens of families.
"What we see is that the grandparents really feel like they're more part of the daily life of the kids and grandkids," said Suijten.
That's even more important now for Naomi since she and her husband are expecting. And if you think their parents want pictures now, she said, "I imagine that with a grandchild they'll be bugging me more."
Famatic's not out yet. They have to raise another $60,000 in the next month to start manufacturing.
