Never Miss A Moment: Easy Photo Sharing with Grandma and Grandpa
It can be hard to stay in touch with loved ones from afar, particularly older relatives who may have trouble traveling. When I was a kid, we sent school pictures by mail twice a year, but to hear the latest “Weird Al” song I had memorized, my grandma would have to wait until the next time we made the three-hour car ride to her house.
Now that we’re living in the 20s, there’s no need to wait. Here are the services and products I use to make sure my kids' grandparents and great-grandparents never miss a moment.
Photo Storage in the Cloud
Best Photo Storage for iPhone Users
If you have an iPhone, this isn’t a very hard choice. Apple’s Photos app does a great job of keeping your photos safe. iCloud storage is relatively cheap, and if grandma and grandpa have an iPhone or iPad it’s incredibly easy to set up and use. Even if someone doesn’t have an Apple device, they can access the library online. You can see the full set of instructions here.
Best Photo Storage for Android Users
For Android users, Google Photos is the simplest and most comprehensive option, offering seamless backup, organization, and sharing features similar to Apple's Photos app. Alternatives like Amazon Photos and Microsoft OneDrive also provide reliable storage solutions, but they lack the intuitive interface and integrated AI-driven features of Google Photos.
Additionally, Google Photos easily syncs with the Aura Digital Frame (discussed below), making it a convenient choice for displaying shared albums.
Aura Digital Frame
Digital frames used to be kind of gimmicky. They had awful picture quality, and the methods for adding photos were all over the place. Even worse, I would never remember to update their memory cards or email the address they used to receive photos. But the Aura Frame solved all that.
The Aura Frame has made things very simple. It’s Wi-Fi connected and automatically pulls photos from our shared albums. There have been a handful of times when I’ve had to reset the synchronized albums because they weren’t updating, but overall it has been a breeze.
Here’s all the steps to get a photo on the 5 frames our family members have all over the country:
Take photo
Add photo to shared album
Aura displays photos
Seriously, it’s that easy. While tech-forward aunts and uncles (and grandparents) may be able to easily view the photos on their phone, these are a great addition and essential for everyone else.
Here’s instructions for how to synchronize entire albums with an Aura Frame.
Video Calling
Facetime for Apple Users
If everyone involved in a conversation uses an iPhone, this isn’t really worth debating. Facetime is incredibly simple and every loved one you have that can answer a phone can use it. They may accidentally flip the camera and show you the floor of their living room, but you’ll be able to hear their voice and they’ll be able to see you.
If you have an Apple TV, you can also cast the video to your TV and still use your iPhone as the camera. See instructions for how to do that here.
The setup can get a little complicated if you have a soundbar. (We experienced a lot of feedback the first time we tried it. Just move the phone away from the speakers.) Otherwise, it’s a pretty seamless experience.
Alexa for Everyone Else
Now, you probably have at least one person you would like to call who doesn’t have an iPhone or iPad. In this case, a Fire TV Cube with an attached webcam is a great option. It takes a little more setup, but it works great.
We used this setup for Covid Christmas (2020), and grandma and grandpa were able to see my son open the presents they sent him on a big screen!
Here are instructions for how you can set that up.
If you want to use Alexa but don’t have or want to purchase a Fire TV Cube, you can download the Alexa app to your phone or tablet.
Products & Deals
Level’s Lock+ Smart Lock is down to $255 (normally $329)
There are smart locks that have more features than this one, but you won’t find one that is as invisible. The Lock+ looks just like a standard deadbolt, and it works with most every smart home setup. It also has Apple Key support, which will let you walk in and out of the house by waving your Apple Watch or iPhone over it.
Some video game system “modders” have developed a keychain-sized Nintendo Wii. It’s not available and likely won’t be for a long time, but it’s very cool!
If you work from home at all, a standing desk can help provide a great respite for your back and give you a little boost of energy when you start to fall asleep in the afternoon. It’s also great entertainment for your kids to push the buttons and watch it go up and down. This also makes typing a “fun” challenge on days when your kids are at home sick.
(Disclaimer: Reader says he owns this desk and it’s a little shaky. Not so much that he’s replaced it, but enough that it’s worth mentioning.)
News
Smart, Expensive Alexa is Coming
Amazon is improving Alexa with a large language model, but it will probably require a monthly fee. It will be useful to see if this can make Echos useful for something aside from timers, music and the weather. I test drove the beta version of this they released last year. It worked fine, but I didn’t find any particularly useful use cases.
Rumor: Apple is Putting Its Latest Chip in Entry-Level iPhones and iPads
The upcoming iPhone SE and entry-level iPad may end up with Apple’s newest chip in order to give those devices access to Apple Intelligence. If you’re in the market for an inexpensive iPhone or iPad, I would wait for the next generation. It will likely be a substantial bump in performance compared to what’s currently available. I should note, this does not impact the higher-end models (non-SE iPhones; iPad Air & Pro)
Prime Video is Making it Easier to Tell When It’s About to Up-Charge You
Have you ever asked your kid if they want to watch Daniel Tiger only to realize you already watched the first season and for all the other episodes you have to start buying a new $5/month subscription? Well, this probably won’t fix that, but it will let you know it’s about to happen one screen earlier. Maybe you can use the early warning to redirect your child to Trash Truck.