When you’re looking at a family photo, it’s nice to have a frame that captures the moment. But what if you don’t have any frames? What if you just want to show off your photos on your computer screen? Well, there are ways to make perfect digital picture frames for relatives without any frames at all. Here are three easy ways:

  1. Use online photo services like FotoBooth or Picasa to take pictures of your family members and post them online. Then, use these services to create digital picture frames for your relatives.
  2. Cut out photos from magazines or newspapers and paste them into digital picture frames. This is a great way to show off old photos that your relatives might not be able to see in person.
  3. Use online photo editing tools like Photoshop or GIMP to make perfect digital picture frames for your relatives without any frame at all!

Let’s be real here. Digital picture frames are a niche product category that has just never taken off like you’d expect it to. On paper, it’s a great gift, especially for older and distant relatives. You buy this thing, you set it up for them, and keep them updated with baby pictures and all that good stuff.

In reality, they often end up left in the box, set up but forgotten about, or sitting on a side table, perpetually turned off.

I have pretty strong opinions about how bad of a gift dedicated digital picture frames are and how great of a replacement for digital picture frames the Chromecast is, but it boils down to this.

The Chromecast is easy to remotely update with new photos, automatically applies firmware updates to itself, and can be used for other tasks besides looking at pictures, like watching YouTube videos. Even older generation Chromecasts are perfect for photo slideshows and light video watching.

Would I want a first-generation Chromecast as my sole streaming device? Not today, no. But for slapping on your grandmother’s TV so she can just press the input button to switch from her cable box to the Chromecast anytime she wants to see pictures of her grandkids, you really can’t beat it.

So if you have an older Chromecast gathering dust or you’re looking for an excuse to upgrade the one you have, there’s no time like the present to set up that old Chromecast to display photos or even serve as a digital art frame too.