Gadgetopia

I pasted the url for this post to a friend who I figured would have an answer. He suggests a netbook and a Gmail account, adding that his aunt successfully uses that solution. Sounds like a good (and cost effective) solution to me.

2 solutions that are obvious...

1. Have Deane move-in as the newly adopted techie grandson
2. See #1 or find a local Deane

Seriously though, and I know Deane will hate this...why not go to a standard version of Outlook - yes pay for it if needed. Outlook easily pulls the email for you, you reply, store, etc...heck my mom uses it (62 yrs old with no tech experience whatsoever) so it cant get much easier. Personally have not used Outlook in 5 years but I am sure the product is still amazing - now I am ready to be banned.

If ALL she wants is email, it shouldn't be that hard to just make the GUI shell a perfered email program (Thunderbird?) or even the web browser (together now: Firefox?) on a linux system. I love the suggestion of a netbook for this too. Get one with a SSD, change the shell to either one of the above options and couldn't be simpler for her:

1. Boot
2. Email people
3. There is no step 3.

Possibly in a bad form-factor for the lady in question, but this seems to be what you're looking for: http://www.getpeek.com/

In The Netherlands we have a really nice solution: http://www.simpc.com/

This company sells a fully locked down, Linux and flash memory based, remotely managed PC. You buy it in combination with a help/update/internet subscription.

It has a very basic interface, allows you to do everything you need to: web, mail, write letter, look/manage photographs.

I keep wondering when this concept goes global. I'm afraid the website is Dutch only, but you get the point :-)

How about webtv?

My 94 year old Grandma has a Juno email account that she uses daily. It's dial up but works fine for her email needs.

Hi Deane;

A company out here, Landel, has been offering an appliance for the last 10 years. Can't vouch for it, never tried it... It's called the mailbug http://www.landel.com/mb1.html. It's not free but it ain't expensive either.

Short of that, it seems to me that the best way would be to administer the laptop such that it only shows gmail. At that point, teach gramma the ropes or modify the gmail interface to taste.

hth, -Craig

My Mom was using Outlook Express and loved it. Then she got a new laptop and we moved her over to Gmail. I thought it would actually be so much easier for her and that she would have better access from various places. It works...but she doesn't love it. She tells me there are too many "steps" in Gmail. So I am also interested in the suggested solutions here.

There is the Presto. I gave one to my father a year ago for xmas. It is a printer that connects to your phone line. It calls out to the Presto mail servers 4 times a day, and then prints out any email you recieved.

http://www.presto.com/what-is-presto.aspx

Only issue is that you can't send email, only recieve. But it works great for pictures, legal documents, news stories, prints out all attachments.

michael

You might also want to check out a managed, web/subscription-based service, PawPawMail: Easy Email for Seniors (http://pawpawmail.com) -- it's not a device, but it can be run on any old dusty computer you have sitting around. I am, of course, biased on this front, but it's extraordinarily simple for seniors to use.

Many of these comments above don't take into account the over 80 crowd. many people - particularly when their memory and cognitive function start to decline a bit - can't handle any of the solutions mentioned. Outlook, thunderbird, gmail are all incredibly complicated (and the buttons and text way too small, not well designed) for the elderly. Peek I looked at - you must be kidding. Small keys for the elderly?
It must be incredibly simple and big buttons and big type. No one has that approach yet. I have looked at pawpaw mail and it looks like the right approach. Mike

PawPawMail and Famililink look like good possibilities for those with good Internet connections. I'm looking for something for my aunt who, alas, has only dial-up available. A nice, full-screen interface, locked down to accept e-mail only from a managed list, a good way to view image attachments, but offline capability, ideally with automatic scheduled dial-up sync.

Someone mentioned Presto above. It works to send emails & photos to parents and grandparents if they don't find computers & printers easy to use.

This is newer, but you might want to check out SunnyGram.

They print and mail emails. I use it with two grandmothers and they don't see a computer, just pictures and news.