Sunnygram: Email meets the mail Box.

Sunnygram: Email meets the mail Box.

Sunnygram is the newest entrant in a field of products trying to bridge the technical divide between those who e-mail and their loved ones who don't. Early efforts, like the Mail Station and Mail Bug, tried to create computer products simple enough for the elderly to learn to use. The next generation of services has scrapped that paradigm entirely. Instead, companies like Sunnygram, Presto and Celery are turning e-mails into faxs, phone messages or stamped letters — media senior citizens already understand — so that users can keep in touch on their own terms. "My dad doesn't feel capable of managing e-mail, but I live in front of my computer," says Bellanca. Adds Presto CEO Peter Radsliff: "The adoption of all-electronic means of communication makes it more and more arduous for the technically savvy to revert to analog."

"Our users are not technophiles, which is why they are interested in Sunnygram," says co-founder Matt Ahart, "so it seems inconvenient to burden them with having to set up and maintain fax equipment." Along with individualized newsletters, which are basically a compendium of all e-mails and photos sent to a person's account that week, Sunnygram subscribers get a self-addressed stamped envelope. They can hand-write replies and mail them to the company, which scans and e-mails the notes to the right people. Or they can call a toll-free number and leave a message for Sunnygram to transcribe and e-mail. "Everyone can communicate the way they want and still be part of the same conversation," Ahart says.

Read the full article: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1905545,00.html
Watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGjzvxye1_s
Check out the website: http://www.sunnygram.com/