TechCrunch » eye-fi

Eye-Fi "Direct Mode" Upgrade Sends Photos Directly To Your iOS or Android Device

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:00:05 +0000

This is a pretty solid feature, I have to say, and maybe the one that makes me an Eye-Fi convert. We’ve seen some iOS camera tethering options, and of course the Eye-Fi is already pretty useful for when you have your laptop around, but this super easy send-to-device feature could be really compelling to the average non-tech-savvy user. We heard about it back at CES, but it’s actually rolling out this week.

Basically you just up the card ahead of time for Direct Mode, and it learns to use an ad-hoc wi-fi network to send your pictures directly to your iOS or Android device. It’s not quite as immediate as tethering, but it’s a lot easier, and if I’m not mistaken, it basically can use your other device as a secondary memory card.

That’d be nice for some easy workflows: shoot on your point and shoot, they appear on your iPad where you peruse and delete a few, and then when you plug in and sync, they go over to iPhoto. And I’m sure you could figure out a similar process on your Android phone or tablet. The photos can be sent to your gallery, then you can use your own apps or the app provided by Eye-Fi.

The new 8GB X2 Mobile cards with Direct Mode enabled cost $80, or you can download an update later this week if you already have an X2 card.

In The Era Of The Connected Camera, The Point & Shoot Commits Seppuku

MG Siegler — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:18:05 +0000

The big brand camera companies are committing seppuku in front of our eyes. It’s fascinating.

Last week, I bought a brand new Canon S95 camera. It’s a great point & shoot. Maybe the best out there right now. It captures beautiful 10-megapixel images. It’s great in low-light. It’s fast. And it shoots HD video. I anticipate I’ll take about 5 percent of my pictures with it in the coming year. The other 95 percent will be taken with my iPhone. How do I know? Because I had the S90 last year and that was my exact usage pattern.

Obviously, the 10-megapixel, $400 S95 is the superior camera when compared to the 5-megapixel, $200 (with subsidy) iPhone 4. But the fact that I always have my phone on me easily trumps the specs. But to me, there’s actually something other than just the portability factor that leads to my usage being so heavily skewed towards the iPhone: connectivity.

Smartphones are always connected. Point & shoots never are. When I take a cool picture, I often want to share it right away. With my smartphone, it takes 20 seconds. With my point & shoot, it’s impossible. I have to wait until I get home, upload it to my computer, then upload it to the web.

It shouldn’t be surprising at all that smartphones are eating point & shoots’ lunch when it comes to percentage of pictures uploaded to sites like Flickr. Currently, the most popular camera in the Flickr community is the iPhone 3G. Below that are several prosumer-level DSLRs. There are no point & shoots on the top list.

And if you look at the popular point & shoot list, you’ll see that all of them are trending downward. Fast. Meanwhile, cameraphones are going the opposite way. Soon, I imagine that several Android phones will join the iPhones at the top of the popular list.

It’s a little dumbfounding that point & shoots have been so slow to hop on the connectivity and social bandwagon. The iPhone is now three and a half years old, and plenty of people were taking picture with their crappy RAZR phones and uploading them to the web years before that. The writing has been on the wall for a long time.

It stands to reason that as smartphone cameras continue to improve, they were going to squeeze out point & shoots anyway. We’re heading towards a world where the smartphone is the everyday camera and the DSLR is the special occassion camera. But we’re not there yet. I still have some need for a good point & shoot. And so do plenty of other people — the S95 is currently the 19th best-selling electronic on Amazon heading into the holiday shopping season.

But the big camera companies like Canon almost seem like they want to speed the process of killing point & shoot camera along. They just don’t seem to get it.

“Point and shoot has become point and shoot and share,” Twitter’s Josh Elman tweeted earlier. “It’s sad that cameras haven’t evolved to be networked and make sharing easier. I’m shopping for a new camera now and very disappointed,” he continued.

Elman must be going through the same process I went through a couple weeks ago. With no better solution, I ultimately settled on a sort hacked-together one: the S95 with an SD card from Eye-Fi that will add WiFi capabilities to your device. It’s okay. It does allow you to share photos when you take them — provided you’re connected to WiFi. WiFi which you have to configure on your card via your computer beforehand. In other words, unless you’re at home, it’s not much of a solution.

Further, given that everything else in the world is hopping on the geolocation bandwagon, you would have thought that the point & shoot makers would at least go there with GPS chips. Nope. Again, the only solution for most of these cameras is the Eye-Fi card. And again, it’s a pretty lame solution. Instead of using a combination of GPS and WiFi to get your location and pin it to a picture like most smartphones do, the EyeFi card simply records the nearest WiFi router address and it will only tag it to your photo if you run it through their (rather lame) software when you get home.

Ugh.

And don’t get me wrong, what Eye-Fi is doing is rather amazing given what they’re working with. They’ve essentially hacked the memory card input to make these cameras somewhat connected. But there really needs to be some sort of native hardware/software solution.

I know that there are some “social” point & shoots out there, like Kodak’s EasyShare products. But the reviews of those things range from mixed to poor. If I’m going to spend the extra money, I want it to be on the best point & shoot. Like the S95. Sadly, I can’t have the best of both worlds. And I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to until after the smartphones have already killed the genre.

In the smartphone world right now, we’re already evolving to the next phase. We’re seeing an explosion of interest is social apps built solely around the camera. Instagram, Hipstamatic, Picplz, Path, DailyBooth, CameraBag, Treehouse, IncrediBooth, Diptic, Burstn, etc. There are hundreds of apps with new ones launching each day. The point & shoot hasn’t even entered phase one yet. It’s really pretty pathetic.

Eye-Fi View Holds Your Full-Resolution Photos For a Week So You Can Decide Where They Go

John Biggs — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:41:24 +0000

If there was one problem with the otherwise excellent Eye-Fi card it’s that images stored to the card had the nasty habit of appearing on public Flickr accounts without their owners knowledge – images that usually involved the owner in a compromising position with a close, naked friend or a barnyard mammal. Sure you can control where the Eye-Fi sends stuff but not many people bothered with those settings.

The company has just announced Eye-Fi View, a sharing system that makes sense. View creates a temporary private storage space for all Eye-Fi users where it keeps photos safe and sound for up to a week (you can buy unlimited storage for $4.99 or $49 a year.) You can see the updated View UI at http://center.eye.fi/.

You can also send and share your photos via email from the View UI. In all, it’s a solid improvement over flinging photos willy-nilly into the ether.

VIEW AND SHARE DIGITAL MEMORIES ANYWHERE, ANYTIME WITH EYE-FI VIEW
New System and Email Feature Let People Quickly Show Off and Share Content on Multiple Devices

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 27, 2010 — Eye-Fi Inc. (www.eye.fi), best known as makers of the world’s first wireless memory card, today launched Eye-Fi View, giving consumers a new way to access their photos and videos from virtually any computer or mobile device. Along with Eye-Fi View, Eye-Fi also introduced a new email-sharing feature, allowing direct, private sharing of full-resolution images without clogging inboxes or requiring viewers to login.
“When we released the first Eye-Fi card three years ago, we solved the fundamental problem of getting pictures off the camera and onto computers and online sharing sites. As we enter the biggest photo-sharing season of the year – Halloween to Christmas – we’re delivering an even easier way for people to view and share photos from any device, with more control than ever,” said Jef Holove, President and CEO of Eye-Fi. “Photos and videos of the kids trick-or-treating can be easily emailed to grandma and shown off on dad’s iPad”

When it comes to photography, viewing the images is the point, and more devices – from netbooks to smartphones to tablets – create more ways consumers want to view and show their memories. With Eye-Fi View, this content is now accessible from virtually any Internet connected device and can be viewed and shared at home, at the office, or on the road.

Whether selecting certain photos to share on public sites like Facebook or Flickr, or privately sharing several images or full albums with trusted email contacts, Eye-Fi makes it easy. By simply logging into their Eye-Fi account from any device, users can view photos, publish them on the web, or share them via email.

“There are many sites on which pictures and videos can be shared. But even in this age of social media, email remains the most popular method of sharing among consumers,” added Holove. “With our unique approach to email sharing, Eye-Fi is extending its ease of use capabilities to customers who want to email their photos. Because, put simply, photos are created to view.”

With Eye-Fi’s email feature, users select contacts from their own address book, and recipients – whether Eye-Fi users or not – can easily download full-resolution images through a single link, without worrying about overwhelming their inbox.

Pricing and Availability
With the latest Eye-Fi Center release, Eye-Fi X2 card users can automatically send content to their Eye-Fi View. Access to content uploaded within the last seven days is always free. Upgrade to Eye-Fi Premium to maintain access to an unlimited amount of content for only $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. All Eye-Fi users can take advantage of the new email sharing feature.

Eye-Fi products are now available at Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Wal-Mart is the latest national retailer to feature Eye-Fi, following the addition of Target earlier this year. Availability beyond electronics and photography outlets underscores the expanding consumer demand for Eye-Fi’s unique solution. Additionally, Eye-Fi’s international users can now subscribe to all Eye-Fi services including Eye-Fi Premium. For more information, visit www.eye.fi.

About Eye-Fi
Founded in 2005, Eye-Fi is dedicated to building products and services that help consumers manage, nurture and share their visual memories. Eye-Fi’s patented and patent-pending technology wirelessly and automatically uploads photos and videos from digital imaging devices, including digital cameras and the iPhone, to online, in-home and retail destinations. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., the company’s investors include LMS Capital, Opus Capital, Shasta Ventures and TransLink Capital. More information is available at www.eye.fi.
Eye-Fi memory cards work like a regular SDHC memory card and are compatible with most compact and DSLR cameras. Users can also select which photos and videos are uploaded, and where they’re shared – choosing from 45 partner sites, including Flickr, Facebook, Picasa and more. Never run out of space with Endless Memory.
Eye-Fi products and services are now available at Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Office Depot and Apple stores nationwide and online. For more information about Eye-Fi, please visit www.eye.fi.

Forget The Mayor, Gowalla Focuses On Serendipitous Deals For All

MG Siegler — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:50:55 +0000

We’ve all heard about mayor deals with Foursquare. That is, a person who is the “mayor ” of a venue (essentially, has checked-in there the most number of times) gets access to special deals, such free items or discounts. Gowalla goes about its deals a bit differently. Because there are no “mayors” in Gowalla, instead, they’re focusing on giving everyone an equal opportunity to earn special deals.

One such deal launching later today is with Eye-Fi, the makers of memory cards that give devices WiFi capabilities. Starting in a few hours, when a person checks in through Gowalla at any U.S.-based Best Buy or Apple Store, they’ll automatically have a chance to win a free 4 GB Eye-Fi card. A message will pop up on their screen about the card post check-in. And a simple click on the “Did I win?” button below that message will reveal if you’re a winner of the $75 card the spot. There will be 500 winners for this particular promotion.

But even if you don’t win, the check-in grants you access to a coupon code for one year’s worth of free hotspot access if you do choose to purchase an Eye-Fi card. Gowalla founder Josh Williams estimates Eye-Fi is giving away some $35,000 worth of value from this deal alone. “This represents a remarkable opportunity for a brand to promote a product directly to people who are visiting a location where that product is sold. It’s accessible to anyone who checks in on Gowalla, regardless of how many times they’ve checked in or whether or not they’ve been to that location previously,” Williams notes.

That last part is obviously a bit of a shot at Foursquare’s mayor deals — but it’s important to note that Foursquare also has some deals for anyone who simply checks-in to certain venues too. Still, Gowalla’s emphasis on equality is nice and doesn’t require people to compete with crazed location addicts who go to venues everyday simply to secure deals (believe me, in San Francisco, it happens a lot). It’s more about serendipity with Gowalla — you go to a place you’re already going, check-in, and you may earn a free prize.

Eye-Fi releases bigger, stronger WiFi cards: Connect, Explore, and Pro X2 line

John Biggs — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:59:00 +0000

While the Eye-Fi Pro X2 – an 8GB Eye-Fi card with RAW support and ad hoc mode – is already available, the company just released two new additions to the X2 line, the Explore and the Connect. The Explore includes automatic geotagging for images and videos. Here are the specifics:

Eye-Fi Connect X2 – At 4GB capacity, the Eye-Fi Connect X2 will automatically upload JPEG photos and videos to the computer and one of more than 25 online sharing sites, such as Flickr, Facebook, YouTube or Picasa, through a Wi-Fi network. MSRP: $49.99.

Eye-Fi Explore X2 – At 8GB of capacity, the Eye-Fi Explore X2 will automatically upload JPEG photos and videos to the computer and one of more than 25 online sharing sites. It offers lifetime automatic geotagging so photos and videos arrive at the user’s computer with location information already included to identify where the image was captured. Explore X2 also offers one year of hotspot access for uploading away from home at more 21,000 AT&T and Harborlink locations across the Unites States and through open hotspots. MSRP: $99.99.

Eye-Fi Pro X2 – Unveiled at CES and winner of CNET’s “Best of CES” award, the 8GB Eye-Fi Pro X2 will automatically upload JPEG and RAW photos and videos to the home computer, and will send them to one of more than 25 online sharing sites. It also allows users to create an ad hoc connection directly to their computer to wirelessly upload photos and videos while away from a wireless router. Like Explore X2, Pro X2 offers lifetime geotagging and one-year of hotspot access to enable uploads away from home at more than 21,000 AT&T and Harborlink hotspots and open hotspots. MSRP: $149.99.

These new devices can use multiple AT&T hotspots and feature faster video upload and a new “Endless Memory” mode that will upload images and video as you take them. They’re available today.

Product Page

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Eye-Fi

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Eye-Fi goes FTP

John Biggs — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:30:55 +0000

The Eye-Fi card is famous for being a cool, fun way to upload, inadvertently, images of you and your friends naked or on the toilet. Now, however, you can upload those naked photos to your local FTP/FTPS server. This service allows you to bypass standard photo-sharing sites like Flickr and dump your stuff up unfettered by the limitations placed upon us by photo sites.

Here are the instructions. Happy uploading and be sure to make those images public!

This also, admittedly, allows you to run your own photo sharing service and to keep your photos completely private.

via WiFiNetNews

Eye-Fi and Apple, sittin' in a tree, u-p-l-o-a-d-ing

Scott Merrill — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:00:23 +0000

I took some photos yesterday afternoon, and didn’t get around to trying to move them from the camera to my laptop until later in the evening. What should have been a simple process — connect cable to camera, connect cable to laptop, import photos — was stymied by my complete inability to find the cable I needed! It’s not like I use a USB A-to-Mini-B cable every day. If only there were some way to wirelessly transfer photos from my camera into my computer. What’s that, Eye-Fi? You say there is? Do tell!

Wow, will you look at that: the Eye-Fi Geo, available exclusively at the Apple store, can wirelessly transfer photos from your camera into iPhoto, or onto your hard drive in the folder of your choice. For an extra ten bucks a year, you can have the Eye-Fi Geo automatically send your photos to one of 25 online photo sharing services. You read that right: $10 per year. That’s a steal! And as with all Eye-Fi cards, your photos will be automatically geotagged. I haven’t fiddled much with geotagging yet, but I know some folks who are really into it. It looks fun.

Alas, my Canon DigitalRebel XT only accepts CF cards, while all the Eye-Fi cards are SD or SD/HC format, so I can’t get in on the party just now. Looks like I’ll be stuck searching for cables for some time, yet. That’s okay. You guys have fun with the Eye-Fi. I’ll catch up with you later. I’ll just sit here and send frustrated, pining messages to the Eye-Fi Twitter account in the vain hope that they create a CF version of their magic little cards…

Review: Eye-Fi Pro 4GB wireless SD memory card

Peter Ha — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:00:18 +0000

What can be said about the latest Eye-Fi SD card that hasn’t been said about every other iteration? The Pro is just that, a Pro. With support for RAW files, Ad Hoc network support and Selective Transfer, the Eye-Fi Pro is perfection.

Using the Eye-Fi Manager, it took all of three minutes to get the Pro up and running on my Mac. Setting up an Ad Hoc network to my Mac was simple enough that a donkey could do it. From the wireless network dropdown list, select the “set up ad hoc network” option and create an ad hoc network. Once you’ve done that, refresh the network list, select your new ad hoc network and configure the Pro to recognize it going forward. Switch back to your wireless network and you’re done.

DSLR users can now shoot in RAW or RAW+ and have those images directly upload to their respective desktops/laptops over Wi-Fi. Eye-Fi creates two separate folders for RAW images (7-6-09) and JPEG images (July 06, 2009) with differing date formats.

Rather than uploading every single image or video that you capture, the Selective Transfer mode utilizes your camera’s protect function to identify which images to upload and which ones to leave. It’s dead simple. Protect the images you want to upload and then Eye-Fi takes care of the rest.

The Pro, as I’ve said before, is a dream come true — but at $150 it’s tough to justify such a purchase for a slow 4GB SD card. However, it also automagically uploads to your photo sharing site of choice and supports Ad Hoc networks. In a pressure-filled situation, like a live blog, the Eye-Fi Pro is a required gadget in a blogger’s bag. I’d throw down $150 clams for one, but I have the luxury of expensing it back to the big guy.

Eye-Fi Pro [Eye-Fi]

[PSGallery=881ds6x1fc]

Eye-Fi announces the Eye-Fi Pro (Ad Hoc support!) and Selective Transfer

Peter Ha — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:00:46 +0000

I think I speak for every camera nerd out there when I say, Hallelujah!!! It’s about damn time Eye-Fi released an Ad Hoc enabled SDHC card. Live blogging will now be 100x easier.

The 4GB Eye-Fi Pro now supports RAW files on top of pre-existing support for JPEG and video files. Geotagging and Hotspot access are available on the Pro model as well. The Eye-Fi Pro is available now on Amazon and Eye-Fi for $149.

But that’s not all. Eye-Fi also announced a new feature, Selective Transfer, that lets you pick and choose what gets uploaded.

Using the “protect” or “lock” feature in the camera’s menu, users can select which files to wirelessly upload. Any “protected” photo will automatically be uploaded, and all photos will remain on the memory card until the user manually deletes them. Selective Transfer is free, and available now for all Eye-Fi card users through the Eye-Fi Manager.

On the Eye-Fi Connected camera front, the following cameras are all Eye-Fi Connected: Nikon D5000, Nikon D90, Nikon D60, Casio EX-S12, Casio EX-S5, Casio EX-FS10, Casio EX-FC100 and Casio EX-Z29.

Eye Fi ups storage, enables video uploading

Peter Ha — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:36:32 +0000

My favorite little at-home gadget is getting a shake up today. Eye-Fi’s Wi-Fi SD cards not only upload images, but now video to YouTube and Flickr. The Share Video and Explore Video cards are now 4GB standard and the existing line of 2GB Eye Fi cards received a price drop.

The Explore is $99 and geotags your images and videos automatically; also hooks you up with hotspots across the land. The Share is $79 and uploads photos and videos to the content sharing sites of your choice and your home computer. The 2GB Share card is now $59 and the Home card is $59.

And to top things off, Eye Fi also announced an iPhone app that allows you to upload your iPhone pics in the same manner as their SD cards.

[PSGallery=3ksml2mlg9]

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 has built-in Wi-Fi, 3 years of free AT&T hotspot access

Nicholas Deleon — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:00:09 +0000

Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-G3 point-and-shoot digital camera not only has built-in Wi-Fi, but it also has its own Web browser. Guess that makes uploading your photos to the Internet a little easier.

The camera itself is a 10-megapixel one, with a 4X optical zoom. So, nothing too out of the ordinary, then.

It’ll upload to “popular” photo and (video) sharing site; Sony mentions Picassa and Shutterfly, but presumably you’d be able to upload to Facebook and Flickr, the [other] two big ones.

Sony even throws in a few years of free AT&T Wi-Fi access, the kind you’d find at Starbucks. Free access lasts till January, 2012.

One small issue: price. It’s a little steep at $500 (but it’s available now). Seems to me EyeFi would be a much cheaper way to approximate the experience.

[PSGallery=1m4d05n6x2]

Eye-Fi to feature HD video uploads to Youtube at CES

Ivan Beres — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:40:43 +0000

Good news, YouTube freaks. Eye-Fi is going to demo the all new video-upload-to-youtube feature at CES. According to the Video End-User Research: 2008, you guys use your camera to shoot videos quite often. It’s the same as before, just with video and in HD.

CES, LAS VEGAS — Jan. 7, 2009 — Eye-Fi Inc., makers of the world’s first wireless memory card for digital cameras, today announced that it is developing a way for users to wirelessly upload videos from their digital camera to YouTube and a home computer. Eye-Fi will preview the technology at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 8-11, in booth #32024 in the TechZone of South Hall Three.

“We’re aiming to do for video what we’ve already done for photos: provide the easiest, simplest way to save and share your digital memories,” said Jef Holove, CEO for Eye-Fi. ”Our wireless technology makes it effortless to upload videos to YouTube using the digital camera you already have, without the fuss of special software. You won’t need to find a USB cable or even turn on your computer to get your memories in front of one of the largest audiences on the Web.”

According to a recent InfoTrends study, Video End-User Research: 2008, the point-and-shoot camera is now the most commonly used device for capturing memories on video. With Eye-Fi’s wireless SD memory cards for digital cameras, users can upload photos – and soon video – automatically through Wi-Fi networks. Eye-Fi hotspot subscribers can also upload their memories away from home at more than 10,000 Wayport and open hotspot locations across the U.S.

Eye-Fi is designing its video upload service to support full-resolution HD video, with newer cameras like the Nikon D90 capturing HD video and Web sites including YouTube now testing display of HD video.

“Some of the most popular clips on YouTube are shot on digital cameras, rather than video camcorders,” said Ziv Gillat, vice president of business development for Eye-Fi. “Eye-Fi will give people the power to upload videos automatically, making it even easier for the YouTube community to post their life events, home videos and breaking news – virtually as they happen.”

Eye-Fi will also demonstrate its new video upload technology in the “Last Gadget Standing” event on January 10 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. PST in room N255-257 in LVCC, North Hall.

Eye-Fi’s wireless SD memory cards have won numerous awards, including Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New 2008” and PC World’s “The 100 Best Products of 2008.” For more information, please visit www.eye.fi.

About Eye-Fi

Founded in 2005, the company is dedicated to building products and services that help consumers navigate, nurture and share their visual memories. Eye-Fi’s patent-pending technology works with Wi-Fi networks to automatically send photos from a digital camera to online, in-home and retail destinations. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., the company’s investors include LMS Capital, Opus Capital, Shasta Ventures and TransLink Capital. More information is available at www.eye.fi.

Evernote now works with Eye-Fi cards (and it's about time)

Nicholas Deleon — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:00:41 +0000

Evernote is a service that lets you send photos and select text and images then upload them to a central location. Then you’re free to search the items—photos of business cards, for example—in order to “remember” them. Now, couple Evernote with an Eye-Fi card and then you may have something.

The new partnership between Evernote and Eye-Fi started yesterday, meaning that you can take proper photos (with an SLR, I hope) of whatever—a funny ad on the street, a sale price sign on some out-of-the-way store, and so on—then send them off to your Evernote account. Why use your brain to remember things when you can rely on proprietary technology!

It seems like a long overdue step for the Evernote folks.

Review: Lexar Shoot-n-Sync Wi-Fi memory card

Peter Ha — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:00:17 +0000

By now most of you have heard of the Eye-Fi Wi-Fi SD memory card and what it’s capable of, right? Okay, good. Earlier this year, January to be exact, Lexar announced that they had teamed up with Eye-Fi to bring a Lexar branded SD card with Eye-Fi technology by year’s end. Well, the time has come — Lexar’s Shoot-n-Sync card is finally here and I’ve been testing it out for the last couple weeks. It rocks, but it does have a hangup or two.

From a casual point-and-shooter’s perspective I doubt you’d have any real qualms about performance, but it’s a slow-ass card (something we already knew) and simply can’t hang when shooting with an SLR. That’s not to say you can’t use it with an SLR, but if you’re shooting in high or lo Drive Mode (or whatever it’s called on your SLR) it will bog down after two shots. I hope Lexar bumps up the speed on these Shoot-n-Sync cards going forward.

My card speed gripe aside, the Shoot-n-Sync works well. Setup took less than five minutes. The 2GB card comes in a card reader that’s embedded with Eye-Fi software, so the first thing you’ll have to do is plug the card reader with the card straight into your Windows or OS X machine. Once the application is installed, you just need to set up your home network within the Eye-Fi Manager software. The next step is to link your Shoot-n-Sync card with the photo sharing site(s) of your choice and pick a folder on your computer where images will be uploaded. You also have the option of enabling Geotagging, but that’s an extra $15/year. On top of that, an additional $15/year can be tacked on if you want access to hotspots. All of this takes roughly 5 minutes and you’re on your way.

During my tests, I had images upload to my Flickr account within a matter of seconds but, on occasion, it would take up to a minute for photos to show up on my desktop. The Eye-Fi servers can be a bit finicky at times, but I doubt anyone is going to be anal enough to count the milliseconds in between photo uploads. I don’t believe the size of the image has a lot of bearing on upload times, but I’d be a fool to say that a 2-megapixel image uploads just as fast as a 10-megapixel image. I’m just saying that the upload times aren’t significant enough that you’d be whining about it. Manually transferring images to your computer and then on to a photo-sharing site would take significantly longer.

I typically shoot in RAW, but that does nothing for me when I’m using the Shoot-n-Sync. The RAW files won’t transfer to my computer and it certainly won’t upload to Flickr. Because of this, I’ve been shooting in RAW+, which solves the problem of uploading to my computer/Flickr. But it does cut down on the amount of images that I can take with a 2GB card. Images are uploaded to Flickr (or the photo-sharing site of your choice) even when your computer is off. As long as it can access the network with your camera turned on, the images will upload. When you do turn on your computer, the images will upload to your desired folder.

The S-n-S can be had for as low as $75 on Amazon, but should you want access to hotspots and geotagging it ends up being $105. Compare that to Eye-Fi’s Explore card, which comes with both services right out of the gate at a price of $96, you’d be saving $11. But the Explore card has unlimited geotagging and you’d only be paying $15/year for hotspot access after the first year. I personally don’t care for geotagging, but this is something you should consider if you’re looking at both cards and want that functionality. The S-n-S really goes head-to-head with the Share card and that one sells for $71.

Lexar’s Shoot-n-Sync Wi-Fi SD card works well with the Eye-Fi service and I’d suggest purchasing this one over the Eye-Fi cards for the one-year warranty over anything else. Eye-Fi only gives you 90 days and paying the extra $5 (or whatever it is) is definitely worth it.

Product Page

Amazon

Lexar is also guilty of packaging a small doodad into a ginormous waste of resources.

Eye-Fi wireless SD card gets bumped up to 4GB

Contributor — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Everyone’s favorite wireless memory card is now available with four gigabytes of storage. The Eye-Fi Anniversary Edition has just been announced to commemorate one year of wireless photo slinging from the Mountain View, California-based company.

The card is selling with an MSRP of $129.99 but Costco members can get it for $99 on Costco.com – not too bad for a 4GB SDHC card with a built-in wireless chip that automatically transfers photos to your computer and 25+ online photo sharing services. You can also add automatic geotagging and/or Wayport wireless hotspot access for $14.99 per year, per service.

CF-to-SD adapter allows Eye-Fi in your CF-based camera

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:40:53 +0000

Eye-Fi cards are great, but if you’re rocking a CompactFlash setup like me, you’re kind of out of luck. And then a simple thing like this adapter comes to your attention and whole realms of possibility are opened to you. $28? Hell yes, I’m getting one of these things.

Eye-Fi Manager update integrates the awesomeness that is Twitter

Peter Ha — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:30:21 +0000

The other week Eye-Fi announced that upload speeds were improved for their SD cards and today we’ve learned that they now support Twitter and RSS feeds. If you haven’t already updated then you should fire up your Eye-Fi Manager ASAP. One can assume this applies to the Lexar mashup, Shoot-N-Sync. These little buggers just keep getting better and better.

Eye-Fi cards now magically will go twice as fast

Devin Coldewey — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:31:57 +0000

The famous Eye-Fi card, which beams your photos wirelessly from your camera to your computer or what have you, is getting an upgrade. Starting October 5 (If I’m reading this correctly), Eye-Fi cards will now upload at twice the speeds they used to. Am I missing something here? Quote:

Eye-Fi Inc., makers of the world’s first wireless memory card for digital cameras, today announced enhancements to its family of Eye-Fi cards that will make the upload of digital photos from camera to computer twice as fast. The faster wireless speeds will also be made available to existing Eye-Fi users at no extra cost.

Depending on the card you already have, you can also get upgrades like geotagging and direct-to-web uploading for various services like Adoramapix (?) and MobileMe (gah!). You can also purchase year-long access to a type of wireless hotspot I have never heard of before, despite there being 10,000 of them. All in all, fine additions to a fine product. Lovely.

Lexar partnering with Eye-Fi on Shoot-N-Sync Wi-Fi memory card

Peter Ha — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:06:29 +0000

Today, Lexar Media announced an Eye-Fi connected 2GB SD card dubbed Shoot-N-Sync. If you recall, Lexar and Eye-Fi released a statement way back in January at CES that something was in the works. It does all the glorious things the Eye-Fi card does, but it’s now coming from a legitimate memory card manufacturer. The SNS is classless, but I’m told that a conservative guess at speed would be Class 2. I’m sure with time the speed of these Wi-Fi cards will increase, I hope. The Shoot-N-Sync from Lexar will ship next month and it’s compatible with both Mac and PC.

Camera with Eye-Fi card uploads thieves pictures after theft

John Biggs — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:50:40 +0000

A couple from Long Island left their camera at a restaurant in Florida where two of the employees found and kept it . The camera contained an Eye-Fi card which automatically found an open wireless base station and began uploading their photos including some photos the thieves had taken of each other. When they contacted the restaurant with the evidence, the camera was returned and the couple declined to press charges, proving that even technologists have a heart.

I wonder how much this is going to affect petty theft. With everything enabled for Wi-Fi and cellular, how often will we get our pockets picked when the thieves have no idea how the device is rigged.