Chip start-up Eye-Fi has created a memory card that includes a Wi-Fi chip. When a picture is taken, the photo is automatically sent to a photo site, according to Ken Elefant, a partner at Opus Capital, which has invested in the company. When you get the memory card, you set the priorities so that the photos get automatically sent to a given photo site. It is currently unclear on whether the user can choose which photos are sent or whether every single one is transferred. One element that Eye-Fi is trying to integrate is the automatic posting of images to photo blogs. The card fits the standard SD format because the memory chips are stacked.
Considering wi-fi can tap battery power and raise the price of memory cards but the chip can essentially save the end-user a lot of time, tell me Neowin, is this something consumers want?
News source: News.com
Considering wi-fi can tap battery power and raise the price of memory cards but the chip can essentially save the end-user a lot of time, tell me Neowin, is this something consumers want?
News source: News.com
"the photo is automatically sent to a photo site"
If camera wifi is a requirement, it should be a feature of the camera, not the storage media.
I keep a handful of memory cards on hand - why would I want wifi duplicated in each card rather than in the camera itself? Oh, and pay for the privilege?
I agree in part but what about all those people who spent thousands on expensive digital cameras and want to add wifi capabilities? They probably won't go out to buy another camera just for wifi but they may spend a few hundred on a wifi card.
My biggest complaint is that it sends to a photo site. Personally I think it would be better to be able to send to a computer or wifi enabled digital wallet rather than directly to a website.
For normal user point and shoot camera's it's best to have it as an SD or CF card that has it built in.
From my experience with them, you either manually configure, or use a reader on the PC to write the config to the card, which means you have complete control over where it gets sent. The only proviso is that it means setting up an FTP server on your home PC to be able to receive the pictures (as FTP is how you would be sending them to anything online)
They also are configurable as to whether the pics are stored, sent immediately, or chose to send each one after you approve to send it.
It's not ahead of it's time, it's slightly behind, ask any professional D-SLR user!
most devices should have wifi access long ago... but as usual it's about profit and margin...stretch out the feature list and release a new version of a device every year with something added to sell again when all of these things could've been added from early on.
they should do more effort in things that would be more useful
Glassed Silver:mac
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