Eye-Fi to get upgraded with "Smart Boost," become available in Ritz Camera stores

Eye-Fi still hasn't taken the world by storm, but the company is hard at work improving the WiFi-enabled SD card, which is now available in Ritz Camera outlets. The newest feature for the cards, due on February 12, is called "Smart Boost," which will intelligently prioritize where data is going to improve battery life. If your computer is on or awake, the Eye-Fi will send photos across the LAN to the client software, which will then handle the upload to your fave photo service, but if the Eye-Fi doesn't detect your machine, the chip will send images the service directly. Of course, this is all assuming you're still on your home network, so the practical effect is pretty low, but it's nice to see the company trying -- just let us know when the Eye-Fi can use open hotspots, okay?

[aldenhg @ Feb 1st 2008 11:47PM]

I know there's software out there for Windows Mobile smartphones with WiFi that turn the phone into a wireless router. Keep your laptop in your backpack and configure the EyeFi to work through the phone-provided network.

[Bobs @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:07AM]

Why is the comment system broken? i cant reply to anyone.

[wifiguy @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:14AM]

Does anybody really care about this product? I have seen postings about this product like it was in Apple product!

[moo083 @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:22AM]

Imagine this program: An app for the iPhone that takes photos from an Eye-Fi, then geotags them using cell triangulation, and dumps them in the iPhone photos folder for images taken on the phone. They could advertise geotagging using their device!

[aguiluz @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:26AM]

@Bobs
Yes, the commenting system is in a bit of a slump lately, but at least we can still post, right?

It puzzles me on how they can actually fit all of those stuff in there, you know, the connectors, the write protect switch, the storage, and the Wi-Fi module and an antenna. What did they use? A Shrink Ray?

[Richard @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:45AM]

I would like to have an inverse version of this that would pull photos from flickr etc and have them on the card so that it can be used in a digital photo frame or one of those slideshow on TV boxes. If you could sync 2 of these over a wireless network it would be great for having people take snaps at an event and have them immediately on a screen for all to see.

Also the no hotspot thing is a killer. But its a problem when hotspots use a stupid propriatory splash page via http for authentication. What would be good is a way to pre-buy authentication online and upload it to the card before going out, and it was able to then use this stored info to hit the authentication page of the hotspot - clearly it can talk http since it uploads to web services already. I am sure if they worked with the larger hotspot makers to hammer out a standard then the cards could get authed over wifi if you purchased a code and texted it into the hotspot provider too.

Till I can be in public and simply turn the camera on outside a starbucks or whatever location with a hotspot and have the images transfer then its still just a novelty IMO.

[matt @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:26PM]

when this thing supports raw images, i'll buy one. until then pretty useless for me.

[James Grinter @ Feb 4th 2008 10:25AM]

It's actually pretty cool as it is - because if you shoot RAW+JPEG it'll store the RAW image on the inbuilt storage and just upload your JPEG.

Great if your camera model doesn't have a Wifi transmitter option, and even if it does the Eye-Fi is a cheaper option. (If you've got a DSLR with two-slot support, you could put this - inside of a CF/SD adaptor - in one slot, and your regular storage card in the other. Then store JPEGs to this, and RAWs to the other.)

Even those who use the Nikon WT-* transmitters for the D2/D3 tend to only send JPEG across the wireless network, because RAWs are big and take too long to transmit.

I do think instant upload to online services is just a bit of a gimmick, though. But if that sells it for them, fair play.

[marko mandaric @ Feb 2nd 2008 4:43AM]

can we get some proper grammer?


you guys are getting paid for this right?

[Uncle Sumer @ Feb 9th 2008 8:17PM]

Iff these could scan fer surveilance aimed it's way, and tap a cellular/ wireless /etc feed or corporate/ gvrnmnt/ source weblink therefrom or thereof by whatever syncretic MO, thenn such should soon be a keystone to be made into a social network VR-site, mapped by Swarm image technoos, and some Frappr use of grid-ware [-shelled virtual Q-computers...] & perhaps some cam-detecting scanner [like:lens-recog phase-conjugate laser flash; say, with WII/ Segway gyroscopic-orientation and gps-finescalar compass], etCetERA...
:: wellll, then we got a metaMEME mediation to mold the new zeitgeist some means!

- Uncle Sumer, just tinkering on my way thru, thanx,
-(am mostly busy with AI paradigms at MIMIIR project)-

[dean @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:49PM]

I don't really understand this device. So plug it into your SD slot in the camera, take some pictures, then push some buttons on camera to send to your laptop/desktop. Or you could take a standard SD card, pull it out of the camera, plug into the laptop, where it automatically dumps. Its not much trouble at all.

However, if it could transfer pics to any WiFi device (bluetooth would be nice), then I see how making any device with an SD slot compatible with a wireless network would be handy.

Or manufacturers could start integrating Wifi chips into more stuff. But this is a nice short-term solution I guess.

[bradpitt @ Feb 3rd 2008 4:10AM]

can this eye-fi be used as a simple wifi card? for example, acer n35 pocket pc has one sd card slot, but this sucker doesn't have inbuilt wifi. can this be used for wifi and flash memory to store programs/files/etc?