Eye-Fi
Eye-Fi is a company based in Mountain View, California that produces SD memory cards and SDHC cards with Wi-Fi capabilities. Using an Eye-Fi card inside a camera, one can wirelessly and automatically upload digital photos to a local computer (running Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X) even though, by default, every single picture is routed to Eye-Fi servers[1]. Some models also allow for uploading photos to photo sharing, blogging and social networking sites such as Flickr, Picasa, Facebook and PhotoBucket;[2] and some models also allow for uploading videos, both to a personal computer and to YouTube.[3]
Eye-Fi currently produces three models of cards: "Connect X2" (4 GB), "Mobile X2" (8 GB) and "Pro X2" (8 GB). The older and now discontinued models include "Explore X2", "Geo X2", "Pro", "Geo", "Home/Video", "Share/Video", "Explore Video" and also an "Anniversary Edition". Every card features the same technical specifications and beside the sizes only vary in the additional services provided with it (e.g. "WebSharing", "Geotagging", "Hotspot", etc.).[4]
"Share" versions allow uploading to various photo-sharing websites. The "Share Video" card allows uploading videos as well. The "Pro" adds raw image support and peer-to-peer or ad-hoc networking.[5] The "Pro X2" added class 6 read & write speeds, 802.11n and a new feature named "Endless Memory Mode" that automatically deletes images from the card after they are delivered to their intended destination; all of these have since been migrated to the Connect X2 and Mobile X2.
Certain cards offer photo geotagging (WPS) through relationships with Google and hotspot access through a relationship with AT&T Wi-Fi, HarborLink, and DeviceScape's EasyWifi. The location is not locally recorded in conventional Exif coordinate form, but is inserted into Exif upon upload.[6] The Pro X2 ships with both free lifetime geotagging and 1 year of free hotspot access, as did the Explore X2. The Geo X2 offered free lifetime geotagging, but not free hotspot access. Other models can be upgraded (for a fee) to include both features.
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[edit] History
Eye-Fi was founded in 2005 by Yuval Koren, Ziv Gillat, Eugene Feinberg and Berend Ozceri.[7] Jef Holove became the CEO in September 2007,[8] with Yuval Koren taking over in May 2011.
[edit] Technical specifications of the Eye-Fi cards
- Wi-Fi security: Static WEP 64/128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
- Range: 90+ feet (27.4m) outdoors and 45+ feet (13.7m) indoors
- Storage capacity: 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB
- Power: Powered through device.
- Card dimensions: SD standard 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm
- Card weight: 2.835 gram (0.1oz.)
- 802.11b/g/n
[edit] Hardware
The card is manufactured for Eye-Fi by Wintec Industries Inc. of Milpitas, California, and contains the following major components:
- Atheros AR6001GL "Radio-on-a-Chip for Mobile" (ROCm)
- Samsung Electronics K9LAG08U1M NAND flash
- Hyperstone S4 flash memory controller
- Epic Communications FM2422 compact RF front-end module
- Fairchild Semiconductor FAN5350 step-down switching voltage regulator
[edit] Software
Settings of the Eye-Fi card such as wireless network access, selecting upload location on local computer and configuring photo sharing sites is done through software called the Eye-Fi Center which is available for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Recently mobile access (in beta) has been added via a browser by visiting: http://m.center.eye.fi
Before to use any Eye-Fi card the user must "register" on the Eye-Fi website, in doing so the card software demands the firewall to be opened for the Eye-Fi software[9], the same happens every time the user needs to reconfigure its wireless network with the network data ending up sent and stored to Eye-Fi servers and that happens by default to every single picture too.[10]
Eye-Fi offers an iPhone program, but it is only available in the US, UK, Canada and Japan App Store.[11]
Under Linux, the EyeFi card can be configured using eyefi-config, which allows viewing the logfiles and changing the wireless settings. To receive images from the card, there are several alternatives, EyeFiServer (in Python), iiid in C++), RyFI (Ruby based) and Node-Eyefi (NodeJS). However, the UploadKey and TransferMode must still be defined from within Windows/Mac for the first use: although 'eyefi-config -k' has the capability to "print card's unique key", this isn't the UploadKey that is needed.
[edit] Currently supported photo services
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012) |
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[edit] Awards and accolades
Eye-Fi has won the following awards:
- "CNET Best of CES" at CES Consumer Electronics Show 2010 [12]
- "CES Innovations" Honoree at CES Consumer Electronics Show 2010 [13]
- "Best of Show" at Macworld 2008[14]
- "Editor's Choice Award 2008" from The Mac Observer[14]
- "Last Gadget Standing" winner, Consumer Electronics Show 2008[15]
- "Last Gadget Standing" live contest winner, Consumer Electronics Show 2009[16]
In November 2007, Wall Street Journal writer Katherine Boehret called the Eye-Fi card "a terrific little tool".[17]
The magazine Wired placed the Eye-Fi Pro on their "2009 Wish List", calling it "Arbus meets Airbus".[18]
In October 2010, Time magazine technology editor Peter Ha placed the original 2 GB Eye-Fi card on his list of "the 100 greatest and most influential gadgets from 1923 to the present".[19]
[edit] References
- ^ [1] Retrieved on 2012-01-20
- ^ Eye-Fi introduces camera cards that wirelessly uploads videos to the Web and an iPhone app Retrieved on 2009-05-19
- ^ Eye-Fi Share Video 4GB SD card with Wi-Fi Retrieved on 2009-06-15
- ^ Eye-Fi current products
- ^ EYE-FI INTRODUCES A WIRELESS MEMORY CARD FOR PHOTO ENTHUSIASTS Retrieved on 2009-06-15
- ^ How Eye-Fi geotagging works
- ^ Eye-Fi: About Us: Management
- ^ Jef Holove biography, Where 2.0 Conference
- ^ [2] Retrieved on 2012-01-20
- ^ [3] Retrieved on 2012-01-20
- ^ "Outside US". Eye-Fi. http://forums.eye.fi/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=829. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
- ^ [4] Jan 9, 2010
- ^ [5] Jan 7, 2010
- ^ a b Eye-Fi enables seamless experience with Snow Leopard (press release), August 27, 2009
- ^ Eye-Fi wins Last Gadget Standing contest, again! (press release), January 11, 2009
- ^ And the winners are..., lastgadgetstanding.com, January 13, 2009
- ^ No Excuses: a Wire-Free Way to Upload Photos, Katherine Boehret, The Mossberg Solution, The Wall Street Journal, November 21, 2007
- ^ Wish List 2009, Wired, December 2009
- ^ All-TIME 100 Gadgets, Peter Ha, Time, October 25, 2010
