It's no wonder that more and more accessories for them continue to be developed. Digital picture frames are a hot-ticket item. After all, they're a great way to display the images we take. Another way digital shutterbugs can show off their images is on the Web. There are dozens of Web site services that let you share your images online such as flickr, shutterfly, snapfish and facebook, just to name a few.
Digital cameras have eliminated the tedium of film cameras. No longer do we have to remove used film cartridges, wind in new ones and ship them off to be developed. Yet there is still one bit of digital tedium that remains intact: offloading the images from the camera to the computer.
When you are ready to offload the pictures you've taken, you first have to attach the camera to your computer via the supplied USB cable. Then you typically must run some kind of application that lets you dump all of the images into your computer or select those you want to offload – unless, of course, the camera is set up to look like an attached hard drive so you can drag and drop the images from one location to another.
After that you can once again feel creative by grouping the pictures you want, adding titles and captions and generally having fun with them.
So let's take a closer look at that boring offloading process for a moment. What if you didn't have to do that anymore? What if you could just point and shoot, and your images would automatically be downloaded to your computer without any wires?
Even better, what if you could just download them directly to the Web onto any of those picture Web sites I mentioned? Or best of all, what if you could do both at the same time?
Well, now you can. With Eye-Fi, you can just snap the pictures and automatically have them delivered to your computer and a Web site, without using any wires. The Eye-Fi is a 2-gigabyte SD-type memory card that replaces your camera's memory card. But what makes Eye-Fi's memory card stand out from the crowd is that it also has 802.11g Wi-Fi technology built in.
But it's more than just the built-in Wi-Fi that makes the whole thing work. The Eye-Fi is a well-thought-out system that takes you through an easy set-up process. Included with the little SD card is a USB memory card reader. This is used as part of the set-up procedure.
To begin, you first insert the Eye-Fi SD card into the reader and plug the device into your computer's USB port. From there, a built-in application lets you set up the Eye-Fi to detect and access your wireless network, configure a password entry for security and select where and how you want the Eye-Fi to deliver your images.
The Eye-Fi is pretty flexible with its options and will let you access most Wi-Fi networks, with some exceptions. For example, while it will let you access most public Hot Spots, it doesn't yet work at ones that require you to log in via an initial Web browser "splash" screen.
Once you have your Eye-Fi set up and registered with the Eye-Fi service, you remove the card from the reader, insert it into your digital camera and you're ready to go. Now all you have to do is take pictures. If you are within your Wi-Fi network's range, your pictures will be instantly uploaded to your computer, to your selected Web site or both, depending on how you configured it.
Pictures will be sent as complete JPEG files to your computer, but depending on the Web service you select, the images may be scaled automatically to fit any required format constraints.
The Eye-Fi works only with cameras that use the SD-format memory cards and is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh computers. For a list of the compatible cameras and services, it's best to visit the Eye-Fi Web site at www.eye.fi.com.
The Eye-Fi Card's suggested retail price is $99.99. This price includes a card reader, access to the Eye-Fi Manager and unlimited uploads via the Eye-Fi Service.
If you're struggling to find something for the technology buff who has a digital camera this holiday, find out if his or her camera uses an SD memory card. Or if you don't want to tip the recipient off, just ask for its make and model. Then see if it's listed at the Eye-Fi Web site.
The Eye-Fi is a gift that will make any digital camera owner smile without even saying "Cheese!"
Palm Beach resident Craig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist who writes about computers and technology. He also hosts the No. 1 and longest-running nationwide computer radio talk show, "Computer America," heard on the Business TalkRadio and Lifestyle TalkRadio networks Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to midnight, ET. The program also can be heard via the live streaming audio at his Web site, www.computeramerica.com. Crossman welcomes comments.
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source: palmbeachdailynews.com
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