Thieves thwarted...

[Al_Nowak]

I saw an interesting story on a computer magazine page.

A woman had installed one of the Eye-Fi wi-fi link memory cards in her camera, and the camera was stolen.

If you haven'y seen it, the Eye-Fi is a SD memory card that also has a wi-fi trasceiver built in, and can be configured to automatically download the camera images if it finds an accessable wi-fi link.

Her husband went to the web site the card transfers the cameras images to and downloaded the images the thieves were shooting with the stolen camera. The thieves were subsequently identified by the police, arrested, and the camera recovered.

I'd like to see a compact flash memory card version. I'm surprised someone hasn't come up with something for the CF card bunch already. Or maybe a separate unit that would connect to cameras via a USB port.

[Mark_Oehler]

I believe there is an adapter to convert an SD card to a CF card. In theory, that might give you the same effect.

But, I thought an Eye-Fi was configured for just a certain Wi-Fi network.

[Absolutely Digital]

i heard a similar story with the isight on a mac and the "back to my mac" program. There is nothing like an thief with poor product knowledge.

[Al_Nowak]

Originally Posted by Mark_Oehler

I believe there is an adapter to convert an SD card to a CF card. In theory, that might give you the same effect.

But, I thought an Eye-Fi was configured for just a certain Wi-Fi network.

I'll readily admit that I don't even try to keep up with all the new gadgets that appear frequently, but I've never seen or heard anything about a SD to CF adapter.

But a Google did turn up such a beastie...
http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/eagl...adapter_review

I kind of doubt the Eye-Fi would work with it though. Some of my past experiments with such hybrid configurations have taught me there are always a few "gotcha's" that spring up to spoil things

From what I see in the Eye-fi web page, nothing seems to restrict which wi-fi network the card connects to.

Check out http://www.eye.fi/overview/

Now if the lady had the high end Eye-fi card with the location feature, the card could probably add the thieves exact geographical location to the picture info (EXIF file), leading the police right to them... cool huh!

[RHWeiner]

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomene...i-wifi-memory/

These guys have the CF adaptor as part of their package.

I've been reading on this and thinking that, while it would be of little use for my Canon 20D (shooting RAW...the Eye-fi does only JPG and slowly, too) I do have a Canon S5-IS that it would work in without an adaptor.

As it is I think (if I understand this correctly) this device only works in WiFi hotspots and you first have to get it to connect to your wireless connection at home via the WiFi after which the card will start sending to the Eye-fi server which in turn uploads the images to an image share site of your choice. I don't know if it sends directly to your home computer though...I don't relish uploading to anywhere else than on my own drive...and as I said only if you are in a hotspot.

But the photojojo site also deals with the situations (like a wedding location shoot) when you aren't near a hotspot. Then you have to have a laptop to download the images to and a portable wireless modem/router which will then upload to your home computer. Just what I need...more technology for me to misplace, have stolen, or just outright crash on me in the midst of delivering the files.

But if anyone here on G1 has one of these cards I'd be interested in reading what they think of it...and whether it's a smart investment or 'yet another toy'.

Richard W.

[Al_Nowak]

According to the photojojo page, you can bypass the wi-fi internet system and go straight to your computer. I presume that this does require a wi-fi capable computer, otherwise you have no radio link. And of course the computer has to be on, and running the appropriate software.

From the photojojo.com page...

"Q: Can I upload photos directly to my computer without an Internet connection?

A: Yes! If your Eye-Fi is setup only to send photos to your computer, it can do this without a net connection. You'll still need a wireless access point, and access to the Internet to complete intiial setup."

The review on this widget on dpreview indicates a transfer rate of around 200 kbps, which ain't blazingly fast. The review is fairly comprehensive, but really leaves a number of questions, especially regarding the high end version with the location feature. I really don't understand their comment about a SD card with a USB connector as a replacement though. Anybody figure that out?

We really need a comprehensive hands-on user report on this widget.