Eye-Fi
Encyclopedia
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
). Some models also allow for uploading photos to photo sharing, blogging and social networking sites such as Flickr
, Picasa
, Facebook
and PhotoBucket
; and some models also allow for uploading videos, both to a personal computer and to YouTube
.
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).
"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. 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 a relationship with Skyhook Wireless
and hotspot
access through a relationship with DeviceScape at AT&T Wi-Fi. The location is not locally recorded in conventional Exif coordinate form, but is inserted into Exif upon upload. 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.
of Milpitas, California
, and contains the following major components:
and Mac OS X
. Recently mobile access (in beta) has been added via a browser by visiting: http://m.center.eye.fi
Eye-Fi offers an iPhone
program, but it is only available in the US
, UK, Canada and Japan App Store.
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++) and RyFI (Ruby based)
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.
In November 2007, Wall Street Journal writer Katherine Boehret
called the Eye-Fi card "a terrific little tool".
The magazine Wired
placed the Eye-Fi Pro on their "2009 Wish List", calling it "Arbus
meets Airbus
".
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".
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
that produces SD memory cards and SDHC cards with Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
capabilities. Using an Eye-Fi card inside a camera, one can wirelessly and automatically upload digital photos to a local computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
(running Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
or Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
). Some models also allow for uploading photos to photo sharing, blogging and social networking sites such as Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
, Picasa
Picasa
Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab in 2002 and owned by Google since 2004. "Picasa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and PhotoBucket
Photobucket
Photobucket is an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website. It was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. It was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in 2007....
; and some models also allow for uploading videos, both to a personal computer and to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
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).
"Share" versions allow uploading to various photo-sharing websites. The "Share Video" card allows uploading videos as well. The "Pro" adds raw
RAW image format
A camera raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, image scanner, or motion picture film scanner. Raw files are so named because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor...
image support and peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
or ad-hoc networking. 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
GeoTagging
Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as a geotagged photograph or video, websites, SMS messages, QR Codes or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata...
(WPS) through a relationship with Skyhook Wireless
Skyhook Wireless
Skyhook Wireless is a Boston-based company that developed a technology for determining geographical location using Wi-Fi as the underlying reference system. Using the MAC addresses of nearby wireless access points and proprietary algorithms, Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System WPS can determine...
and hotspot
Hotspot (Wi-Fi)
A hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider...
access through a relationship with DeviceScape at AT&T Wi-Fi. The location is not locally recorded in conventional Exif coordinate form, but is inserted into Exif upon upload. 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.
History
Eye-Fi was founded in 2005 by Yuval Koren, Ziv Gillat, Eugene Feinberg and Berend Ozceri. Jef Holove became the CEO in September 2007, with Yuval Koren taking over in May 2011.Technical specifications of the Eye-Fi cards
- Wi-Fi security: Static WEPWEPWEP may stand for:* Wired Equivalent Privacy, a deprecated wireless network security standard. Sometimes erroneously called "Wireless Encryption Protocol".* War emergency power, for fighter aircraft...
64/128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK - Range: 90+ feet (27.4m) outdoors and 45+ feet (13.7m) indoors
- Storage capacity: 2 GBGigabyteThe gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
, 4 GBGigabyteThe gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
or 8 GBGigabyteThe gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is... - 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
Hardware
The card is manufactured for Eye-Fi by Wintec Industries Inc.Wintec Industries Inc.
Wintec Industries Inc. is a privately held maker of computer components founded in 1988 and headquartered in Milpitas, California.Wintec belongs to the standard-setting organization, JEDEC....
of Milpitas, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and contains the following major components:
- AtherosAtherosQualcomm Atheros is a developer of semiconductors for network communications, particularly wireless chipsets. Founded under the name Atheros in 1998 by experts in signal processing from Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley and the private industry, it became a public company...
AR6001GL "Radio-on-a-Chip for Mobile" (ROCm) - Samsung ElectronicsSamsung ElectronicsSamsung Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul...
K9LAG08U1M NAND flash - Hyperstone S4 flash memory controllerMemory controllerThe memory controller is a digital circuit which manages the flow of data going to and from the main memory. It can be a separate chip or integrated into another chip, such as on the die of a microprocessor...
- Epic Communications FM2422 compact RF front-end module
- Fairchild SemiconductorFairchild SemiconductorFairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
FAN5350 step-down switching voltage regulator
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 WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. Recently mobile access (in beta) has been added via a browser by visiting: http://m.center.eye.fi
Eye-Fi offers an iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
program, but it is only available in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, UK, Canada and Japan App Store.
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++) and RyFI (Ruby based)
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.
Currently-supported photo services
|
Sharpcast SugarSync is a free service that actively syncs your files across all your computers and devices. SugarSync is operated by SugarSync, Inc. and is based in San Mateo, California... Shutterfly Shutterfly is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly's flagship product is its photo book line. It is based in Redwood City, California.-Features:... Smugmug SmugMug is a paid digital photo sharing website.- History :Chris MacAskill and Don MacAskill started the original company to build a new video game-oriented web service in February 2002. By August 2002, though, their focus shifted... Snapfish Snapfish is a web-based photo sharing and photo printing service that is owned by Hewlett-Packard. Members can upload files for free, and are given unlimited photo storage.- History :... TypePad TypePad is a blogging service from company Say Media . Originally launched in October 2003, TypePad is based on Six Apart's Movable Type platform, and shares technology with Movable Type such as templates and APIs, but is marketed to non-technical users and includes additional features like... Vox (blogging platform) Vox was an Internet blogging service run by Six Apart, which ran from October 26, 2006 to September 30, 2010. Before launching, it had the codename "Project Comet".... Webshots -History:Webshots was created in 1995 by Auralis, Inc. in San Diego, California. It was initially a sports oriented screen saver sold at retail for desktop computers. Founders Andrew Laakmann, Danna Laakmann, Nick Wilder, and Narendra Rocherolle migrated the desktop software to the Web and became... Windows Live Windows Live is the collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft, part of their software plus services platform. A majority of these services are Web applications, accessible from a browser, but there are also client-side binary applications that require... YouTube YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos.... |
Awards and accolades
Eye-Fi has won the following awards:- "CNET Best of CES" at CES Consumer Electronics ShowConsumer Electronics ShowThe International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
2010 - "CES Innovations" Honoree at CES Consumer Electronics ShowConsumer Electronics ShowThe International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
2010 - "Best of Show" at MacworldMacworld Conference & ExpoProduced by Boston-based IDG World Expo, Macworld | iWorld is a trade-show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It is held annually in the United States, usually during the second week of January...
2008 - "Editor's Choice Award 2008" from The Mac Observer
- "Last Gadget Standing" winner, Consumer Electronics ShowConsumer Electronics ShowThe International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
2008 - "Last Gadget Standing" live contest winner, Consumer Electronics ShowConsumer Electronics ShowThe International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
2009
In November 2007, Wall Street Journal writer Katherine Boehret
Katherine Boehret
Katherine "Katie" A. Boehret is a journalist at The Wall Street Journal.She is a reporter at The Wall Street Journal and works with technology columnist Walter Mossberg...
called the Eye-Fi card "a terrific little tool".
The magazine Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
placed the Eye-Fi Pro on their "2009 Wish List", calling it "Arbus
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971) was an American photographer and writer noted for black-and-white square photographs of "deviant and marginal people or of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal." A friend said that Arbus said that she was "afraid.....
meets Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
".
In October 2010, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
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".