At Last, Eye-Fi Works in Hotspots
May 12th, 2008 by Dana Wollman
Back when we reviewed Eye-Fi, the SD card that allows any digital camera with that slot to wirelessly upload pictures using a home router, we were impressed by its speed and ingenuity, but wished we could use it while on the go. Looks like the folks over at Eye-Fi heard our complaints (and others’). Today, Eye-Fi announced that it will sell its popular card in three forms, starting June 6th (sorry, no upgrades for early adopters).
Eye-Fi Home ($79) costs less than the current version, but offers less features; it syncs with your PC, but not the usual host of Web services. I’m not sure this is different enough from a regular SD card to warrant the $79 price.
Eye-Fi Share ($99) is essentially the current model with a new name; it syncs with both your PC and photo sharing sites, such as Facebook and Flickr.
Eye-Fi Explore ($129) is the real news. Thanks to a partnership with Wayport, users can upload photos at more than 10,000 hotspots nationwide. The Explore also has geotagging capabilities, using Skyhook’s Wi-Fi triangulation.
Up next on our Eye-Fi wish list: More hotspot partnerships, and the ability to upload video clips.


hoots. Today, the company announced two additions to its CoolPix line, the S52 ($249) and the S52c ($279), both of which will ship in May. Both cameras have nine-megapixel resolution, 3X optical zoom, optical image stabilization, a 3-inch LCD, and ISO up to 3200.
matuer photogs another 
Ever since I had a digital camera that could record video, I’ve been trying to devise ways to use it to film myself skiing from a first-person perspective. It usually involved me holding the camera in front as I picked my way down a mountain, careful not to drop anything. Fortunately, there’s some great new hands-free options, and this past weekend, I got to test one of them out, the VholdR helmetcam from Seattle-based Twenty20, on the slopes of Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe, California. The $349 camera is a small, compact, and durable device that shoots 640 x 480-pixel resolution video to a 2GB MicroSD Card.
At just 4.7 x 2.5 x 1.3 inches and weighing 8 ounces without the battery, Sony’s HDR-TG1 Handycam ($899) is the world’s smallest full HD camcorder. In addition to 1920 x 1080 video, it records 4-megapixel photos directly to MS Pro Duo or Pro Duo Mark2 cards (it comes bundled with a 4GB PRO Duo Mark2). Don’t think you have to handle this tiny camcorder with kid gloves, though: Its titanium chassis is durable and scratch resistant (not to mention classy looking).
th touch screen controls. The Quick Touch Border interface– literally, icons lining the top and side of the frame– is meant to replace the bundled remote, while leaving the screen smudge and fingerprint-free. At first glance, the touch borders seem a bit intrusive, but you can minimize them and view pictures at full screen.
I have to admit that until recently I didn’t really get the idea of geo-tagging. It sounded too much like some kind of way for a marine biologist to track migrating dolphins. Yawn. Then I discovered that geo-tagging was actually something much more fun.
egapixel stills, and it has 5X optical zoom and face recognition for up to 12 faces. Users can also take still photos without pausing video recording.