Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Eye-Fi. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have a slew of blogs, and one of them is a travel blog. We have THREE cameras and a camcorder with which I or the kids take photos. It’s so much fun to snap photos! But when it comes time to get them off the camera and upload them– what a snooze! It’s become quite a chore. I usually leave the photos in my camera until I have time (or motivation) to work on them. Then, there’s the tagging, the organizing into folders…. BOOOORING. :S

I’ve seen a gadget on a few other blogs, and now it’s my turn to take a look at it: it’s called Eye-Fi. It’s a very special SD card, and it basically allows you to upload your photos and videos wirelessly from your camera to your computer, or even to your photo-sharing website (such as Flickr, Shutterfly, WalMart, etc) even if your computer is off. All you need is a camera that takes SD cards (and most digital cameras do) and a wireless connection at home (through your Internet router). Very cool! There’s a video by Erin Manning that shows how the Eye-Fi cards work. I found it very informative.

The Eye-Fi SD cards have 2 to 4GB space on them for photos and videos. It will automatically back up and sort your data into folders organized by date.

Technology just never ceases to amaze me. The Eye-Fi is the first wireless SD card. I had to go to the Eye-Fi website to see how this thing works. There’s a small wireless device in the SD card. You must activate the card first, then take photos for upload. There are four kinds of Eye-Fi cards: Home , Share, Explore, and Pro.

• Home works in a basic way. It uploads only photos to your computer through wireless. All you have to do is snap photos, come home, and turn your camera on. The Eye-Fi will do the rest. It only comes in 2 GB size.
• Share is a step up. It will upload photos and videos to your computer AND to your photo-sharing site. It comes in 4 GB size.
• Explore is a little more adventuresome. The Explore will locate nearby Wi-Fi public networks, and upload your photos and videos wirelessly to your online sharing website, and will also tag your photos by location (called geo-tagging).
• Pro is the top of the line. It will upload photos, videos, and RAW files and do everything the Explore does; but Pro also accepts Ad hoc wireless uploads.

You can visit the Eye-Fi website to see a comparison of the cards and more information. The cards aren’t terribly expensive– only a little more than a high-speed SD card would be. It’s all very convenient! I love the geo-tagging feature, that would save me a ton of time. Eye-Fi may just be the wave of the future, eh?