Misc Eye-Fi and DS

[Veho]

This is the Eye-Fi

Technical Specifications

  * Wi-Fi Security: Static WEP 40/104/128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
  * Range: 90+ feet outdoors and 45+ feet indoors
  * Storage Capacity: 2.0GB (1GB is defined as 10^9 Bytes)
  * Power: advanced power management optimizes use of camera power
  * Card Dimensions: SD standard 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm

Eye-fi is a standard SD memory card with a twist: it also has a built-in 802.11 b/g/n wireless card, for wireless communication with the PC, and, possibly, wireless hubs, routers, hotspots, connection points... you see what I'm getting at.

So far it's being advertised as a way to transfer pictures from your digital photo camera to your PC wirelessly, but since it's basically an SD card (doesn't even require the fast SDIO bus) and backwards compatible with any SD-using device, it could be used in any flashcard that uses SD cards as memory (M3 SD Slim, GBAMP V2 SD, Supercard SD, etc.), and serve as a second wireless card on the DS, or even as a wireless card for the GBA (that would be cute

).

Since the card only transfers the data written to its flash memory, and doesn't serve as a "live", "real time" Wi-Fi card, all packets would have to be written to the card and then the card would transfer them. It would be slow and battery-consuming, but let's face it, the wireless on the DS is slow and battery-consuming as it is

Discuss.

 

[Prime]

I'm confused...

 

[Jax]

This is news to me...

 

[pasc]

I call BS on this

 

[gigermunit]

I call BS on this

Why? this is a real product.

 

[tomqman]

kool

 

[tomqman]

kool

sorry for double post internet is being gay

 

[calvin_0]

any point for owning one?

 

[Jaejae]

As far as GBA use goes, this would be pretty pointless, but overall, it would be a nice thing to have.

 

[jpxdude]

I call BS on this

Why? this is a real product.

Yeah it's a real product, I was invited to beta test this last year, as it was initially only aimed at the camera market with a max of 512MB of memory, but they've since improved the device.

 

[legendofphil]

SD cards (and CF) have been coming with little hardware extras for awhile.
I remember a few years ago I saw an SD card (for a mobile phone I think) that had a digital camera on it.

Its seen as a way to expand devices that can't support any of accessories.

 

[Cyan]

Too bad it's only sending data and not receiving it.
It could have worked as a Live access to the ROM on the PC, allowing to play anything without the need to connect the SD to the PC.

If it only write to PC what is written on the card, it's only used to backup picture/video from camera to PC without connecting it ?

 

[Veho]

SD cards (and CF) have been coming with little hardware extras for awhile.
I remember a few years ago I saw an SD card (for a mobile phone I think) that had a digital camera on it.

Its seen as a way to expand devices that can't support any of accessories.
Yes, but these require a CFIO or SDIO port and a compatible OS on the target device, they can't be used on just a card reader. Some devices have the SDIO or CFIO port, and are intended to use such expansions, but most devices (like cameras) only have a simple reader/writer, because they were never intended for any added functionality. The whole point of this new card is that the device can treat it as a flash card (it doesn't require an additional controller or drivers), while to the outside it looks like a wireless device transmitting data.

QUOTE(Cyan @ Nov 12 2007, 12:24 PM)Too bad it's only sending data and not receiving it.
It could have worked as a Live access to the ROM on the PC, allowing to play anything without the need to connect the SD to the PC.

If it only write to PC what is written on the card, it's only used to backup picture/video from camera to PC without connecting it ?

Yes, it seems the card can only transmit data; the communication is two-way, but I don't know if it can write to the flash memory. It would be cool if it could.

Still, if it can't, it can always be used to backup your saves to your PC wirelessly

 

[Veho]

Slight bump just to add more food for thought:

SD to CF adapter.

Meaning you could use the Eye-Fi in GBAMP CF, M3 CF, and Supercard CF.

Why they didn't do this as a CF card as well (or in the first place, for that matter), I don't know.

 

[cubin']

Cheers for the info Veho. Very interesting, would love a DS wifi speed update however possible it is.

 

[Veho]

Some severe poking and prodding and reading between the lines of their press releases later:


This card is on all the time.
It sniffs around for hotspots.
Then it uploads your photos (.jpg files only; say bye bye to TIFF) to the Eye-Fi server.
Then their server either sends them to your PC, or your online photo galleries, or both.
The service only works in the US.


Meh. Seems like the card is in dire need of firmware hacking.


EDIT: What exactly stops the card from squeezing 2 gigs of images through some poor n00b'z WiFi is as yet unclear. Does the card remember which photos were uploaded already? Or does it simply transfer everything every time? Because if it's the former, that means the card is keeping track of photos, and can write to the flash memory as well as read from it. That would be good. The card would be one firmware hack away from being a great little device. But if it's the latter.....