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It took longer than one might expect, but Wi-Fi enabled memory cards may finally be available at mainstream prices soon. Here's what CNET reports:
"In the fall, start-up Eye-Fi plans to release Secure Digital memory cards with integrated Wi-Fi chips. With the card, digital cameras will be able to automatically send photos to home PCs or to photo-sharing Web sites.
The company is negotiating with about a dozen Web sites to allow direct uploads from cameras containing the cards, Eye-Fi founder and CEO Yuval Koren said.
The card is set to cost about $100. Although he did not clarify their memory capacity, he strongly indicated that they would hold about 2 gigabytes."
The advantage of this approach of course is that wireless picture transmission becomes independent of the model of camera and/or PDA used.
And it reduces a whole lot of friction in the process of storing and sharing pictures.
The other exciting thing about this development is that once small objects like memory cards are Wi-Fi enabled at affordable prices, it's not too long before we see this technology built into other devices like digital picture frames, TVs, digital media for camcorders, portable hard drives and the like.
Of course it'll all have to work effortlessly, so the software to deal with all this flowing media will have to get easier to use as well.
But it's starting, and that's a good thing.
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