I think I speak for every camera nerd out there when I say, Hallelujah!!! It’s about damn time Eye-Fi released an Ad Hoc enabled SDHC card. Live blogging will now be 100x easier.

The 4GB Eye-Fi Pro now supports RAW files on top of pre-existing support for JPEG and video files. Geotagging and Hotspot access are available on the Pro model as well. The Eye-Fi Pro is available now on Amazon and Eye-Fi for $149.

But that’s not all. Eye-Fi also announced a new feature, Selective Transfer, that lets you pick and choose what gets uploaded.

Using the “protect” or “lock” feature in the camera’s menu, users can select which files to wirelessly upload. Any “protected” photo will automatically be uploaded, and all photos will remain on the memory card until the user manually deletes them. Selective Transfer is free, and available now for all Eye-Fi card users through the Eye-Fi Manager.

On the Eye-Fi Connected camera front, the following cameras are all Eye-Fi Connected: Nikon D5000, Nikon D90, Nikon D60, Casio EX-S12, Casio EX-S5, Casio EX-FS10, Casio EX-FC100 and Casio EX-Z29.

My favorite little at-home gadget is getting a shake up today. Eye-Fi’s Wi-Fi SD cards not only upload images, but now video to YouTube and Flickr. The Share Video and Explore Video cards are now 4GB standard and the existing line of 2GB Eye Fi cards received a price drop.

The Explore is $99 and geotags your images and videos automatically; also hooks you up with hotspots across the land. The Share is $79 and uploads photos and videos to the content sharing sites of your choice and your home computer. The 2GB Share card is now $59 and the Home card is $59.

And to top things off, Eye Fi also announced an iPhone app that allows you to upload your iPhone pics in the same manner as their SD cards.

Sanyo Japan [JP] has announced three IC recorders that can use SD and microSD cards as recording media and are to be released in Japan November 21.

The ICR-S003M is relatively light on features (omnidirectional stereo microphones, MP3 sound recording, three recording modes) but Sanyo claims it’s “the industry’s smallest and lightest IC recorder equipped with an SD memory card slot”. It’s sized at 36.6×96mmx13.3mm and weighs 52 grams. 11 hours of audio can be stored on a 1GB SD memory card. This model will also be sold outside Japan but Sanyo neglected to say when (price in Japan: $100).

The ICR-RS110MF comes with a radio tuner, a cradle with stereo speakers, a built-in clock and a timer recording function. A 2GB microSD card is enough for recording 22.5 hours of MP3 or three hours in linear PCM. Price in Japan: $300.

Sanyo’s most advanced IC recorder, ICR-PS603RM, features four microphones, highly-directional XY microphones, omnidirectional stereo microphones, 4GB of built-in memory and a special noise cancelation function. The device can record 5.5 hours of data in linear PCM and 6 hours in MP3 (at 320kbps) on its built-in memory but also supports microSD cards. Price in Japan: $350.

It’s unknown at this point if Sanyo will ever sell the ICR-RS110MF and ICR-PS603RM outside Japan.

The card is selling with an MSRP of $129.99 but Costco members can get it for $99 on Costco.com – not too bad for a 4GB SDHC card with a built-in wireless chip that automatically transfers photos to your computer and 25+ online photo sharing services. You can also add automatic geotagging and/or Wayport wireless hotspot access for $14.99 per year, per service.

Note: this Newegg deal is while supplies last so when it goes live at 11:00 EST or 8:00 PST, jump on it fast. An 8GB SD card for 10 bucks is a hell of a deal, especially with free shipping.

via GearDiary

So maybe the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the G10, along with the SX10 IS just don’t scream your style. Canon understands that and has the obligatory, new Digital Elph upgrades just for you. The SD990 IS and SD880 IS both pack optical image stabilization and the DIGIC 4 image processor, but that’s where the similarity stops.

The higher-end SD990 receives Canon’s latest 14.7MP sensor, 2.5-inch LCD, along with the firm’s new Quick Shot Modes for even faster shutter speeds. This pocket cam is coming out in silver. oh-so-sexy black, and a limited edition red for $399 sometime in October ‘08.

The SD880 is loaded with more commonplace specs, such as a 10MP sensor, 4x zoom and a 3-inch LCD. Available in two-tone black and silver, gold and silver, or gold and brown when it drops for $299 also in October ‘08.

PR

Well, I guess someone finally asked the right person, because the SD Card Association is announcing embedded SD functionality, something which seems like it would have been a no-brainer back in 2000. For whatever reason, it’s happening now, so you can expect storage in low-end phones to jump. Am I missing something here? All it would take to embed SD would be a controller and an interface hard-wired to a decapitated SD card. I’m guessing the capabilities have been there for years but there were licensing agreements or some such.

ADTEC have lost their collective mind, releasing new SD card readers that can be customized — no, Bedazzled — by fingernail artists to make personalized works of electronic, tacky art.

They’re big in Japan, but you know this kind of crap is going to make it across the Pacific sooner rather than later.

Pimpable MicroSD Card Reader [Akihabara!]

These SD cards just get bigger and fatter all the time — and by bigger and fatter, I mean internally. After all, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

This one from Panasonic, available in April, is a 32-gigabyte card. Granted, it’s $700 but it does work rather speedily with a 20mb/sec transfer speed.

There’s a SanDisk 32-gigabyte card that’ll also be out in April. At $350, it’ll be half the price of this Panasonic card but it runs a tad slower at 15mb/sec. That might not sound like a big deal but it very well could be for the kinds of people who have $350 to $700 to drop on an SD card.

Other 32-gigabyte cards should be available soon from various other manufacturers in various other formats, which should help to drop prices over the coming months.

Panasonic offers big and fast SD card–for $700 [CNET]

Eye-Fi has announced that its Wi-Fi SD cards will get a “Smart Boost” update on February 12th. With Smart Boost, your card will be able to tell whether or not your computer is on and in range of your camera and, if it is, photos will be offloaded from your camera to your computer over your home network and then your computer will handle the heavy lifting of uploading the photos to your online photo-sharing site.

If your computer isn’t on, your camera will upload your photos directly to the web-based Eye-Fi service, which will then shoot the photos to your favorite photo-sharing site AND shoot them back down to your computer when it’s turned back on. Rad, no?

Also, Eye-Fi is now in cahoots with Ritz Camera.

Our new relationship with Ritz Camera for the first time brings the Eye-Fi Card to “brick and mortar” retail stores as well as allowing Eye-Fi Card users the ability to automatically upload photos to the RitzPix Online Imaging Service. Ritz, whose store brands include, Ritz Camera Centers, Wolf’s Camera, Kit’s Camera and others has over 1000 camera centers across the United States. This new online and retail combination enables customers the ability to automatically upload their photos, order prints online and pick them up in an hour from most Ritz locations.

The last sentence is very intriguing. Imagine setting your parents camera up for them and saying, “Okay, just take a bunch of photos and then go to Ritz in an hour.” Nice.

New Eye-Fi “Smart Boost” upgrade and Ritz Camera news at PMA 08 [EyeFi Blog]

Hey, now THAT’S a good idea. This $99 2GB SD memory card has built in wireless.

You pop it in your camera, take some photos, and it automatically uploads (via your Wi-Fi connection) those photos to one of 17 online photo websites including Shutterfly, Snapfish, Photobucket, Facebook, Picasa, and, of course, Flickr.

Best of all, it works in any digital camera that supports SD cards. I don’t know how they crammed all that into a tiny card but, hey, I’m just a guy with a keyboard.

It’s available now at a variety of stores. Hot damn, I’m getting one.

Eye-Fi [Company Website] via Wireless-Watch.com

Summer is currently in full effect. It’s hot as hell outside, the sky is beautiful, the water is warm – you need to get out there. So bring your family or some good buddies and hit the trails, slope, or beaches. Find something to do. Just remember to be equipped with the best video gear possible. Because between the 14-hour car ride to your destination and Bob falling into a patch of poison ivy, you’ll want the memories to last forever.

First things first. You’re embarking on a trip. I emphasize the word trip because you’ll be sitting in a seat of some sort for quite a while. On your way to your destination, no matter how you travel, you’ll want to pack lightly. Over-packing will surely cause extreme discomfort and video won’t even matter. So for the way there, I’d recommend brining an iPod. For $249, you can score a 30GB iPod that can hold music, photos, and video to keep you entertained. You can purchase your favorite TV shows off of the iTunes Music Store as well, so you can stay entertained with shows like Scrubs for your entire journey. We’d mention another i-related device, but we’re sick of it.

Dell’s XPS m1330

If the iPod’s screen is too small for your liking and you want more storage and video options, check out Dell’s XPS M1330 laptop. Just released, it only weighs 4 pounds and has a super-small design. It still has room for an optical drive so you can watch your DVDs easily on a really nice display. Plus, you can always pirate some movies to take with you on the go.

iRiver’s Clix 2 Plays Videos and Music

So now you get to your vacation spot. Wonderful, only it’s raining. How are you going to stay occupied in an airport for the next three hours? I’ll tell you how, the Clix 2 from iRiver. Found for as low as $170 online, this relatively unknown (in the US at least) video player packs some serious power. A beautiful, crisp 2.2-inch screen displays movies in multiple formats. You can also load up your music or photos to keep busy as well. With USB 2.0 and extended battery life, this will keep you busy for plenty of hours in any situation.

Canon’s TX1 combines a digital camera and HD camcorder into one device

Alright, so maybe it didn’t rain. You’ve made your way to the campsite or beach-house you rented and the party has already started. Pictures are great, but you want to actively capture the moment with video, right? You have to check out the Canon TX1. It’s a 7.1-megapixel digital camera that handles like a video camera. It also shoots HD video as well with sound, which is amazing for a camera that only costs $500 and takes great photos as well. This is one of the coolest gadgets I’ve seen in awhile and anyone serious about making a DVD out of their trip will want to give the TX1 a whirl.

Having all this gear is fantastic I’m sure, but digital cameras and video players need storage to function. Since you have the money for a trip, why not go all out when it comes to your memory cards? After all, you do need to overcompensate for the time that bully took your lunch money in elementary school. Your past aside, check out SanDisk for your SD card needs. The SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus series not only come with fast read/write speeds, they also include a built-in USB port right on the card so you can hook it up to your computer in dire times. Plus, it means one less thing to pack if your existing laptop doesn’t have a card reader. Sizes available for the Ultra II SD Plus series include 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB only.

With all your needs met, it’s finally time to let loose and have a fun time. Capture your favorite moments on ones and zeros forever, making sure to emphasize the prank you’re about to pull on your friends. This is your vacation so make sure to make the best of it. When you’re all done, you’ll have plenty of unpacking to do. Plus, your video journey isn’t over yet!

Hate to break it to you, but your wife is going to want a DVD to share with her friends. If you want to easily create a DVD of videos and photos from your trip, consider trying out an iMac. It’s an all-in-one computer with a DVD burner and easy-to-use editing software. With almost no experience on a computer, you can still edit a movie and burn it to a DVD to watch next year.

Speaking of next year, when you decide to drive instead of flying, you could watch that special DVD you made on the go. For only 100 clams, bucks, or whatever ya call ‘em, you can scoop up an Audiovox D17 Portable DVD player from Amazon. It’s cheap, lightweight, and will get the job done. It even comes with two sets of headphones so you and a friend can watch Predator while reciting all of Carl Weathers’ lines.

Predator would look dandy on this display

Vacations and trips are supposed to be about fun. So when you find yourself on a long flight or car ride, just remember that there are plenty of gadgets out there to help get you through the tough times. Go blow $20 on a season of Arrested Development and watch it on your laptop or iPod. By the time you finish a few episodes, you’ll be halfway to your destination, ready to enjoy the Summer.

If you’re interested in buying any of the items I mentioned above, check out these links I found:

Apple iMac

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/07/02/great-outdoors-have-video-will-travel/feed/ 1 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/storage-problems-arising-on-the-wii/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/storage-problems-arising-on-the-wii/#comments Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:29:46 +0000 Vince Veneziani http://crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/storage-problems-arising-on-the-wii/

You thought your Wii was truly a special console, didn’t you? Sure it doesn’t play DVDs and it lacks a hard drive, but that’s ok, ’cause the Wii has a remote for a controller! Now Wii owners are finding out the hard way that not having a hard drive sucks. Jake over at 8BitJoystick.com downloaded one too many VC games and realized that his Wii channels were full and his internal storage was almost at its 512MB limit. Ouch.

It’s not like Jake went nuts and downloaded every game on Nintendo’s Virtual Console either. He just downloaded a normal amount of games like any other gamer would. The problem lies in the way Nintendo is distributing older titles. Each VC game not only includes the proper ROM file for the game to work, but it also contains an emulator as well. So when each game you download also has a program coming with it, storage is going to run out quickly.

Nintendo needs to find a new storage solution and fast if it has any hope of not pissing gamers off when they go to download new games, only to find their Wii is fresh out of room to hold them. Sure you can backup to SD cards, but that isn’t practical and it’s also expensive. Perhaps a massive USB storage solution is in the works?

My Wii is Full [8BitJoystick]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/storage-problems-arising-on-the-wii/feed/ 19 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/wifi-equipped-sd-cards/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/wifi-equipped-sd-cards/#comments Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:19:39 +0000 Vince Veneziani http://crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/wifi-equipped-sd-cards/

A company called Eye-Fi is looking to bring WiFi-embedded SD cards to your digital camera. Rather than spending a ton of money on a WiFi-enabled digital camera, you’ll be able to purchase an SD card that can go in almost any digital camera and will allow a WiFi connection from multiple devices.

With capacities of up to 2GB, Eye-Fi certainly has a chance of creating a new device the market will jump on. I personally would love to have one of my Casio Exilim cameras WiFi-enabled. Expect to pay $100 for a 2GB model, which is a pretty pricey for an SD card. But remember, you’re getting the joy of WiFi!

Eye-fi brings the internet to your camera [BGR]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/06/12/wifi-equipped-sd-cards/feed/ 3 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/05/10/motorola-to-unveil-30-fps-phone-shooter/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/05/10/motorola-to-unveil-30-fps-phone-shooter/#comments Thu, 10 May 2007 13:10:40 +0000 Vince Veneziani http://crunchgear.com/2007/05/10/motorola-to-unveil-30-fps-phone-shooter/

Big Daddy over at Motorola Ed Zander said that next week, his company will show off a new phone capable of playing movies at 30 frames per second in very high quality video. Then every American sighed in disappointment as he revealed that the phone would be launching in Europe. Oh well. It’s nice to dream.

Zander said that users will be able to load movies onto the phone via SD cards and that the quality of the films will be “unbelievable”. Sucks for us. Eddie also dropped some quirky facts about how 32 cellphones are sold each second, but by then everyone not living in Europe had left the conference room.

Motorola To Unveil Phone With 30-Frame Per Second Video; Movies On SD Cards [Barrons]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/05/10/motorola-to-unveil-30-fps-phone-shooter/feed/ 4 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/03/29/casio-exilim-ex-z75-the-review/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/03/29/casio-exilim-ex-z75-the-review/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:31:48 +0000 Vince Veneziani http://crunchgear.com/2007/03/29/casio-exilim-ex-z75-the-review/

For the past year, I’ve spent time with numerous Casio digital cameras. The Exilim series has proven to be an excellent blend of both value and performance. A fantastic camera at a low price if you will. But camera after camera, Casio didn’t really do much to change the design of each model. At one point, the difference between a 10.1-megapixel camera and a 6-megapixel camera was virtually undetectable (well, except for the megapixel thing). But with the release of the EX-Z75, Casio has tried something new. The unit I received has a new design, a bright blue paint job, and a new UI to play with. Has Casio finally taken a step forward? Maybe. Read on to find out the entire story.

As far as design goes, the Exilim EX-Z75 is a whole new ball-game. Though it’s packed in the same, familiar red-and-black Exilim box, inside is a whole new device. A metallic-blue paint job and recessed buttons are immediately noticed when holding the EX-Z75. There’s also a certain “curviness” to the device that makes it fun to hold. It feels entirely solid and never seems like a cheap product.

But these new buttons aren’t exactly the cat’s meow. Instead of being able to zoom with your index finger around the shutter-button, the zooming buttons have been moved to the side, where you must look away from your shot to adjust the lens. The power-button on top is a real pain in the ass to press, too. You have to dig deep before you’re able to get it working. Otherwise, buttons are pretty much the same as older Exilim models: Best Shot (for the best shot), a joypad for menu navigation, and record and playback.

Though the buttons may not be the best, the screen on this camera sure is. A crisp, widescreen 2.6-inch LCD greets you with a robust UI and beautiful coloring. But be warned — like most pocket cameras these days, there’s no viewfinder on this Exilim. Crack or break the LCD and you’re out of a digital camera.

One of the first things you’ll notice when you go to turn on the EX-Z75, is that the UI and interface is somewhat new. Everything sits on the right-side of the display and the ability to quickly choose macro-mode or auto-focus isn’t readily available. This is an enormous annoyance having to go into the menu and switch the focus up every time I want to take a new shot. However, Casio has included a feature called “Easy Mode” that makes using this camera a snap. It severely limits your options and everything is mostly done automatically. All you have to do is hit a button.

Oh, and nothing has changed in the way you transfer your photos. Proprietary USB cables are the name of the game at Casio, so make sure you don’t lose the included cable. Charging the battery is now done with a separate wall-charger instead of a dock, which I find very convenient now that there are less cables cluttering my desk.

Before I dive into photos and examples, let me give you a basic rundown of the selling points of this camera. The Casio Exilim EX-Z75 has a slim design, multiple color options, a 7.2-megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom, anti-shake DSP, movie mode, 8MB of internal memory with an SD/MCC card slot, and a battery with a decent amount of juice inside. It also retails for only $229, making it one of the the better buys around. Alright, got the facts? Good! Let’s hop into some example shots and movies.

As with most 5-megapixel or higher cameras, you really only need to shoot in 1,024×768 mode or maybe a little higher. Taking pictures on a pocket camera with resolutions above the 3,000 mark are just ridiculous. If you needed professional results and high-resolutions, you’d be buying a dSLR. This is a point-and-shoot camera. It’s made for fun, friends, vacations, and concerts. It’s versatile, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also not a professional camera in the slightest.

Emo kids will envy your light-bending skills

Go on any popular rock band’s Website and you’ll see a million pictures that look like the above. Light trails and stationary (or moving) objects look fantastic, especially in low-light. The Best Shot feature Casio includes on most of its cameras is perfect for achieving this. Throw it on “Night Scene Portrait” mode and start shooting. The results usually look great after a little trial and error.

The great outdoors

Outdoor shots should be easy and simple. They should require little effort from the user on a point-and-shoot camera. This shot from a hill in New Jersey looks good, but it needs some Photoshopping done to it. See how the tree line and parts of the wooden fence look blurry? Not good. The colors are decent, but they could be a tad bit more saturated. At least that gazebo down there looks good, right?

Up close and personal with a cat

For a macro-shot, I chose a cat in a living room. I used the soft-flash and red-eye correction to make sure the shot came out perfect and sure enough, it did. Look at the details in this unedited photo! The whiskers on the cat are sharp, the fur is extremely detailed, and there’s even gunk in the eyes that I’m sure you wish you hadn’t noticed. Animal lovers, portrait-shooters, or close-up fanatics will love what the Exilim EX-Z75 is capable of.

So what does this all break down to? Should you buy the Casio Exilim EX-Z75? Truthfully, no. This camera hasn’t stood up to what I’d call “Casio quality” and it fails to showcase what Casio’s Exilim line of cameras are capable of. The buttons on this camera are misplaced and are hard to press, the new interface is hardly friendly, and just look at that outdoors shot — totally atrocious. My advice is to shop around and maybe check out some of Canon and Sony’s $199 to $249 offerings. You may lose a megapixel or two, but you don’t need them anyway and you’ll most likely be happier with the results. The Exilim EX-Z75 is a nice effort from Casio, but it’s simply just not good enough.

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/03/29/casio-exilim-ex-z75-the-review/feed/ 17 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/02/19/so-four-sd-cards-walk-into-a-drive/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/02/19/so-four-sd-cards-walk-into-a-drive/#comments Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:40:19 +0000 Vince Veneziani http://crunchgear.com/2007/02/19/so-four-sd-cards-walk-into-a-drive/

Here’s a gadget that seems pretty useful but you won’t find at the local CompUSA. Century’s SDB25S is a terribly named enclosure that you plug into an IDE cable. Inside the enclosure, you can insert up to four SD cards (2GB each max) to create one single drive using your SD cards. Too bad it costs $260, has a cap of 8GB because SDHC isn’t supported, and has issues with Windows Vista.

Create your own 2.5″ SSD Drive Yourself!

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/02/19/so-four-sd-cards-walk-into-a-drive/feed/ 0 http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/02/07/sd-to-mini-sd-diatec-gets-it-right/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/02/07/sd-to-mini-sd-diatec-gets-it-right/#comments Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:32:28 +0000 Peter Ha http://crunchgear.com/2007/02/07/sd-to-mini-sd-diatec-gets-it-right/ SD To Mini-Sd [Gearfuse]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/02/07/sd-to-mini-sd-diatec-gets-it-right/feed/ 2 http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/08/brando-adds-usb-sd-to-car-fm-transmitter-for-mp3s/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/08/brando-adds-usb-sd-to-car-fm-transmitter-for-mp3s/#comments Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:19:52 +0000 Matt Hickey http://crunchgear.com/2006/12/08/brando-adds-usb-sd-to-car-fm-transmitter-for-mp3s/ Like a USB port, so that you can use a standard USB flash drive to store your songs. That’s cool. Or it’ll work with your player’s docking port as the source.

And if you don’t even have an MP3 player, or just don’t feel like taking it off of your hat, you can stick a standard SD card full of songs into the slot on the bottom and hit play on the included controls.

This device offers more ways to input digital audio than you’ll need, but that’s good. We’re hoping Brando can come up with a hardwired version, as there aren’t enough clear channels in the city we live in to make this wonderful device worthwhile. But if your locale is fairly clear on the FM front, this is a winner.

Car to USB FM Transmitter with LCD Display [Brando.hk.co]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/08/brando-adds-usb-sd-to-car-fm-transmitter-for-mp3s/feed/ 4 http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/01/info-sd-card-shows-you-how-much-space-youve-got/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/01/info-sd-card-shows-you-how-much-space-youve-got/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:56:46 +0000 Seth Porges http://crunchgear.com/2006/12/01/info-sd-card-shows-you-how-much-space-youve-got/

The multinational conglomerate A-DATA is set to roll out an SD card that uses some sort of e-ink-like display to show you just how much space you’ve got left–useful if you’ve got stacks of these things. What would be really cool is if they can fit this onto a mini or microSD. Check it out sometime post-CES.

Product Page [AData]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/01/info-sd-card-shows-you-how-much-space-youve-got/feed/ 0