Eye-Fi Inc. today unveiled the Eye-Fi Geo card, a new wireless SD memory card exclusive to Apple that allows users to automatically upload photos from a digital camera to a computer and offers lifetime geotagging service. Available today in all Apple stores and online, the Eye-Fi Geo card is the latest addition to the Eye-Fi product family that is built to seamlessly integrate with Mac products and applications, including iPhoto ’09 and ’08, the iPhone and MobileMe.
“Apple users want simplicity and an effortless user experience, so it’s not surprising that a significant number of our users are on Macs,” said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi, in the press release. “The Eye-Fi Geo is the perfect companion for iPhoto’s new ‘Places’ application to pinpoint photos on a digital map so memories are displayed in a richer, more meaningful way.”
The Eye-Fi Geo wirelessly uploads photos straight to a folder on your computer or Apple’s iPhoto gallery where they arrive automatically geotagged with location information about where the image was captured.
MacDailyNews Take: Good thing we got those SD Card slots in those MacBook Pros. Our WiFi-capable Nikon will be jealous (in other words, we haven’t touched an SD Card in years, so Apple building-in SD Card slots to Macs makes zero sense to us in terms of photo transfer. The WiFi in the camera – or in Eye-Fi’s case, the card – transmit the photos to our Macs. Perhaps Apple has another use planned for that SD Card slot, but for us it’s a needless appendage as a photo transfer option. And, BTW, don’t most cameras come with a simple USB cable nowadays, too? End SD Card slot on MacBook Pro for photo transfer is redundant and useless rant.
Eye-Fi continues to embrace its loyal Mac following by developing products that seamlessly integrate with Apple products and features. iPhoto ’09’s “Places” lets users search and sort photos by location using geotags from the Eye-Fi Geo card. Users can also upgrade their Eye-Fi Geo card to share images online at MobileMe or one of more than 20 other photo sharing and social networking sites for a $9.99 annual fee.
Earlier this year, Eye-Fi released the Eye-Fi application for the iPhone, which wirelessly uploads photos from the iPhone to the Web and into iPhoto, or organized folders on a computer. With Eye-Fi, users can aggregate all of their photos – from both an iPhone and a digital camera – to manage and share photos in one place regardless of which device the photos are taken on. Eye-Fi users with iPhones can download the app for free.
The 2GB Eye-Fi Geo card is available exclusively at Apple stores and Apple.com for US$59.99. Eye-Fi’s complete line-up of wireless SD and SDHC memory cards, including the Eye-Fi Pro and Eye-Fi Explore Video cards, range in price from $49-$149 and are available at www.eye.fi, in store at Apple Retail Stores and Best Buy locations, and at major online retailers such as Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Costco.com.
Source: Eye-Fi
Aye Aye Sir!
I was gonna get this card but for $60 I can get a 16GB card… so more storage is worth more to me than being able to wireless sync my photos… plus.. the battery in my nikon D80 would probably die fast trying to upload my 8 – 10MB photos to a mac. Not sure the speed but its just much simpler to plug in the card and save.
Jeez MDN, do you guys hate every product that doesn’t wear an Apple logo and/or you don’t use yourself?
Ted,
Try again. You don’t understand what MDN wrote.
Not sure can someone clarify, does this card have a GPS in it?
I would get this card if it does as my camera does not have GEO Tagging built in (Canon SXi).
@Jeff – Not a real GPS. Tags by looking at the geographical location of nearby WiFi hotspots when you take a picture. Doesn’t work if there aren’t any nearby hotspots.
The way there other cards work for Geo-tagging is the use WiFi hot-spot locations, much the same as the first iPhone.
It works pretty well, as long as there is a known spot nearby. So, even if your camera does not have Geo-tagging built in this can add it. Very nice feature.
I downloaded the app for my iPhone 3G. It asks me to login. I don’t have an account and I can’t find a place anywhere on the app OR the site to register a new account. Is it me or am I just Duhhhh? TIA!
Since I like doing a lot of nature photography while hiking, etc, the reliance on Wi-Fi spots for geotagging is sort of useless. Cool concept though…
@Argelius bang on, I would even pay a little more if the had real GPS tech in there, but I do a lot of Nature Photography.
Many people as already noted are not going to pay a premium for less storage just so they can download wirelessly and skip removing the card and plugging it into the new slot in the Mac..
I think the MDN take on the slot is off.. until the card can store more than 2GB for less than $60, and do more than rely on hotspots to determine a location, the slot for more people than not, will prove useful.
As I see it your paying a significant premium for slower wi-fi transfers and less storage and an unreliable geo-tagging feature.
Mmmm, this is too bad. I _really_ want a GPS geotagger for my Canon 30D, but this won’t cut it: I do far too much nature photography. Right now I have to use a hack, which is to remember to take one photo using my iPhone to geotag the location…. I often either forget, or have to go back and match up locations, as my Canon doesn’t automatically change time zones. 🙁
Would be far easier to have some sort of card or even dongle that would do this, but the only thing I’ve seen is far too expensive for what it does. Sigh…. Come on, Canon, how about building GPS into your next prosumer model??
I don’t care what it is (except malware) but I love to hear about something that is “Mac only”. Crow tastes good in the morning doesn’t it, M$ fanatics?
I bought the Eye-Fi when it came out months ago and have been using it on my Mac… Why is the “Mac-exclusive” version any different?
It’s cool in theory, but it’s only ok in practice – much slower than just importing via cable or card. The only cool thing is if you’re taking pictures at a party, it can upload each picture from your camera on the fly, and if you’re running a slide show on Apple TV or the Mac, the pictures update live. But the camera has to be on and in play mode… so it becomes less intuitive and well, not really worth it.
It does add location info if you’re near any WiFis, but it’s often easier to just tag the batch of photos with the location info on import. Sometimes the actual location will be random and not make sense for you — especially when using iPhoto’s Places feature.
With regard to the SD card on the MacBooks, I love that – especially if you have a tapeless camcorder. When I’m traveling with my camcorder and camera, I used to have to bring TWO cables with me, and if I forgot one I’m screwed. Now I don’t need any cables — photos and videos are always ready for import from the SD card. I wish they’d add a slot to the iMac line — I hate having to mess with cables or fish behind the iMac to find an open USB port.
MDN — Your take was myopic as hell.
When the new Macbook/Macbook Pros were announced at WWDC they explained what it was for. To transfer photos FASTER. Yes most cameras come with a usb cable, but any photo pro will tell you that transferring through your camera is ALWAYS slower than transferring from the card.(Don’t even get me started on Wi-Fi.)
With the mega-pixel count on the average consumer camera as high as it is you can easily fill up a 1GB card in a single day, and that is shooting JPEGs. These SD cards are also becoming common on video cameras, even ones that shoot in HD. Having an 8G card filled with SD & HD video is not uncommon eaither. This is a dedicated port with a dedicated pipe straight in to the I/O. This speeds up the least fun part of messing with photos or videos on your computer, getting them in the computer in the first place.
This also removes the need for a USB port to be used for a reader or a cable. And most notebooks have a small number of USB ports so anything that frees up that need is a good thing.
So this is a classic Apple move, as it is all about User Experience. It is also possible that Apple has a long term roadmap for another piece of software/hardware that would make this slot VERY useful.
You are constantly warning us to Think Before You Click®, you should maybe take your own advice and Think Before You Post before you go off on a rant.
Be realistic MDN, everyone loses the cable adapter, then they lose the card adapter, just like me. I only have my SD (and CF) card, but nothing to import it with, and when I ask friends, they can’t find their cables or adapters either (or maybe theyre just lying to me
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