The Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card.

Before I get to the nitty gritty, I have to brag about how cheap my eye-fi card was. I went to Circuit City on Valentine's Day '09 and they were all but wiped out. The store was so empty that a stranger came up to me and just gave me a gift card because she couldn't find anything for herself. I was kind enough to accept her offer and so I was +$24. The Eye-fi card was discounted 50% bringing it down to $50. So I ended up with an Eye-fi card at the cost of about $28 after tax!

Setup of the Eye-Fi is fairly simple. Upon inserting the card into the USB port using the adapter that comes with the package the card is automatically recognized and the installation process is completed quickly since the install files come preloaded on the card. Since Eye-fi is a wireless SD card, when I first saw that they included an adapter I thought it somewhat contradictory. Although funny at first, for the card to properly connect to wireless, one has to use the adapter to set it up first, so it's not really that strange. The user must have the card, a camera (which powers the card), and a wi-fi router in order for the card to work properly.



Once installed, my first impression of the Eye-Fi was one of restriction. The card works through an internet application called the Eye-Fi Manager which proves to be a sort of middleman. The reasons this is implemented are to promote the Hotspot Access Service (H.A.S.) at $15 a year, which allows the user access to more than 10,000 hotspots in the U.S., to allow the user to automatically upload photos to the a wide selection of photo-hosting sites and to keep things more secure.



The problem with uploading directly to photo-hosting sites is that not every photo I take is a masterpiece. It also eats away at a weekly limit quickly on Flickr. It is still an interesting feature that would be really nice with a subscription to the H.A.S. if you're on vacation and a lot of your friends and family want to see how the vacation is going with little lag time before the photos are posted.



The biggest reason I wanted this card is for time lapse photography. I want to transfer files directly to a laptop that's in range while shooting in remote locations. Since the card requires access to the internet in order for it to work, that feature isn't an immediately obvious option.

I have found a couple work-arounds to this major flaw of the card. Photojojo tells about how it could be possible to upload wirelessly to a laptop by connecting a wifi router to the laptop, whether there is internet or not. The other method as detailed by Dave Hansen would be to host a stand-alone server of which seems to prove difficult to do. I have yet to test either method but I think the latter would tailor to my needs. I will post an update when I test out these different methods.

Dead Batteries.

Do you remember when Laser pointers were really popular? Audiences would basically cover performers in laser light. I'm sure it's still a little bit of a problem, but not as bad now. The reason it's not so bad now is because the batteries ran out. It's cheaper to buy a new laser light than it is the batteries to resupply your old one with power. So most people just throw it in a drawer and forget about it.

What a waste of good electronics. I dug through my drawers and brought out all the dead items that I would probably still use if I didn't have to spend up to 15 dollars on each thing to get new batteries. Here's all of the stuff that I have that's now useless:









Most of the batteries in these lights are dead from rolling around in my pocket and the button ends up pressing against the keys.



I would definitely still use this one, it has a timer, a radio, and a clock. The reason the batteries are so quickly dead on this one is because it is really easy to have the radio on without knowing it. I could really use the timer though (which is what I bought it for) for when I work out.

I would kind of like to know what kind of batteries are in different electronics however. The reason is because if I could find certain electronic devices that are super cheap, (at a dollar tree for instance) and then cannibalize the batteries and use them in the devices I want to use. But, that'd be a gamble to do, since there are several different types of small batteries. Plus I'd have an even bigger pile of useless junk.

So what to do with all these junked components? I don't know what I'll do with them, but I look for components that use Triple A batteries now. I also use rechargeable batteries. Take that battery companies!

Man Power.

I've been thinking about how ridiculous our pursuit of improving our lives is and in doing so we have simply thought up ways to both consume more energy than ever before and have also really just made our lives more complex. Think about this, we now have electric can openers, electric pencil sharpeners, and electric tooth brushes. All these thing can be done with our hands just as easily and I'm sure there are many other examples.

In addition to objects such as these consuming more energy than necessary, portable communications devices are also making it more and more difficult to turn off and get away from the job. People are actually dying from being overworked now too. Kiroshi is what they call it in Japan. So does technology and electronics really improve the quality of life?

Can anyone think of more examples of electronics that really don't improve our lives any?

Vampire Electronics

The Article

I think it's an interesting concept and frankly, I'm more interested in the money saved than conserving energy, although that is quite important to keep in mind. But either way this is something that I think is worth looking into and figuring out a way to cut back on. Think of this, those cordless phones you use, are always on charge. If you don't have one on the docking station, there's still the answering machine, or clock, or caller I.D. that is seeping power.

My Playstation 2, Wii, VCR, DVD player and stereo all have these features. And if some of them don't have power running to them, then the correct time and settings are all lost. And they also are really difficult to unplug since everything is behind the t.v. stand. So what to do? At least my stereo has a mode that consumes less power.

So in the end, more coal is burned, more CO2 is released into the air, and more money is spent on electricity by the consumer. The only ones that benefit are the power companies themselves. I wonder how much money they're losing now that those florescent bulbs are becoming more popular.

I just have to state that cutting back for me would be really difficult. Unless there are ways to make it easier. Any suggestions?

Water Bottle/Gadget Holder

Why would I think of that?

The comments make for a good Guffaw.