Eye-Fi announces partnerships and software update

Eye-Fi, maker of one of my favorite camera accessories (a Wi-Fi enabled SD card), was at PMA announcing a couple of key partnerships and a new Smart Boost upgrade. I met with Eye-Fi CEO Jef Holove, who explained how the Smart Boost update will let the Eye-Fi card intelligently determine the most efficient way to upload your photos to one of 20 supported photo sharing sites. Without Smart Boost, the Eye-Fi transfers your images over your Wi-Fi network to the Web-based Eye-Fi service, which then forwards the images to your photo sharing service. With Smart Boost, the Eye-Fi can determine if your computer is on, and if so, it will upload photos via Wi-Fi to your PC and let the Eye-Fi Manager software on your PC do the rest of the work. Though Holove claims that Smart Boost can speed your uploads between two and four times, that seems unlikely to me, since both scenarios are limited by the speed of your network and your Internet connection. The main benefit seems to be a faster transfer of the photos off the card (not the ultimate arrival at your photo sharing site) which would reduce card activity and save battery life, which is no small benefit in and of itself. The update will be availabe by February 12 and will be a free download for existing users.

Eye-Fi also announced its first retail distribution through Ritz Camera outlets (and the addition of support for the RitzPix online photo printing/sharing service) as well as an even more interesting partnership with Nikon. As Holove explained to me, the company worked with Nikon to enhanced integration of the Eye-Fi card with the popular Nikon D60 DSLR. While the Eye-Fi works with any camera that uses SD memory cards, the Nikon D60 will detect when an Eye-Fi card is inserted and automatically adjust its power time-out settings so that the camera doesn't power off while you're uploading photos. Holove says that although the Eye-Fi card is smart enough to pick up your upload as soon as you power up the camera again, the D60 integration will make for smoother, uninterrupted downloads without requiring you to change camera settings.