Eye-Fi: Fi-in-Eyes or Wi-Fi memory card

He became the owner of this miracle of technology ...
Two days of incessant mate for developers, after two months of mate on RushPost, which sowed the package ...

So, who does not know, Eye-Fi is an SDHC memory card with a WiFi module.
“You take a photo or video, turn on the camera within the range of the Wi-Fi network and the photos will automatically go to Picasa, VKontakte or somewhere else, and the video to YouTube or FTP!” - This is a brief retelling of their advertising.

What for is it to me?
I collect megadevice - a circular video camera of 11 camcorders , as a result, this thing seemed to me the easiest way to drive video from 11 cameras to one server without fussing with USB lanyards or card readers ...

And after two months of waiting IT in the amount of 6 pieces falls into my hands! Hurrah!
Analysis of the "mega-gadget" - under the cut.

Packaging

A box, a hole was cut out in it, in which the card itself can be seen on a plastic substrate ...
An attempt to remove it without printing was not very successful.
Why - I understood only by printing the package: the card itself was in ANOTHER PLACE, and here - under the hole there was a relief of plastic "under the card" with a piece of paper "exactly like a card"!



In the package - in addition to the dummy, the card itself, stuck in the card reader + instructions.

Installation

Card setup software - installed from the card itself.
We stick the card into the card reader, the card reader into USB and ...

Well, I'm smart - I had a laptop with Linuh, with WinE ...
I decided to try it: I started the installation, everything was installed, but ... It didn’t work ...
Grrr ...

I take the fathers of the laptop with Windows, I repeat the process: cheers, aliluya! Their program has gone!
... And hung ...

As it turned out - she needs a connection to No ... I

cut WiFi in the laptop, the program gets to the Internet and ... It suggests updating!
The attempt brutally breaks off with Bee - even if I have anlime turned on, but soon… The normal speed here is 0 kilobods, and any deviations in plus are the Miracle of God ...

As a result, the program waved its hand at updating and offered to register.
In principle, reg is simple - soap, password and that's it.
At the fifth second of registration, a joyful message comes out that you can update the firmware in the card! And the buttons - one: "Update!", No options!
I press.
The program creeps into No to download the firmware, for a long time trying to understand HOW speed can be zero, if there is a connection by all indications ?!
As a result, he brutally breaks off: “The Russian country Internet cannot be understood by the mind, it cannot be measured with a kilobod!” and gives the message “Atas-kranty-khan, everything’s broken off with me, drag the card - maybe it will help!” and that’s all: the only active field in the message leads to the support site ... No cancellation, no "further" !!!

Principle of operation

All reviews of this card say so enthusiastically that everyone has the impression that a computer with Linux was stuffed inside the card and in general ...
In practice, everything is completely wrong!
In fact, there’s some kind of microcontroller that can connect to Wi-Fi and go to its own server, after which it sends pictures from itself to it, and already the company’s server sends it according to your settings to Picassa, YouTube, etc. etc.

It is possible to exclude their server from the chain, but not trivially, as a result, even if the card with the FTP server is on the same network, then without access to the Internet (and from the Internet to the server), something comes out of the line for two!

To their complete happiness - the cards in my camera refused to work: not, judging by the logs of the router, they connected to the grid, but ... But the camera does not want to recognize them as a memory card!
Canon - eats, but these FullHD cameras - no!
Moreover, the camera supports SDHC - I even shoved 16 gig there, but a miserable 4 gig - nothing!

Part 2

So, the normal Internet ... I

upgraded the firmware. There is no sense - the camera as it did not see the card, and ignores as before!
I sincerely do not understand the logic: if this card is visible even in a card reader, then how can it be not visible in a camera with which 4 and 8 and 16 and even 32 gigabyte SDHC cards work without problems ?!

In fotics - without problems, the appload checked: Both it sends to the computer and to the server ... Actually, three pictures from the article were taken from my Canon with the first of the cards (I shot the second one printed).

Summary

Pros:

1. We forget about the laces for synchronizing the camera, etc. etc.
2. Canon users - half a kilo of happiness additionally, because the card seems to support CHDK quite well.

Minuses:

1. without Ineta will not work out of principle
2. not all devices support, and logically, this non-support is not explainable in principle!
3. there is no Linux support AT ALL, but there is a program for Mac and, even, iPhone
4. You can upload to FTP, but only to the Internet, or to a local one with an open EXTERNAL port, because traffic will go through their server in any way. There are options from the people under Pearl and C that replace the server, but this is no longer a solution "out of the box."

Total: if you still bought such a card - configure it on a computer with the Internet, even if you plan to use it only within the "LAN"!

For myself, I’ll leave one card for the camera, and with the second I’ll experiment: I’ll make you work with the camera, if I get the manufacturer hard or the people give direct contact to the authors of the firmware ... The remaining four will wait for the final verdict ...