.::|Dide(3)d's Blog::.

Pros

• Very easy setup
• No usage limitations

Cons

• Slow transfer speed
• Short wireless range

Bottom Line

• Easy to set up and use, but range is short and transfers slow.

Wireless uploading is a capability that has been slow to catch on with digital cameras, perhaps because the models that have offered it haven’t been otherwise compelling, or because getting a wireless connection to work is often a hassle. But the new Eye-Fi Card addresses both of those issues: This Wi-Fi-enabled SD Card works with almost any camera that uses that memory-card format, makes the wireless setup very simple, and imposes fewer limitations than some of the cameras with built-in Wi-Fi that I’ve seen in the past.

The $100 Eye-Fi Card has 2GB of capacity and comes with a small USB memory card reader. To set up a wireless connection, you insert the card in the reader, wait for it to be recognized by your PC, and, in the auto-play dialog that pops up, click an option to install the software. You then use a Web interface to set up a wireless connection, choose a location on your PC to upload photos to, and select from a list of 17 online photo-sharing or photo-blogging sites to use. (You can have the card upload to your PC, a sharing site, or both.) Those sites include most of the big-name ones–Shutterfly, Facebook, Flickr, and TypePad, among others. The only major omission I noted was that it doesn’t yet work with Blogger (the company says it will be adding more services later). I chose Google’s Picasa Web Albums; you can set uploaded photos to appear in folders based on the photos’ creation date or by upload date.

Eye-Fi says that, if the PC you’re using already has a wireless connection set up, its software can find your encryption key and enter it automatically, but that didn’t happen on my system. I entered it manually, which wasn’t that much harder. You can use the card with any wireless connection that does not require a splash screen (that means you can’t use it at a T-Mobile HotSpot, for example).

One great thing about the Eye-Fi is that you can upload any size and resolution of image that you want to these services–unlike Kodak’s EasyShare One camera, which locked you into uploading solely to its own photo-sharing service, where you could view only low-resolution versions.

The downside to being able to transfer big files is that they take a while to upload. I tried the card with a Sony Cybershot T-90, a 12-megapixel camera. Each 6MB file that the camera produced took about a minute to upload when I had placed the camera three feet from my Linksys router, which is connected to a standard cable-Internet service with a puny 384KB upload speed.

In this case, the broadband connection was probably most responsible for the slow uploads; but with the Eye-Fi Card, you’re always at the mercy of your Internet connection, not your LAN speed, because the card uploads your photos to your selected Web-sharing site before it copies them to your PC’s hard drive. If it were the other way around, you could review the images more quickly. You can, however, continue shooting while the card is uploading, and of course, the wait seemed much more tolerable when I shot at a lower resolution.

I found that the card’s range is pretty limited, too (not surprising, given that its antenna has to fit inside the card). With the Cybershot T-90 and a Casio Exilim EX-S880, uploads would frequently be interrupted at distances of about 20 feet, and the card didn’t connect at all at distances beyond that–distances that posed no problem for my IBM Thinkpad X40 notebook and the wireless adapter attached to my TiVo. I achieved a little better range with a Fujifilm FinePix F50fd, which I could use at distances of about 30 feet. With all of the cameras, the card automatically re-initiated uploads when I brought them within range. Eye-Fi says the range should be a bit better than I experienced–up to 45 feet should be okay, according to the company.

Whenever you take a shot, the card is supposed to start uploading it automatically. Most of the time, that was the case, but on occasion, a few minutes passed before they began. You cannot jump-start the process, other than by making sure your camera doesn’t turn off–it must be on to provide power to the card. Eye-Fi says the card requires only 5 percent more power than a typical non-wireless SD Card, and the code inside the card that controls the wireless components takes up only 14KB of space, so the card still has plenty of capacity for photos.

That you must place your camera and the card close to your router, and keep your camera on to allow time for transfers over a slow connection, somewhat limits the Eye-Fi Card’s appeal to me. But its price re-establishes my interest: A 2GB SD Card costs about $30 to $40, so the cost of the wireless capability comes in at about $60 to $70–very reasonable, I think, even with the product’s limitations.

These days it seems like web hosting providers are a dime a dozen. Just type the word “hosting” into Google and you’ll get thousands upon thousands of company listings. Of course, just like with anything, there is a good and a bad side to this. The good side is that you, the customer, have thousands of web hosting providers at your fingertips all wanting you to web host with them. What does this mean for you? Well, it means you’ll have no trouble finding a cheap web hosting package. The downside is that with so many web hosting companies selling and saying the same thing, it’s very difficult to decide which company to choose.

In order to make a smart decision, many factors must come into play. Choosing a web hosting provider can prove to be less overwhelming if you follow the below four guidelines. Doing so ensures that you are safe from unwanted web hosting difficulties. Web hosting is something that you should just purchase and forget about – you have too many important things on your mind already.

#1) Never Let Your WebHosting Provider Have Control Over Your Domain Name

This is website suicide, and unfortunately many people fall victim to this tiny oversight and are unsuccessful because of it. If your web hosting provider says that they will register your domain name for you in their company name, then you have a problem. Your domain name is just that – yours. It is your identity on the internet and without it you are lost. Always register your own domain name yourself via the web hosting provider. Once the domain name is in your business/personal name, you are safe. A domain name has nothing to do with web hosting, and if you switch web hosting providers, you can take the domain name with you. Many people don’t realize this and, in turn, have their domain name taken hostage by their web hosting provider when they decide to switch servers.

#2) Never Trust Web Hosting Providers Who Give You Free Hosting

Free web hosting is only good for people who could care less about their website. Sure your website will appear online for awhile, but it may disappear at any time and there is nothing you can do about it. If you are starting an online business, then you need web hosting services offered by a reputable company. There are very inexpensive web hosting packages available today which give you complete control over your account and domain name. This way you will never lose traffic and business because you rely on a free website hosting provider. Don’t fall victim to penny pinching!

#3) Never Choose a Web Hosting Provider That’s Lacking in Customer Support

It would take many long hours of heavy studying to understand fully all of the issues of web hosting platforms. If you’re new to the web hosting game, you could be in a lot of hot water if your web hosting provider does not supply you with unlimited advice, manuals and help with technical difficulties. Always keep in mind that when you pay a web hosting company, you are paying for the actual hosting of your website, but also for customer and technical support. The best way to find out about the quality of support that a company offers is to call them yourself and to read client testimonials and see what others have to say about them.

#4) Control of Server for Web Hosting Provider

Many web hosting providers on the internet are simply reselling server space for another larger hosting company. If you choose a hosting company where this is the case, make sure that they have moderate control over what happens to your website on the server. If you choose a web hosting provider with their own servers, then you do not need to worry about this. If your website is straightforward and your plan for it is not overly complex, it does not really matter if you choose a company that resells or not. However, be aware of this because the hosting company having control of their servers is important if you plan on getting into complex interactions.

If your follow these four guidelines, you will find the best web hosting provider in no time!

Apple is suing phone maker HTC, alleging that the Taiwanese company is infringing 20 Apple patents related to the user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware of the iPhone.

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, said Tuesday in a statement. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

HTC makes a number of mobile phones based on Google’s Android operating system.

Apple said that the lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

More to follow.

[Source:Cnet News]