Month: April 2015

A programmer is not a PC repair person.

A programmer is not a PC repair man. Ritesh Kumar Gupta

One of the 9 truths that computer programmers know that most people don’t..

A programmer is one who deals with algorithms and design principles, not the one who repairs a computer. We may know how the internal workings of a computer work, how code fits together (or rather hacked together as I explained in Fact #1). But, that does not mean we know how to fix hardware. That does not mean we know how to fix that issue you’re having with chrome that makes it crash everytime you open it, or why your computer is always overheating and the battery dying. Computers programmers, at the least, know how to program computers, not fix them.Sawyer MacLeaod

Published via MarsEdit

Is The 32GB eyefi mobiPRO The Ultimate WiFi SD Card?

I just got the new version of eyefi's mobiPro SD card. Eyefi is calling this the Ultimate WiFi SD Card. Eyefi has printed this phrase on the cover of the package. But can this card stand up to the claim?

I have used an earlier version of the eyefi mobi card and when the company introduced the 32GB eyefi mobiPRO I was curious to see what was improved. I ordered one right away.

Most new cameras now feature Wi-Fi radios for transferring images from the SD card. The photographer can snap an image and transfer to a smart phone for editing and easy sharing to social networks such as Instagram. Instead of waiting until they get back to the computer, photographers can edit and share images in real-time.

But not all cameras have this feature. My Nikon D5100 is an older model which does not. I could sell my D5100 and buy a newer model with Wi-Fi. But that is an expensive solution. A cheaper solution is to use an SD card that has the Wi-Fi. This means I can use the camera hardware I already have while still enjoying some of the benefits of a newer body.

Eyefi is selling the 32GB eyefi mobiPRO at an early bird special price for $79 with 1 year of their Eyefi Cloud service. The package also includes a card reader. Although I have collected several card readers over the years including one is a nice touch.

Cover of box of 32GB eyefi mobiPRO

Inside the box I found a USB card reader, the 32GB eyefi mobiPRO SD card, and a membership card. On the back are instructions for activating the card and the cloud service. I have one of the original Connect X2 cards and one of the first generation 8GB mobi cards. The 32GB mobiPro seemed easier and more straight forward to setup than either of those card.

I launched the eyefi app on my iPhone and tapped the gear to bring up the Settings screen. From there I tapped Manage Cards and entered the activation code form the membership card. I tapped a few more button to install the mobiPro's profile and I was ready to go.

Inside box of 32GB eyefi mobiPRO

I inserted the mobiPro into the SD card slot of my Nikon D5100 and started snapping photos. The mobiPro is a class 10 card so I was able to use the full 4fps shooting speed of my Nikon D5100.

The mobiPro has RAW image support. When I was done shooting I launched the Settings app on my iPhone 6 and connected to the Wi-Fi signal of the mobiePro. Back in the eyefi app I was able to transfer RAW images to my iPhone. I did not time the speed of the transfers but they seemed snappier than the JPG transfer of the 8GB eyefi mobi.

I know that when using eyefi cards in the past that the battery of the Nikon D5100 was short. Perhaps this was because I kept the camera on while shooting to prevent the loss of the connection between the mobi and the iPhone. I have not tested it yet but given how robust the connection of the mobiPro seems I will have less fear of losing signal and I can turn my Nikon on and off as needed. Battery life should improve.

One of the complaints I had about the earlier mobi SD cards is that I could not choose which images I wanted transferred to my iPhone or iPad. With the earlier cards, connecting the iPhone to the mobi card meant that all the images on the SD card were transferred. My Nikon D5100 has a resolution of 16MP. Depending on the number of images I shot I could easily exhaust the storage of my iPhone. The eyefi mobi is one of the reasons I bought the 64GB iPhone 6. I often found myself running out of space while transferring images when all I really wanted was one or two images to share via social media. The mobiPro has a selective sync feature. I can choose which images I want transferred to my iPhone.

I couldn't find the settings for this in the eyefi app. This was frustrating but it turns out I needed to use the eyefi desktop app to set up the mobiPro with this feature. I found the instructions on the eyefi website. If I had paid attention to inside of the eyefi mobiPro box I would see the text directing me to the place on the eyefi web site with the necessary information.

I installed the mobi desktop app on my MacBook Air, insert the mobiPro via the USB reader, and configured the mobiPro per the instructions. Once complete I removed the mobiPro and inserted back into my Nikon D5100. I shot a couple of test images. To enable selected transfer I marked the image I wanted to transfer as locked. I launched the eyefi app and waited for the iPhone to connect. It was at this point I ran into problems. Neither the MacBook Air or the iPhone were able to connect to the mobiPro card. I tried repeatedly and after several attempts I had it working. This is the flaky network connectivity issues I had experienced with the earlier cards. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Is the 32BG mobiPro the Ultimate WiFi SD card? Perhaps not. The initial setup was easy but setting up the selective sync didn't go as well as I expected. Eyefi could invest some effort in making the WiFi connection more robust. I would be a very frustrated user if I only discovered about the selective sync setup needing a computer while I was out on a photo walk. Selective sync setup should not require a computer.

But assuming network connectivity issues don't plague this device I think I will enjoy using the mobiPro. The weather is improving and I have a number of photowalks planned for April and May. The 32GB mobiPro has arrived just in time for me to selectively share photos from my adventures.

Cover To Cover

I know this is going to sound dated and outdated. I just subscribed to the print version of the National Geographic Magazine. I'm not quite sure why but it may have something to do with what is going on in my house. Bucking the trend, it seems my kids prefer printed reading material over electronic. They read voraciously. Especially my daughter. She easily read two to three novels a month. Most of the books are loaned from the local libraries -- Mary Jacobs or the Princeton Public Library.

My son reads novels too but he also reads magazines. He reads the print version of Newsweek and loves reading the funnies in the Sunday comics. He reads my print subscription to Consumer Reports and the local newspaper.

What I have noticed is that they are more keen to share their thoughts and feelings on what they have read in print versus what they read online. It's weird. I don't know what's going on here but I like it. I find myself doing the same. When I sit to read on the computer or my iPad, I find it easy to get distracted. But when I read print, I find myself focusing more and retaining more of what was read. I do not get distracted. I can easily lose myself in the local newspaper for an hour.

When I was a kid I read my dad's National Geographic cover to cover. NatGeo helped me travel to a world beyond the tiny islands where I lived. A world full of wonder in nature and interesting people and cultures. So, this afternoon, I pulled out my credit card and subscribed to the print edition of the National Geographic Magazine. I hope my kids -- the family -- have as much joy and wonder from reading the stories are I did when I was a child. I hope this leads to interesting family conversations about the world.