Technology and gadgets enthusiasts were in their element at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008. The show demonstrates new developments in technology and showcases products that will be big in the coming year. Various prizes were awarded, and this year the winner of the Last Gadget Standing was the Eye-Fi, a wireless memory card for your camera.

The Eye-Fi card holds 2GB of data and has a small internal Wi-Fi antenna that automatically uploads photos to your computer or the web. The card has built-in support for 18 online photo services such as Facebook, Flickr, Typepad, as well as genuine photo centres such as Wal-Mart, KODAK, and Costco. For the Eye-Fi card to work you still need to run desktop software that will enable you to connect the card to a Wi-Fi network.

The process of uploading your pictures is a simple one regardless of whether you choose to upload to your computer, the web, or both. When uploading to your computer the photos are sent wirelessly via your Eye-Fi card to the Wi-Fi network on your PC or Mac. For your computer to receive the photos in this way it must be on and the Eye-Fi software must be running.

Uploading to the web is just as easy. The card connects to your Wi-Fi network and uploads your photos to the picture sharing or social networking site that you have chosen. The Eye-Fi service then takes care of the logging-in process and passwords, and can even resize your photos to meet the requirements of the site. The procedure is totally secure and provides complete privacy to the users. The card also supplies the users with unlimited, free uploads.

Features of the card include the ability to cope with full-resolution jpeg images and a USB memory card reader to make the set-up easier. Eye-Fi cards fit digital cameras that use SD memory cards. The software works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X (10.3 and 10.4), Internet Explorer 6 & 7 (Windows only) and FireFox 2.0 (Windows and Macintosh). The card also has advanced power management to optimise the use of camera power.

One of the opening lines on the Eye-Fi website states that, "Photos shouldn't be trapped in your camera. Set them free". This is precisely what it's hoped the Eye-Fi card will achieve. It will give you the freedom to take as many pictures as you want and also share them with as many people as you want. By placing them on social networking sites you share your photos with the world, perhaps to the benefit of your career or hobby.

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Sandra wrote this article for the online marketers Data and Electronics News Data and Electronics News one of the leading site indexes for news relating to the data and electronics industries.