Eye-Fi to improve Mac support for wireless memory card

After announcing a deal with Lexar last week to distribute its technology, Eye-Fi moved onto Macworld Monday, announcing support for Leopard and Safari.

Eye-Fi will now be able to upload photos directly into iPhoto, which eliminates the need for manual import as users must do now. It will also support uploading to any of the 19 providers that the Windows version supports.

Safari 3 support has been added so that users can manage their Eye-Fi card via the web interface, and the software is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard." The upgrade will be free to current users and be included on new Eye-Fi cards.

The card, which retails for $99.99 and contains 2GB of space, provides a method for consumers to transfer pictures from their digital cameras directly to their computers without a need for a cable.

No software is required on the camera itself, as a software application on the receiving PC takes care of the transfers automatically. Automatic uploading into iPhoto is a more natural fit for Mac than the current way of manually adding the pictures.

"With iPhoto, Apple has made saving and managing photos a cornerstone of the Mac experience, so adding new Mac capabilities is an important step for Eye-Fi," explained Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin.