SD Card With Built-In Wi-Fi On The Way

Photos could soon go from camera to Web without the photographer ever touching a computer - or a wire for that matter.

While digital camera companies have slowly rolled out Wi-Fi capability in select models, a California company called Eye-Fi is set to bring Wi-Fi capability to every camera with an SecureDigital card expansion slot. Eye-Fi announced that it has secured $5.5 million in funding for its new product on Monday.

The cards will operate just like a traditional SD memory card, but add the ability to connect to wireless hotspots and upload photos to Web sites or transfer them to personal computers. According to an interview with Eye-Fi CEO Yuval Koren on CNET, the cards will probably pack about 2GB of storage and retail for around $100 in the fall.

The company’s venture capital was secured from Opus Capital and Shasta Ventures. “Digital cameras have made it very easy to take pictures, but it’s a chore to get photos off the camera to a place where you can print or share them,” said Robert Coneybeer, managing director for Shasta Ventures, in a statement. “This is a very real problem affecting both consumers who own digital cameras, and companies in the digital photography industry looking to boost profits. We see a huge market opportunity for Eye-Fi because anyone with a Wi-Fi network and a digital camera is a potential customer.”