How standard or proprietary a camera system is can attract or deter consumers.

Sony is not a company that is known for interoperability and compliance with standards. Quite the opposite, in fact, if one considers technologies like Memory Stick, Blu-Ray, and most every other development they have made in consumer electronics. But what about the NEX mirrorless cameras? How do they compare to similar offerings from other vendors?

You might also like reading my article, The Myths of Standardization as well as my full Sony NEX-5 Camera Review

Advanced interchangeable lens camera systems like the NEX from Sony are never entirely open or closed. Rather, they incorporate standards where they must and innovate everywhere else. Let’s consider the main components of interchangeable lens camera, and identify which generally are proprietary and which are standardized.

Widely-Standardized Camera Components and Connectors

Memory media is generally a standard format like SD, CompactFlash, or Memory Stick, though most cameras including the NEX are increasingly turning to SD and its derivatives. I simply would not have bought the NEX-5 if it was not 100% compatible with SD and SDXC cards like most low to midrange cameras on the market today. It’s nice that the NEX is also compatible with the line of Wi-Fi SD cards from Eye-Fi.

Audiovisual connectors are generally standardized, including HDMI for audio/visual (formerly S-Video and RCA) and TRS mini jacks for audio. Only the NEX-7 includes a standard microphone input, though all NEX cameras have a mini HDMI connector. The lack of a microphone input on my NEX-5 had been a great disappointment, leading me to pack a separate video camera.

Lens filters are broadly standardized in terms of diameter and thread pitch. The NEX cameras use the common but not ubiquitous 49 mm filter format. I have been able to buy third-party filters, including an inexpensive circular polarizer, without any trouble.

The industry-standard flash shoe	Sony’s iISO as on the NEX-7	The proprietary NEX flash mount

If a camera includes an accessory connector for a flash, it is generally the ancient U-shaped shoe first created by Leica almost a century ago. The NEX-7 includes the Sony/Minolta iISO hot shoe, while the other NEX cameras have a proprietary connector that also includes the microphone input. The slim NEX connector is a limiting factor to the lower and Sony cameras, but the iISO on the NEX-7 enjoys much wider support. I’m not troubled by the lack of a Leica-style hot shoe given the wide variety of iISO attachments.

Most cameras feature a standard tripod mount, though not all are optimally located. The Sony NEX line does indeed use the standard screw mount for tripod attachment.

Usually-Proprietary Camera Components

Some low-end cameras use a standard battery, but most high-end cameras use one of a number of batteries developed but their manufacturer. The entire NEX line uses the same Sony “intelligent battery” NP–FW50 cell, also shared with some Sony Alpha cameras. This battery technology is entirely proprietary, and Sony actively works to exclude third-party manufacturers. My own experience with “compatible” NEX batteries has not been positive.

With very few exceptions, camera lens mounting systems are proprietary to a single manufacturer and range of cameras. Sony’s E-Mount lens system is one of the defining elements in the NEX line, and the company has published mechanical and electronic specifications to allow the development of third-party adapters and lenses. While not cross-corporate like the Micro Four Thirds system, the E-Mount is about as open and standardized as any other lens system.

The availability of lens adapters is a revelation for long-time SLR users, and one of the main attractions of mirrorless camera systems like the NEX and Micro 4/3. The fact that such adapters are not yet available for the Nikon 1 (apart from Nikon’s own F-Mount) likely turns away some prospective customers. By opening their lens specifications, Sony and Panasonic/Olympus have given consumers a marvelous boon.

Stephen’s Stance

The NEX-7 is less proprietary than the earlier NEX cameras, certainly on par with its competition.

The Sony NEX line is not as open as it could be, but the NEX-7 addresses many of the shortcomings found in earlier cameras. The addition of a standard microphone input as well as the adoption of the widely accepted iISO flash attachment are welcome changes. But it is the broad availability of third-party lenses that really makes the NEX and Micro Four Thirds systems shine.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Is the Sony NEX Camera System Excessively Proprietary?
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An On-The-Go Workflow

As explained in my previous articles, the Eye-Fi is too slow to keep up with the volume of images generated by a serious camera, and mobile Internet access from a device like my Virgin MiFi makes it even worse.

I needed a functional workflow to accomplish the following:

1. Take photos
2. Select the best photos for sharing
3. Upload resized versions of the selected photos to Flickr
4. Add these to sets and tag them

After much frustration, I decided to rely on Direct Mode to transfer images to my iPhone for selection and uploading to Flickr. I use FlickStackr, an excellent iOS app, to select, tag, resize, and upload photos. This worked well on my trips to Chicago and London.

Configuring Eye-Fi As A Wireless Card Reader

So we come down to it. After hours of experimentation and frustration, I have come to a practical if limited Eye-Fi workflow. Basically, we’re disabling everything but Direct Mode.

1. In Eye-Fi Center, click the little gear icon next to the card.



2. Under “Networks”, Enable Direct Mode with a 2 minute timeout on both sliders.



3. Also under “Networks”, Remove all “Private Networks” from the Eye-Fi card. This forces the card always to enter Direct Mode when powered on.



4. Under “Photos”, click the “Online” tab and disable online photo sharing.



5. Disable “Videos” – transfering via Eye-Fi is just too slow!



6. Disable “Eye-Fi View”.
7. I removed the email notification and enabled an SMS. It’s way quicker, but only do this if you have unlimited texting.



8. You now have a choice to make:
   1. Use “Selective Share” and the card will send all new photos to your Direct Mode-attached device. From there you can select the best and upload them.
   2. Switch to “Selective Transfer” and you will have to mark the good photos in the “protect” menu before the card will even enter Direct Mode, let alone transfer anything.
9. Disable “Relayed Transfer” since it requires Eye-Fi View.
10. Disable “Endless Memory” since you’ll never be able to transfer many photos wirelessly.

Note too that each device has its own settings for sharing and transfer. You might need to override the sharing settings on everything from within Eye-Fi Center.

Once all this is done, you will have a limited but functional Eye-Fi setup. You can fire up the iPhone, iPad, or laptop and transfer select photos wirelessly. You can then upload the photos manually using an application like FlickStackr. This setup avoids long delays waiting for photos to upload, as well as eventual duplication of photos as the various applications upload them.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Eye-Fi Workflow: Wireless Card Reader
This post was categorized as Everything, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

The Out-of-Box Experience

For more information on the Eye-Fi card line-up, see Introducing the Eye-Fi X2 Card and What Are The True Eye-Fi X2 802.11n Wi-Fi Capabilities?

The Eye-Fi Center application uses Adobe Air and has lots of tiny, fiddly buttons

The Eye-Fi comes in a pleasing package, and includes a USB SD card reader along with the SD card itself. I was happy to find Mac and Windows software pre-loaded on the card – just insert it and you are ready to install and configure the Eye-Fi Helper and Eye-Fi Center software.

Before it is useful, the Eye-Fi card must be configured in Eye-Fi Center. This includes associating it with an online Eye-Fi View account as well as any photo-sharing services you might want. The software uses Adobe Air, and the user interface is neither Windows nor Mac-like. It uses lots of tiny fiddly icons, menus, and tabs, and I found it difficult to understand what was going on at times.

"Failed to initialize the Eye-Fi card" is an all-too-common error message. Eject it and try again...

Annoyingly, the Eye-Fi Center frequently refuses to recognize my card when I insert it directly into the SD slot on my MacBook Pro. The card functions fine (iPhoto can see it and import), but the Eye-Fi Helper reports no card attached and Eye-Fi Center won’t allow it to be configured. This caused initial frustration for me, and continues to annoy. Eye-Fi blames the MacBook Pro slot for “powering down” and recommends their USB reader.

You can only configure networks your laptop can currently access, so you will see this screen often...

Adding a known Wi-Fi network requires the computer to be in range and connected, a serious limitation. I was unable to configure the Wi-Fi for my home and work LAN since I was on a trip, and it’s a hassle to move the card to the computer when I happen to be on-site. Why not let me program networks arbitrarily, perhaps in an “Advanced” menu?

Configuring Direct Mode

Configuring Direct Mode and setting up the iOS app are much more difficult tasks than expected, even for an advanced computer user. You must enable Direct Mode in Eye-Fi center with the card in the computer, then configure all devices (including the computer itself) to connect to the special network created by the card. Since it’s password protected, the Eye-Fi instructions call for a multi-step process of copying and pasting the password.

It would have been much easier if there was a way to disable the password entirely. It’s not much of a security risk – Direct Mode is only active when the card is powered on and has photos to transfer, and its weak Wi-Fi signal is limited to short range only. I would also like to be able to customize the SSID: Perhaps something without the word, “Eye-Fi” in it?

Since Direct Mode is an ad-hoc network, some operating systems (including, apparently, Mac OS X and iOS) occasionally refuse to automatically connect. When this happens, one must manually select the Eye-Fi network when a transfer is to be made. And I found that the iPhone sometimes refused to download photos in Direct Mode, even when everything appeared to be set up correctly.

Direct Mode can only connect to a single device at a time. I was testing with an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook pro and had to tell the Eye-Fi software to switch devices frequently. When you do switch, however, it re-uploads photos to the new client software, creating duplicates if online photo sharing is enabled!

A Slow and Draining Experience

When initially configured, the Eye-Fi card will upload all photos to the online service, any configured sharing sites, and any connected devices. This takes quite a while for a 14 megapixel camera.

In the case of my NEX-5, each image is about 6 MB. Each took 10 to 20 seconds to upload using my Virgin MiFi, with an inexplicable delay before and after. I tend to shoot a lot of photos at events like Tech Field Day, and the Eye-Fi/MiFi combination simply could not keep up with my demands.

I would take a few photos and then set the camera aside, leaving it on so the Eye-Fi could transfer. Contrary to Eye-Fi’s claims, this rapidly drained the (normally strong) battery in the NEX and proved unsatisfying in terms of usability.

Put simply, over the course of three days of use, my photos were never where I wanted them when I wanted them there. They would eventually upload to Flickr, but by then I was on to the next presentation or location. I couldn’t wait for the card: By day 3 I was frequently removing the Eye-Fi and using it as an ordinary SD card.

Tuning the Eye-Fi Experience

One reason my photos were so slow to upload was the sheer volume of data to be transferred. I took hundreds of photos over the course of two days, 598 to be exact. Uploading 3 GB of data over a MiFi just isn’t practical; even a standard broadband connection would have had difficulty with this kind of load.

This is a perennial complaint about the Eye-Fi, and something the company really can’t solve. Images keep getting bigger and cameras just keep getting faster. The new “wireless n” radio in the X2 series of cards is severely limited in terms of performance and does little to help.

I can think of two solutions, neither of which exploit the full potential of the Eye-Fi card:

1. “Wireless card reader” – Disable all online services and rely on Direct Mode for wireless connection to a computer, iPhone, or iPad.
2. “Selective transfer” – Configure the Eye-Fi to selectively upload only the best photos, skipping the local computer.

In both cases, many of the vaunted features of the card are ignored. Neither uses the Eye-Fi View online service, for example, and Endless Memory and the Eye-Fi Center application are skipped. But these options function, which is really the point, after all.

Stephen’s Stance

I simply cannot recommend any Eye-Fi card, even the fancy new X2 line, to average camera users. Even enthusiasts like me would be wise to curb their enthusiasm. Most features barely work in practice, and the device frequently failed to perform.

I found myself pulling the Eye-Fi card from the camera and transferring photos like any old SD card. Only Direct Mode shows any promise, and it was annoyingly inconsistent, but I did come up with two workable use cases. All in all, I’m deeply disappointed.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Hands-On Review: The Eye-Fi Connect X2 Card
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The Eye-Fi X2 card packs a 200 MHz ARM CPU and limited Marvell 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi chipset

My experience with the Eye-Fi connected SD camera card has been frustrating, but I wasn’t sure how much blame the company deserved. Uploading massive 14 megapixel photos is going to be slow over a 3G connection using any device, after all. But how fast could the Eye-Fi go on a really great wireless LAN? The company is skimpy with technical specs, but I did manage to figure out just what the Eye-Fi X2 series of cards are capable of in terms of CPU and Wi-Fi performance.

Eye-Fi claims that the X2 card line is capable of “Class 6” read and write speed inside a camera. Class 6 means 6 MB/s, and one might think this is the maximum throughput for the card. Considering that my camera can shoot seven frames per second at 14 megapixels (each image being about 6 MB in size), the Eye-Fi could not handle heavy-duty use when set to transfer all images immediately even if this was the real-world performance one could expect.

This only gets worse when one considers the Eye-Fi Pro X2 card with its RAW image compatibility. My Sony NEX-5 shoots 15 MB RAW images, about three times the size of a “fine” JPEG. This means it would take three times longer to transfer each image, a truly frustrating experience even with the fastest network.

What’s Inside?

Eye-Fi (the company) would rather that we focus on the capabilities of their card rather than its technical components. But any self-respecting geek is going to want to know what makes it tick! I’d rather not cut open my card to get a peek at the chips inside, but Eye-Fi released some official details about the components used in the X2 series of cards, and a quick Google search revealed all that I needed to know.

An official company blog post includes a cutaway image of the inside of the card as well as details about the new X2 chipset. According to Eye-Fi themselves, the X2 line includes a new engine called “Arcturus” which includes a 200 MHz ARM926 processor core. The 926 is part of the 32-bit ARM9 RISC family and includes a digital signal processor, Java acceleration, and local cache. This is not a bad chip, considering the ultra small form factor of the Eye-Fi card.

So the card has enough CPU juice to handle reasonable performance requirements, but what about the Wi-Fi chipset? Eye-Fi doesn’t say too much about the capabilities of the X2 card line, except to boast of their newfound 802.11n compatibility. But the markings on the Wi-Fi chip are clearly visible in Eye-Fi’s official photographs, and a quick search reveals very limited capabilities.

Eye-Fi Wi-Fi

You might want to refer to my 802.11n Overview

The Eye-Fi card uses a Marvell 88W8786 integrated system-on-chip WLAN controller. This is an early 802.11n chip with few features:

• The radio is capable of 2.4 GHz transmissions only, so it is incompatible with 5 GHz 802.11n networks
• Like many portable devices, a single transmit and receive antenna is used so MIMO performance gains are restricted
• The datasheet lists 20/40 MHz coexistence, so it must support 40 MHz channels on 2.4 GHz, a feature that is highly unlikely to be used given the limited number of channels there

In short, the Eye-Fi X2 card is “802.11n in name only” and does not support most of the advanced performance features users might expect. Theoretical data rate with 40 MHz channels is limited to 150 Mb/s, and throughput with 20 MB/s channels tops out at 75 Mb/s, with much less in the real world.

Stephen’s Stance

My own experience shows that the Eye-Fi X2 card takes 3 to 5 seconds to transfer a 6 MB image to my laptop using direct mode. This translates into roughly 12 Mb/s, and represents a best case scenario for image transfer. This drastically reduces the value of the Eye-Fi card when used with high-resolution cameras. Which are exactly the kind of cameras that people might have who are willing to spend more than twice as much for a connected SD card!

Then there’s compatibility. The Eye-Fi card does not support 5 GHz-only 802.11n networks. This isn’t unique – neither does the iPhone 4! But it’s bound to disappoint and frustrate some customers. Products like this are the reason I decided to set my AirPort Express (an either/or base station in terms of radio bands) to use 2.4 GHz even though it is “N-only”.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | What Are The True Eye-Fi X2 802.11n Wi-Fi Capabilities?
This post was categorized as Apple, Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

The Eye-Fi promises simple connectivity for digital cameras, but does it really work?

One reason the smartphones like the iPhone are gaining ground on purpose-built cameras is their instant connectivity: Take a photo and you can immediately share it on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, or other popular sites. Wouldn’t it be great if your SLR or digital camera could do the same? This is the promise of the Eye-Fi card: It adds Wi-Fi connectivity to most popular cameras, enabling you to transfer photos directly to your laptop or the Internet. If only it worked.

Introducing the Eye-Fi

The Eye-Fi card is a marvel of engineering. Now in its second iteration (X2), the Eye-Fi is a standard SD card with a built-in Wi-Fi radio and smarts to handle connecting and transferring images. It’s really amazing to think that that tiny card has a whole computer with Wi-Fi inside it!

Check out my follow-on post to see just what lurks inside the Eye-Fi X2!

But the Eye-Fi is more than a card. It’s also an online service (Eye-Fi View), software application for Windows or Mac (Eye-Fi Center), and app for iOS or Android that enables photo sharing. The card is useless without these applications and services.

The Eye-Fi card is compatible with most cameras that take SD media, and many (including my Sony NEX-5) have special support for the card. My NEX includes an on-screen icon showing card status, and will keep the camera powered on while images are being transferred.

The X2 Generation

Last year, Eye-Fi upgraded the hardware in their Eye-Fi lineup. These new X2 cards are a huge upgrade, as you will soon see, and were enough to finally push me off the fence and buy one. I purchased a Connect X2 card at Wal Mart, which sells them for a reasonable $39, as does Amazon.

Earlier Eye-Fi cards required a known Wi-Fi network to do anything at all, limiting their usefulness. But the new X2 series (including the Connect X2 I purchased) has a “Direct Mode” capability, allowing the card to act as a limited hotspot to transfer photos to a laptop, tablet, or phone when no network is in range.

Eye-Fi Features and Services

All Eye-Fi X2 cards offer the same features and services – for a price. Even my lowly Connect X2 can be upgraded to match the Pro X2′s geotagging and public Wi-Fi support. The only really Pro-exclusive feature is RAW file transfer. But none of these added features is actually worth that much, as you will see. I recommend the base Connect X2.

Eye-Fi inexplicably leaves the Geo X2 off their comparison table. And they’re not exactly generous with the information. So here’s my own Eye-Fi comparison table, and I’ve included about the nicest regular SD card I could find.

	Patriot 32 GB SDHC	Eye-Fi Connect X2	Eye-Fi Geo X2	Eye-Fi Mobile X2	Eye-Fi Pro X2
Speed	Class 10 (10 MB/s)	Class 6 (6 MB/s)
Connectivity	SD Reader	SD Reader, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with Direct Mode
Capacity	32 GB	4 GB		8 GB
RAW compatibility	Manual import only				Yes
Sharing	Manual	Automatic to Flickr, Facebook, etc
Geotagging	No	$29.99 option	Yes	$29.99 option	Yes
Hotspot Access	No	$29.99 per year			First year free, then $29.99 per year
List Price	$84.99	$49.99	$69.95	$79.99	$106.99
Street Price	$50	$40	$70	$72	$90
Price With Geo	N/A	$70	$70	$102	$90

Direct Mode

This is the real killer feature of the Eye-Fi X2 line. When the card isn’t in range of a known Wi-Fi hotspot (and has photos to transfer) it will create its own ad-hoc network for local devices. Once connected to this network, laptops, tablets, and phones can transfer photos at Wi-Fi speed directly from the card.

I’ll write more about it in a follow-on post, but suffice to say that Direct Mode is the only feature worth paying for and it’s included free on all Eye-Fi X2 cards!

Geotagging

Geotagging seems like an awesome add-on for a digital camera, and it is surprising more don’t already include it. Sites like Flickr and applications like iPhoto make great use of location tagging, and the iPhone automatically tags all photos.

But the Eye-Fi has two major strikes against it when it comes to geotagging, and these combine to reduce the value of this feature:

1. The Eye-Fi cards don’t have a GPS receiver, so they have to triangulate location based on nearby Wi-Fi access points. This gives innacurate location data at the best of times and is completely worthless off the beaten path.
2. The Eye-Fi doesn’t tag photos when they are taken but rather when they are transferred by the Eye-Fi software. This means that any images imported directly off the card won’t have geotags.

The limited functionality of Eye-Fi geotagging means it’s simply not worth paying extra for. There goes the $69 Geo X2 from Apple, as well as the $29 upgrade for Connect X2 users.

Hotspot Support

Basic Eye-Fi models only recognize hotspots you program them for, but the top model can access a wide range of public hotspots automatically. This is also available as an extra-charge item, priced at $29.99 per year.

Hotspot access was very valuable in earlier Eye-Fi models, since there was no way to transfer photos without them. But the X2 cards, with their Direct Mode, offer a better alternative at no cost. It’s definitely not worth buying a Pro X2 card for hotspot access, since it only includes one year of service.

SDHC Class 6 and Wireless-N Speed

The Eye-Fi X2 features two performance and compatibility improvements over previous models:

1. SDHC Class 6 compatibility means the card can now keep up with today’s fast shooting and megapixel-heavy cameras. This is more important for HD video, but some cameras (like my NEX) can tax Class 4 (40 MB/s) cards in speed shooting modes, and Class 6 (6 MB/s) might not even be enough. In fact, I did encounter some “cannot write” errors when using the Eye-Fi card, and I attribute this to the card still not being fast enough!
2. The new X2 cards support Wi-Fi “N” networks. This is more about compatibility than performance, since the card can’t transfer fast enough to tax a “G” network anyway. But folks like me who have “N-only” networks at home appreciate it, however.

Neiter of these features are deal-breakers, and neither adds much to the Eye-Fi experience. But both are welcome updates and keep the cards from becoming obsolete in today’s world.

Which Eye-Fi Card Is Best?

Normally, I have to waffle a bit when recommending a purchase. After all, some people might need to drive a Ferrari, right? But the Eye-Fi is a special case, and a single answer will do:

If you decide to buy an Eye-Fi card, get the cheapest Connect X2 model and don’t bother with any upgrades.

Seriously. The added features in the upscale Eye-Fi cards are worthless in real-world usage. Don’t buy them.

1. Stepping up to 8 GB of capacity isn’t all that valuable in a connected card, and this is some seriously expensive capacity
2. Eye-Fi geotagging is just about worthless, so put it out of your mind and don’t be tempted
3. Public hotspot usage will just be frustrating, and Direct Mode allows the card to function without it

In my next post, I will discuss my real-world experience with the Eye-Fi card, and end with a disappointing recommendation.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Introducing the Eye-Fi X2 Card
This post was categorized as Apple, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Apple's newest server is a dual-hard disk Mac Mini!

Apple today revised their desktop computer lineup, including a quick refresh of the already updated Mac Mini. The new Mini lineup sports faster CPUs, larger hard drives, and an interesting twist on the hacks we’ve all already been performing: A dual-hard disk drive Mac Mini Server with no optical drive! Maybe we won’t need to upgrade the Mini right out of the box anymore…

Mini Bump

Update: The 2009 Mac Minis can now accept 8 GB of RAM!

Killer Storage

First, note that the Mac Mini generally remains the same. The case is unchanged and the logic board still sports the nVidia GeForce 9400M with integrated graphics. The unit still sports five USB ports, FireWire 800, dual graphics ports (Mini DisplayPort and Mini-DVI), Gigabit Ethernet, and 802.11n AirPort wireless. What’s new then?

The base model $599 Mac Mini (like my MB463LL/A) has been replaced by a new model (MC238LL/A) with welcome spec updates. The old 2.0 GHz P7350 CPU has been replaced by the previously-optional 2.26 GHz P8500 Core 2 Duo. The 120 GB hard disk drive has been upped to 160 GB, hopefully with better performance. Thankfully, the Mini now comes with 2 GB of RAM, but it’s two 1 GB sticks so upgrading requires a complete swap-out. Build-to-order customers can specify the 320 GB or 500 GB hard disk drive and up to 4 GB of RAM.

The upper-class $799 Mac Mini (MB464LL/A) has been replaced by the MC239LL/A, which finally includes worthy upgrades to justify its higher price. The CPU is no longer the same, now boasting a 2.53 GHz P8700, and it comes with 4 GB of RAM right out of the box. The 320 GB hard disk drive remains the same, though built-to-order Macs can have a 500 GB drive instead. A 2.66 GHz P8800 CPU is also optional for custom Minis.

Behold, the Terabyte Mac Mini Server!

A new upscale dual-drive $999 Mac Mini Server (MC408LL/A) is the real news here. Sporting the top-of-the-line 2.53 GHz P8700 CPU and 4 GB of RAM, this bad boy also deletes the SuperDrive (and its slot) in favor to two 500 GB hard disk drives! This beast is only available with Snow Leopard Server pre-installed, however. Since so many folks are using these systems as home or small office servers already, this is nice,

What about price? $999 would easily be enough to build a dual-500 GB drive Mini from one of the lesser “desktop” models, but the server OS costs $499 from Apple, making an unofficial Mac Mini Server impractical. The cheapest Apple Xserve starts at $2,999, which is out of reach for the smallest offices. So a $999 Apple server with all the same software functionality sounds awfully nice! 1 TB of hard disk drive space is amazing in such a small package, and the fast CPU and full 4 GB of RAM means there is no need to self-upgrade. Add in a Drobo, DroboPro, or the Promise RAID offered by Apple and you’ve got a very nice server indeed!

Hopefully the dual-drive server will use OS X’s RAID capability to mirror the two drives for reliability. Otherwise, make sure you use Time Machine to back up your data! You’ve got about a 6% chance of losing a drive in the first year. Although AppleCare will replace the hardware, your data is irreplaceable!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Mac Mini: Apple’s Inexpensive Server
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Why can't digital cameras come with a useful memory card?

Over the last year, I have purchased two Canon digital cameras. Both are excellent, and I would recommend them to anyone. But each came with a worthless 32 MB SD flash card. So did the (now broken) HP point-and-shoot I picked up last year. And the Nikon that preceded the Canon. In fact, it appears that just about every digital camera comes with a tiny, mostly-useless “starter” memory card.

I understand the reasoning of including a memory card – the camera won’t function without one, and people like to be able to play with their new electronics right out of the box.

But who thought it was a good idea to include such a tiny card? We’ve been stick at 32 MB for at least five years! Because of the megapixel wars, what was once a small-but-usable card is now little more than e-waste. Out of the box, my 8 megapixel Canons would fill up the included card with just 14 shots. And who makes these things? Are the 256 Mbit flash chips they use even still in production?

I’m sure the rationalization is that adding a reasonably-sized card would ratchet up the price of the camera. But big cards are cheap! They’re down to $10 or less per GB, and that’s retail pricing. I’m sure Canon could include a 2 GB card instead of the four printed manuals they put in the box and come out ahead.

But the camera makers don’t deserve all the blame. While picking up my new SD1100 IS at J&R in New York, every customer bought a 2 or 4 GB memory card to go with their new camera. It’s an easy upsell for the store, along with their ill-fitting and laughably expensive cases and unnecessary extra batteries. I doubt accessory-happy camera stores would be too happy to have a reasonably-sized card included with every camera!

So I guess we’re stuck with piles of worthless memory cards.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | E-Waste: 32 MB Flash Cards
This post was categorized as Personal. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.