Copy protection and data encryption are standard in most storage media, but you don’t often hear of copy protection as it pertains to memory cards. Although all SD cards come with a form of DRM copy protection (CPRM), it’s rarely used; and something as common as re-formatting the memory card can erase protected sections that are required to make use of the copy protection in the first place.
Other copy-protected memory card options are marketed to/used mainly by companies, and not typical consumers. Seeing this market as an opportunity, Transcend Information recently announced plans to manufacture its own copy-protected SD and microSD cards and a corresponding reader. Read more…
A few days ago we shared the story of a memory card that stayed alive after three years at the bottom of a muddy creek. What’s important to note is that the card had the luxury of being protected by the Canon XT it was inside — a camera that was utterly destroyed during those three years.
What if memory cards could be as durable as the weatherproof cameras that are becoming popular amongst compact camera users? That’s what Panasonic is trying to do with its new line of sturdy SD cards. Read more…
Perhaps lost amidst the excitement over new cameras at CES 2012 earlier this month was the SD Association’s unveiling of a new Wi-Fi data transfer standard. This new specification should make it easier for other memory card manufacturers to jump into the Wi-Fi-capable memory card game — an arena currently dominated by Eye-Fi (and more recently Toshiba).
Eye-Fi is, predictably, not happy with this latest development. The company is itself part of the SD Association, but has chosen not to back the standard. In a blog post published last week, CEO Yuval Koren argues that any company implementing the new standard would violate Eye-Fi’s patents for technology that took “tens of millions of dollars and several years” to create.
Wanting a cheap and compact way to carry, protect, and manage his SD cards, Instructables member FrankenPaper discovered that the plastic cases that come with Sunstar GUM Soft-Picks are the perfect size for holding 2 cards. To keep the cards from jostling around and to track whether they’re full or empty, he created an insert that you can print, cut, and fold yourself (download the PDF here).
Samsung recently partnered up with viral marketing agency The Viral Factory to launch 200 paper airplanes carrying SD cards from the edges of space. We first reported on this experiment back in September of last year, but they followed through with the plans and just published this video this week showing how they accomplished it. The balloon was launched in Germany, and each SD Card carried a message for the finder to prove how durable they are. Read more…
Here’s a clever trick to keep in mind if you use SD cards for your photography: if the locking mechanism on the side of the card breaks off and renders your card unwritable, covering over the area with a little scotch tape magically makes your card useable again.
If having a plastic shelled memory card just isn’t enough for you, Hoodman’s new RAW STEEL line of SD cards goes a step further by reinforcing the card with steel plating. In addition to being rugged, the epoxy assembly makes the cards waterproof as well. No word on how well these cards would survive being roasted in a burning car, though. They’ll be available starting mid-November, 2010.
Toshiba is gearing up to take on Eye-Fi, the memory card that allows you to throw out your card reader and transfer photos wirelessly. They’ve teamed up with Trek 2000, a Singapore-based flash corp., to form the “Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN” in an effort to standardize the technology behind wireless SD cards. Toshiba is pushing a new 8GB SD card that transfers JPEG and RAW files over IEEE 802.11 b/g, entering a market previously dominated by Eye-Fi.
This is great news for consumers, since increased competition in this space will likely help drive prices down. An 8GB Eye-Fi SD card currently costs about $100.
