Did you know that SD (Secure Digital) memory cards should use a specific type of formatting software? I didn’t. I’ve been using the typical Windows formatting utility for years now - never seen a problem. However, I found out today that Panasonic has such a software utility. A utility that complies with the SD Memory Card Specification.

The SD formatting software is specifically design for this media type and should not be used with other media types such as Compact Flash, USB or Memory Stick.

However, the SD formatting software is ideal for SD, SDHC and all the sub sizes including miniSD and microSD.

It is difficult to determine exactly what the difference is from the Panasonic website but from our investigation it appears you get two benefits. 1) the card size is formatted correctly to maximize size. The Windows version will make your card slightly smaller and 2) with optimized format the flash memory will perform slightly better.

Of the two benefits, it’s difficult to determine how much of a difference a user would really see. Marginal at best. However, if you are anything like me, grab the utility package and give her a try.

Panasonic’s webpage for SD Memory Card Formatting Utility.

Ya, that’s right…sometimes you need to crack your own flash memory.  In this case, what if you have a password protected SD card?  Well, the crafty fellows at USBFever have a solution which requires a USB port and a card reader adapter.

The USB Fever memory card unlocker is designed to crack your code and get back that flash memory you’ve been locked out from.  The draw back, which I believe is appropriate punishment on forgetting your password, is the unlocker wipes your card clean of any data.  If the data is that important you can send the flash card out to be serviced - but are pictures of your mother-in-law that important?  Doubt it.

USB Fever memory card unlocker product page.

GetFlashMemory posted an article the other day about the world’s first wireless memory card. I was very excited to hear about this technology and recently found a review of the Eye-Fi product.

This is what folks had to say:

Crunch Gear said:

All-in-all, this is a solid device. It is comparable to any 2GB SD card on the market but it gives you the ability to upload your pictures in a much cooler fashion. And if you can’t wait, if you plug a loaded card into the USB reader, it will automatically upload your pictures to your photo service via USB. Yay, all-around convenience - Blake Robinson

Engadget said:

So basically Eye-Fi takes a step forward by cutting out the middleman (in this case, a USB cable to your camera, or a media reader for your vanilla SD card), but two steps back in making the assumption that you want all of the tens (or hundreds) of megs of photos on the card uploaded in full res using your camera’s batteries, and yet don’t need said photos in your photo app, not just some folder - Ryan Block

SlashGear said:

wireless networks are set up using the Eye-Fi website, not through any sort of interface on your camera itself, and you’re limited to secured WiFi hook-ups rather than being able to take advantage of any open cloud you might pass through. Even with 802.11g, transfers of large resolution images could - and do - take a long time, and given that there’s no ability to select which to keep and which to throw (unless you delete them prior to connecting) it could be a frustrating experience - Chris Davies

Putting it all together I am glad to see this technology come to market and appears to be an appreciated process for downloading those oh-so-valuable photos.

Source: SlashGear

As things unfold for the miCard today we find a picture of the first [actual] product.

Here we see the Pretec S-Diamond miCard which is the new memory card standard from the MMC Association. The new format is expected to house anywhere from 128MB to 2TBs!

Measuring only 21mmX12mmX1.95mm, miCard is the smallest USB flash drive in the world, with an area 40% smaller than miniSD (volume is about 18% smaller than miniSD).

miCard can also be an SD/MMC card with an inexpensive adapter. The specification of miCard should be able to be released to MMCA members later this year.

S-Diamond is the 2nd generation of Pretec i-Disk Diamond series, which has been the smallest USB flash drive for years, which can now also serve as an SD/MMC card, saving not only consumers cost, but also saving hassles by getting rid of card readers and carrying multiple flash cards in different form factors. (more…)

Lexar remains the head of the pack with their new UDMA enabled card reader and SDHC card reader series. The Ultra Direct Memory Access reader (Lexar Professional UDMA FireWire 800 Reader) conforms to the high-performance flash memory protocol for CompactFlash while the Lexar Professional Dual-Slot USB Reader can read both SD and SDHC flash memory.

Both Lexar card readers are do out by end of Q2 2007 with price points of $80 and $50 respectively. (more…)

So Griffin developed a 5:1 card reader that fits in your PCMCIA slot - gee aren’t there like 52:1 card readers out there now? Well, if you’re a Griffin fan and need a Memory Stick, SD, MMC, xD card reader this is the ticket for you.

Oh, you say only 4 cards listed, that’s right - Griffin counts the Memory Stick PRO as #5. WOW, maybe we should contract these guys for a marketing campaign. As one could expect, the Griffin ExpressCard reader is plug-n-play and requires no additional battery power. Good job guys. (more…)

Finally a digital picture frame which holds some worth, the Kodak EASYSHARE digital picture frame is loaded with features. First, as any Kodak buff would expect the digital display is fine tuned to Kodak color standards then stack on some MP3 capability to sooth the sole of those fond memories.

Next, bring pictures to life with the EASYSHARE picture frame’s capability to play MPEG 1, 4, MOV and AVI files then funnel those joyous moments through the built-in stereo speakers - load these formats up via compact flash, secure digital, multimedia card, xD, memory stick or interface via USB. And if this isn’t enough (more…)

Memorex jumped into the jump drive market nearly two years ago and with it’s great success, Memorex is now splashing in flash memory. The first of ‘07 Memorex announced their TravelCard flash line of media. This includes SD, MiniSD, MicroSD and a full line of MultiMediaCards.

With world flash drive consumption to reach over 450 million units by 2008 this is a great move. Most popular sizes for the TravelCard will be 1GB and 2GB sizes. (more…)

A-Data won the Best of Innovations Award for CES 2007 on the Super Info SD Card. The A-Data Super Info Secure Digital card uses bi-stable EPD (Electrophoretic Display) technology to display available space on left of the flash memory without needing any additional power.

In addition, one can use 2, 3 or 4 characters to ID the SD card. As seen in this photo there is a full 2GB Secure Digital flash card used for the photo-shoot.
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It’s about time these kinds of surveillance cameras came in to the public domain. This camera has been hidden in a digital clock, which is not that new. However, this camera does have motion detection, and will record motion video in DivX to a standard SD or MMC flash memory card! It will record at 30 frames per second during motion, and stop when motion ceases.

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