802.11 easy configuration Part ][

A while back, I wrote a little about getting little devices onto WiFi networks. Specifically, I was interested in getting digital cameras onto the networks for easy uploading of content to a networked PC.

Kodak has come up with an early solution to this, but it still seems that several problems that I noted in my original post. First is that it cannot join a password-protected wireless network. They are going to release their firmware update which will somehow allow this later this year. However, they do not discuss how they expect the users to input the WEP key. The second is that since it cannot select which network it wishes to connect to, any time it is broadcasting it is susceptible to hacking. Until the firmware update, this is going to be a problem. And the last issue is that it still relies on connecting to the computer physically in order to do anything more advanced than picture uploading.

I'm not sold on Microsoft's USB key solution. I think it has a lot of user interface issues, especially as a USB socket is fairly large in comparison to the actual size of today's digicams. On the other hand, I am wary of Kodak's ability to deliver a user-friendly method of inputting WEP keys.

And until some sort of security is possible with the wireless network, there is nothing really interesting about this camera.