Camera manufacturers are finally figuring out how to integrate WiFi into their cameras. I should say, integrating *usable* WiFi into their cameras. This is a fairly big deal for nimble photographers.

Here's an example why. We had a birthday celebration last night, and I put these fun multi-colored flamed candles on the cake. Everyone was oohing and aahing over them, when someone finally remarked, "Isn't someone going to take a picture of this?"

Now, I could have shot the image with my iPhone. But I don't think I could have balanced the colorful flames, dark chocolate cake, and ambient room light as well as I did with the Canon PowerShot N camera that was in my pocket. Here's a link to the image so you can see for yourself.

Since the PowerShot N has built-in WiFi (that's easy to use), I could send the image directly to my iPhone and publish on Instagram. This is certainly a case of "ease of use leads to action." I like this workflow so much, that every camera I currently shoot with either has WiFi built in, or uses a WiFi memory card (such as an Eye-Fi Mobi) to connect to my iPad and iPhone.

Yes, later when I have time, I upload images to my Mac and organize them in Aperture. But for my daily (and sometimes nightly) publishing, going directly from camera to mobile device keeps the pictures flowing online.

- Derrick