Memristors...who wants 20 gigs on a Stamp?

There's a new storage design afoot, and it is called Memristor Technology. Memristors are being designed to replace the current NAND flash memory design, which has been in use since 1989. NAND memory is manufactured at rapidly decreasing scales, down to the nanometer level, and eventually may reach a break point where the memory cells are too unreliable.
This is where memristors come into the picture. Memristors have some stiff competition in PCM design, phase change memory. However, memristors have the upper hand with a switching speed that is much faster than PCM, which relies on rapidly heating and cooling memory cells. HP anticipates having a competing Memristor device with a density of 20Gb/cm3 by 2013. (information gleaned from TheRegister.Co.Uk , picture from here)

April Fools Day!

If you are a geek, here are some geeky practical jokes.

Windows 7 Is Catching On

"We barely knew ya"

2001 has called, it is looking for Windows XP. Five months after it's initial release, Microsoft Windows 7 operating system has over 10% of the market share. This compares favorably to it's older brother Windows Vista, which only has 16% after two years. Combined, both lag behind the behemoth of Windows XP which still corners over 65% of the market. It's like a dog that just wont die.


Source: http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/18708

First-Gen Products = Gamble.. Apple First Gen Products = Instant Lose

A first generation Ipod. Enlarged to show texture.

The Ipad has been released to Apple fanatics to much fan fare. Here is a warning. Don't buy it. Every first generation Apple product has been a flop. The Iphone was first release without 3G support. The Apple TV was first released with horrible software and no storage space. The new format Imacs have had screen issues. If you want one, wait for the next model. It will probably be released shortly after the first one.

Poof, No Playstion 3 Linux Support

Get off there you dirty penguin

It was nice to know you Linux. Here today, gone tomorrow. Sony recently gave an ultimatum to Playstation 3 owners. Option one, upgrade your Playstation 3 firmware now and lose support to install the operation system Linux. Option two, don't install the firmware and continue to use Linux but you can not play online or play the latest Blu-Ray movies. This seems to be an ongoing trend between ownership and Playstation owners. Some may of purchased the product based on the Linux support. Now Sony is removing this feature? Sounds like society vs. corporations, David vs. Goliath or a class-action lawsuit. We'll see what happens.

Intel's X25-V for $98 at Newegg

For you? $98 Dollars.

SSD Hard Drives are finally becoming mainstream. What are SSD Hard Drives you may ask. It's short for Solid State Drives. Conventional hard drives use a platter that spins at a couple thousand RPMs, similar to a CD-ROM, to write and read information. SSD's use solid memory like a flash card to read and write information. The result, less power draw and faster operation. They were and still are expensive and they can't hold a lot compared to conventional drives but they finally lowered below the psychologically tough barrier of $100.

I-RAM: storage at the speed of memory

The second version of solid state is ram based storage. The most notable is the I-RAM drive. This drive installs into a PCI slot to draw power. from there you insert up to 4 gigs of ddr1 ram onto the card and connect it to a sata port. This drives speed is only limited by the sata cable. One of the biggest downsides is that it requires constant power to keep the data in the memory. Also the drive is limited to only 4gb, but it makes a great drive to store your page file.

Flash Solid State: Its a thumb drive only bigger

With magnetic drives at their limit the question becomes whats next? The most likely the answer is solid state media. The main contender in solid state is Flash based. It uses nonvolatile memory circuit to store information. Unlike the memory used in RAM this is slower but does not need a constant electrical charge. with no moving parts these drive also generates less heat the your standard drive. Check out the flash solid state drive today.

25 to 200 how much more can they fit?

Like bored freshmen and an open phone booth, developers are finding new ways to fit more data into the same space. With current DVD limits pressed and the demand for High Definition video rising, Sony has helped created Blu-ray. This new format allows video to be displayed in 1080P High Definition. To do this the disc has the ability to store 25gb worth of data. But due to the fact that the slandered is open there is no current upper limit. Dual Layer discs can hold 50gb while there are custom discs that can store 100gb. If the end user wants to buy a modified blu-ray reader they can read disc up to 200gb. At this rate who knows what is in store for the blu-ray.

Helping Save the Planet One PC at a Time

RoHS is a logo often applied to products that are used by people building their own personal computers. This logo is a reference to a UK bill passed in 2006 entitled "The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive". The purpose for RoHS is to restrict manufacturers from using certain substances in the production of Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
Some of the materials that are measured when applying the standards of RoHS include: lead, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and mercury, as well as some types of flame retardants. All of the standards and regulations in the RoHS directive are measured by the UK's National Measurement Office.
Granted, directives in other countries have no permanent effect in the US, but we reap the benefits here at home. The reason that so many of the products that can be purchased are emblazoned with the logo is the reality that most products are created for the world market, meaning we can help the environment, without having to pass the legislation locally.(for more information, go here.)

64 bits or bust

The evolution of PC hardware is ever changing. Currently, we are seeing larger and larger amounts of memory in computers, larger amounts of storage, and faster processors than ever before. It has never been uncommon to see this type of horsepower in big business server applications, but now you can walk into any PC retailer and purchase a computer with 8 gigabytes of memory and 1 terabyte of storage.
One adjustment that has been made to accommodate these new machines is the development of a seamless 64 bit operating system. The 64 bit design enables users to access up to 128 gigabytes of RAM memory, while 32 bit users have been limited to 3.5 gigabytes of usable memory. Also, multiple threaded applications function better in a 64 bit environment, having more available resources to spread across the workload.
Unfortunately, there are some requirements that need to be met to run 64 bit operating systems. PCs that will have a 64bit OS installed must have a minimum of 1 gb of memory, and must also have a 64 bit (x64) processor installed.
(information from mydigitallife.info, image from here)