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9 November 2006 года | Прочли:81112 | Комментарии:105 | Рассказать другу | Реальные Знакомства >>>
 |  | By Ian Hardy Click's North America technology correspondent |
The Deskstar K1000 has 1,000 gigabytes of storage space
A decade ago a 500 megabyte (MB) photo collection was something to boast about. Nowadays it is more likely be a collection measured in the gigabytes.
But as our appetite for storage continues to grow thankfully so does the capacity of our hard drives.
reposted from: BBC Click
my highlights / emphasis / edits
Hitachi has unveiled a drive which has reached the new heights of one terabyte (TB). Its drive looks like any other, but uses perpendicular magnetic recording to make space for all that data.
"The previous generation of recording technology was called longitudinal and it basically recorded the bits laying down, now we're recording the bits standing up," said Kelly O'Sullivan from Hitachi.
"So if you think of it that way, you're stacking a lot more data in a shorter area, therefore you get a terabyte."
With so much data being written to the hard drive, wear and tear is inevitably a concern. So the Hybrid Storage Alliance is promoting a new laptop unit with a built in flash chip that stores all the data you are currently calling on.
That reduces disk spinning time, increases longevity and has other benefits.
"A hybrid solution will extend your battery life. If you're on a plane for two or three hours and you don't want to stop working on a project you want to keep going - so battery is really important in a laptop PC," said Joni Clark, chair of the Hybrid Storage Alliance.
Flash memory
Some storage firms, such as SanDisk, are doing away with the mechanical hard drive completely and are opting for an all flash solution. Its flash drive is due out in Spring.
Using flash memory has many advantages. A modified laptop using only flash memory can start up faster than an ordinary one; is less of a drain on battery power and is far less likely to suffer data loss when dropped.
However, the biggest it can currently get is 32GB which says something about its target market.
The need for greater storage led to the demise of the floppy disc
"If you look at my kid, he will never use it as he is downloading movies every day," said Amos Marom, general manager of SanDisk Corporation's Computer Solutions Division.
"But if you look at myself I am a road warrior, I work in airports, in aeroplanes, on trains and in hotel rooms. I am consuming about 20GB today, that's all.
Another advantage of this little device is that it helps alleviate burnt knee syndrome in laptops. Flash hard drives stay cool.
Gadget friendly SD flash memory cards are also advancing in leaps and bounds. They come in high-capacity varieties up to a staggering 8GB hence SDHC - as in Higher Capacity.
Those planning to use them should be aware that they run at a variety of speeds and can only be used in compatible SDHC hardware.
For reliability and endurance, optical storage is considered one of the best options. Holographic disks start at 300GB capacity and store data all the way through the disk rather than just on the surface.
Data is written using a split laser beam which creates holograms in the light sensitive material of the disk at the point of intersection.
Elizabeth Murphy, InPhase Technologies
But even if you wanted to buy a holographic burning kit you cannot - at least not in the shops.
"The reason that it's not entering the consumer market initially is because of fairly high pricing," said Elizabeth Murphy of holographic storage maker InPhase Technologies.
"The drive will be $18,000 (£9,135) list price, so that's a little bit outside the average consumer's price range. And then the media will be $180 for one disk.
"That's quite a bit of money, but on a cost per gigabyte perspective it's very, very attractive."
Still the cheapest is the traditional hard drive, which now comes in a new form - this is an external Serial ATA drive - the same kind that sits inside your PC.
This is an improvement because it does not use the slower types of connections your computer supports
"USB really was made for keyboards and mice and it's not really made for storage, neither was Firewire," said Conrad Maxwell, chairman of the SATA-IO Marketing Work Group.
"They both require protocol translations to make them work and the drives come out with SATA, so direct SATA is faster and you get six times faster performance."
While hard drive advances are impressive, losing 1TB of data is not likely to be much fun in the future. That is why devices built around a technology known by the fearsome name of Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) are becoming more popular. One such is Seagate's 1.5TB device that is actually made up of two 750GB drives.
A continuous backup is created by the same data being written to both drives simultaneously. It might well save your life. Well, your digital one.
The thing is, the Creative Zen Vision:M is probably the most kickass PMP out there at this point. Let's see what it does RIGHT:
- No DRM bullshit like Zune
- Handles DivX and Xvid formats, yay for geeks
- FM radio
- Records FM radio
- Voice recorder
- Great screen
- No proprietary software needed (like iTunes), just drag and drop
What's wrong:
- Not strong enough ad campaign
- Not enough accessories
And you can't replace the battery yourself when it dies. I understand this is to conserve on space inside the chassis, but it's still an annoyance.
Other things wrong with the Creative Zen Vision:M...
Poor build quality/cheap materials
Lackluster design
Very 'clunky' to hold, the thing just feels cheap
These are big turn-offs, not that the Zune is any better at all.
An addition to the "what's wrong" list:
- It sucks ass
After 5 minutes of frustrating attempts to use it while I was in a store, I gave up.
By comparison, anyone knows how to use an iPod after one minute.
Has anyone here used a Sandisk Sansa?
I have a Sansa and I love it. The menu is nice, it has nice features, it's extremely easy to add stuff to, or take off, and best of all, when you hold it, it actually feels like something durable and worth the money. I am far from an iPod hater, and I in fact like the iPod, but the Sansa is just as good in my opinion. I recommend to anyone just to try it in the store. :)
 | | By Dan Simmons Reporter, BBC Click Online |
It has long been promised that the PC will become the entertainment hub of the home. However, the problem with this vision is that our computers tend to sit in the bedroom and means getting those movies, music and pictures the last few metres to the living room is a real pain.
Many devices deliver content from your PC to your TV
This year's CES - the world's largest consumer gadget show - boasts a wealth of new kit which aims to make it easier to access digital media around the home - and in particular on TV screens.
Ideas on what should be at the centre of it all vary, from PC-based media centres, digital video recorders or even video game consoles.
Microsoft is promoting its Xbox 360 as the place to store and access movies and songs.
"Xbox 360 is at its heart, the world's best games console and we're continuing to sell it very well. But we also know that people have it connected to their TV, and that means they want to see movies," said Robert Bach of Microsoft.
"So we've added a Download Movie service, we've added an HD DVD movie player to it. You want to play music, so you can take your MP3 player or Zune player, and plug it in and see your music.
"Here we're announcing that you can take IPTV digital TV services and run them on top of an Xbox 360."
It should be pointed out that the downloads are only available to those that have a hard drive for their Xbox 360.
Sony's PS3 console does something similar.
Apple TV streams music and movies from a computer to a TV
Microsoft's ambitions also include its Media Centre software which has not made the impact some had hoped for. It will now get a boost by being integrated into all but the most basic versions of Microsoft's new PC operating system - Vista.
The consumer versions of Vista is scheduled for launch on 30 January.
Apple is getting in on the act too. At the MacWorld show Apple boss Steve Jobs gave more details of Apple TV - the set-top box which uses iTunes to stream media to a television.
Various launches at CES suggest that moving files around the house should be easy. We have more choices now than ever before - hardwire Ethernet cables, Bluetooth or wi-fi.
Netgear's new Digital Entertainer set-top box is one of several here that let you stream HD pictures from your PC over wi-fi to the TV.
But obstructions and interference may hamper a steady picture.
Compatibility
Presuming we can move our digital media files around without too much problem, you then have to consider the alphabet soup which is compression formatting - or codecs - which allow all your devices to understand each other, otherwise you will not see a thing.
John MacFarlane, Sonos
"Many of the files that people would like to buy and download, including movies and TV shows, are actually protected with what's called DRM, that is Digital Rights Management software," said Josh Bernoff an analyst from Forrester Research.
"A lot of this software is incompatible with some of these devices.
"So for example, if you buy a movie or TV show from iTunes it'll work fine on your iPod but it's unlikely to work on, say, your Xbox 360 that happens to be connected to the same setup."
Slowly this is changing. For instance, last month if you had bought a rights-protected Windows music file it would not have played on Sonos' high-end multi-room streaming system.
After a year of negotiations Sonos' hardware can now support those files. Now the boss of Sonos wants Apple to also open up, claiming it is customers who lose out.
"I think it's unbelievably frustrating because you purchase the music expecting to be able to play it where you would like to play it and then you find out later that this is not quite the case," said John MacFarlane of Sonos.
"That's not, generally, well explained at the point of purchase."
The steady march of technology is also helping break down these barriers. For instance, a new PC to TV chip by start-up Quartics might help audio and video streaming compatibility.
It allows any files your laptop can read to be streamed over wi-fi to your TV or digital projector.
It is hoped the chip - which can be updated with any new video formats as they emerge - will be integrated into some TVs by the end of the year.
Many companies are supporting a set of standardised formats through industry groups like the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA).
And the new faster 802.11n standard for wi-fi should soon be ratified, which will help boost consumers' confidence in streaming video.
But for now it might be best to take all the hype with a pinch of salt.
