Slashdot Mirror
New Nanofab Tech Developed by UMass
Atomasoft Corporation writes: "The article available here point out a new tool in nanotechnology: 'Imagine being able to store 25 full-length, DVD-quality movies on a disc the size of a quarter. That amounts to a data storage density of about 1.2 trillion bits per square inch. A recent development by University of Massachusetts researchers may someday enable consumers to do just that. The research is detailed in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Science and is funded by a National Science Foundation "Partnership in Nanotechnology" grant, the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and the U.S. Department of Energy.'"
Man, why did they have to say Movies, worse yet, DVD-quality Movies. I don't want to see the MPAA trying to stop this technology (or delay it like DVD-R). Why not say, for example, a tillrion uncopyrighted text files instead. Better yet, just the actual storage size would be fine.
Just how fast can information be written to or read from this new storage medium? For that matter, for how long can information be retained -- think DRAM. If it needs to be periodically refreshed, then how often? How about power consumption? How reliable is the storage? Would a random gamma ray fry a whole lot of those bits?
The posts I've seen here so far suggest people have been thinking along the lines of CD or DVD kinds of storage with near-permanent storage attributes.
Even using a fast CD drive, that could take quite a while for the data transfer and all the disk shuffling!
Then again, if it proves to have high data transfer rates and low power consumption, sign me up to be the first for data cartridges for a Visor and a digital camera!
Wow, and someday they'll invent a black hole generator, and someday they'll create a horrible plague, and someday they'll destabilize the sun and destroy the Earth, and someday....
Look, ignore nanobots for a second. Build me a robot of ANY size that survive and reproduce.
You can't. It will be a very VERY long time before anything like this happens. There's no watchdog because THERE'S NOTHING TO WATCH.
I'm beginning to suspect you're a troll. I've never seen any scientist come close to claiming a tech they've produced will 'cure all our ills'.
Ah well. Guess I'm just used to dealing with ignorance.
Later
ErikZ
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Basic science is the cutting-edge stuff. It's where you do stuff because it's interesting, it's totally new, and it's got maybe a one in 50 chance of leading to a new product. But sometimes, just sometimes, it gets you semiconductors, penicillin, and the theory of relativity. The timeline between such research beginning and products arriving on the shelves is typically a decade, sometimes generations. To use a contemporary computer-related example, research into nanocomputing and quantum computing falls into this category.
Applied research covers the majority of research done by companies (but not all - very large companies do a fair bit of pure research). This is often directed by companies who want to investigate things closely related to their existing products. It typically runs under shorter timelines of maybe 2 - 5 years between research and outcomes. Intel's work on say 0.07-micron processes would probably fall into this category.
Engineering is what happens when companies turn basic and applied research into products.
Now, while these are fairly rough categories (really they represent a continuum rather than strict definitions, and there is feedback in both directions) they are good to keep in mind when examining new developments. Criticising the latest product on the market for really just being a slight refinement on the last one is missing the point. Conversely, criticising this for being "vapourware" is equally silly. It may well take ten years to appear on the market. More likely, you'll never hear of this again. But then again, it might be the foundation of ultra-high-density storage for the computers of 2015.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Wouldn't it be more useful to pursue optical storage mechanisms than magnetic? Isn't information density going to be best served by three-dimensional storage?
*Pepsi drops from machine*
"Whelp, I've got my drink and my movie, what could be better?"
*looks at machine, realizes that wasn't a quater*