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New, Flexible CDs Arrive

Mortin writes "A company called Flexstorm has developed a new type of CD, dubbed flexCD, that is about 140 microns thick, 1/10th that of a normal CD, and most importantly flexible. The technical specs on this new technology are quite impressive, boasting a weight of only .6 grams on the flexCD 80. Producing a flexCD also only takes .3 seconds, less than that of a normal CD."

6 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Have your data and eat it too by twisted_pickle · · Score: 1, Redundant

    -The Flex CD is non-toxic and may be used with food items

    A little bit odd, don't you think?

    --
    4-bit adder: A snake made of 1's and 0's
  2. ACK! by The_Shadows · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Thousands of flopppy AOL CDS, folded up! They'll fall out of your newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, plane tickets! Anywhere you can think of them they'll be there!

    And people though Microsoft was scary.

    I think I see war, Famine, Plague, and Death on the horizon....

  3. AOL by TaddS · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The cost of CD's can't be that great if AOL can send me those goddamned "700 Free Hours" promotions every week.

    --
    -"Nice jacket, who shot the couch?."
  4. an interesting concept by spir0 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    but it looks like they're hoping to make more out of their marketing of your pamphlets on their media..

    but a few questions I have before I believe that these really do exist...

    how thoroughly have these been tested? they are lighter which will lead to the ROMs being able to spin the discs faster, which could be good.

    but... these look to be more flexible than floppy disks, and without the external jacket holding them flat. what if the computer is bumped in the middle of a burn?

    instead of just a failed CD, will we end up having the media flop around inside the drive and cause damage?

    or will the high speed of the spinning disc and the adapter help to keep them flat?

    I think that if these can be produced, they will only really be usefull for marketing purposes much like the credit card sized CDs. just a gimmick.

    they hold less, and for real applications this just isn't good enough. what would be more useful is trying to cram more data onto the same space.

    DVD drives are a step up, but once we can fit 20gig or more onto a CD sized medium, which is accessible as CDs and relatively as cheap as CDs, then we can start making real use of them.. like backup drives.. at the moment, a decent size tape backup unit will cost up to 10's of thousands (NZ dollars anyway)... and a 110/220 gb DLT tape is $500 a piece.

    we'll see how it goes

    --
    The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
  5. PDF as HTML by thebabelfish · · Score: 0, Redundant
    flexCD Technical Description

    Material

    Polyester foil

    Vacuum Vaporized Aluminum

    Polymer based lacquer

    Print

    The flexCD is non-toxic and may be used with food items

    Dimensions

    flexCD 80

    flexCD 80 is ~140 microns thick (almost 1/10 the thickness of a rigid CD)

    The flexCD 80 weighs ~.6 grams (less than 1/10 the weight of a rigid CD)

    flexCD 80 measures 8cm in diameter

    flexCD 80 holds up to 200 megabyts of multimedia information without any loss in quality

    flexCD 120

    flexCD 120 is ~140 microns thick (almost 1/10 the thickness of a rigid CD)

    The flexCD 120 weighs ~1.3 grams

    flexCD 120 measures almost 12cm in diameter

    Extras

    flexCDs are available in various configural variations (such as a star, heart, square)

    A self-adhesive confection makes the product ready for mounting applications

    Print Options include overprinting, 4c, wallpaper/pattern printing

    Adapter

    The flexCD adapter consists of two pieces. The top piece is made from polystyrene and can be overprinted much like a rigid CD. The bottom piece is made from transparent polycarbonate (same material used in rigid CDs).

    The adapter weighs approx. 17.5 grams

    The adapter is 12cm in diameter (the same diameter of a rigid CD)

    The flexCD adapter is approx. 1.5mm thick

    I wouldn't mind a little karma... ;-)

    --
    "I don't trust goats," --To Catch a Spy
  6. How will it read? by qbproger · · Score: 0, Redundant

    If the CD bends, wouldn't gravity have an affect on it? In which case even with an adapter the ends of the disk would be lower than the middle, especially after in the player for a while and somewhat heated. How many CD players do you know of that can play bend disks?

    --

    - Joe