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IBM Reinvents Punch Cards

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the plus-ca-change dept.

grim_thing writes "I.B.M. scientists say they have created a data-storage technology that can store the equivalent of 200 CD-ROM's on a surface the size of a postage stamp. Writing in the current issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, researchers at I.B.M.'s laboratories in Zurich report that they have achieved a storage density of one trillion bits of data per square inch, about 25 times as great as current hard disks." Reuters also has a story.

13 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. One potential security flaw. . . by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Funny

    What if one's data contains dimpled chads? How will those bits be counted?

    --

    You are not the customer.

  2. 80 columns? by turgid · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, is the data stored in blocks of 25 rows of 80 columns? This will be handy for FORTH systems without file systems, and FORTRAN IV,66 and 77 programmers.

    --
    Stick Men
  3. 200 CD-Roms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can we get that translated into a tandard measurement, like Library's of Congress?

  4. A Day in the Life by gcondon · · Score: 4, Funny

    His holes are 10 nanometers ... and about 3 billion of them fit in a punch card hole

    I read the news today, oh boy
    4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancastershire
    And though the holes were rather small
    They had to count them all
    Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
    I'd love to turn you on

  5. Oops! by Royster · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd hate to drop a deck of punch cards that size. You'd need a microscope to put them back in order.

    --
    I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
  6. Punchcards, Mainfraims and Tubes Oh my! by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does this mean that the people who are running these old systems can finally upgrade?

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  7. Flock of Birds Technology by Alien54 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Millipede still suffers a big drawback of mechanical systems. Reading and writing data with a single silicon tip takes about 1,000 times as long as with hard disks. To compensate, a second prototype chip uses 1,024 silicon tips to read and write data in parallel, bobbing up and down like a flock of birds pecking at dirt over a square area about a tenth of an inch wide.

    Why does this sound like the Google Page Ranking System based on Pigeon Technology?

    I don't know, there may be some prior art here.

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  8. 1984... by StupidKatz · · Score: 5, Funny

    1984: Wow! Twenty megabytes! I'll never use all this space!
    1988: Wow! Eighty megabytes! I'll never use all this space!
    1994: Wow! A gigabyte! I'll never use all this space!
    1999: Uh, wow. Twenty gigabytes? I don't think I'll ever use all this space.
    2002: A hundred and twenty gigs? I... hm.
    2005: ... Ah, screw it.

  9. You're using them right now by Kris+Warkentin · · Score: 3, Funny

    How short do you think the life cycle is on these things? You're looking at a minimum of 5 to 10 years for most lab findings to make it to market. And don't forget, the all-mighty economy comes into play too. If it can't be produced cheaply enough in large enough quantities, it just becomes, "research results upon which other research is based on"

    The toys you're using now are the result of announcements made a long time ago. It's just that our memories are short. I remember many years ago when WORM drives first came out - ooh...1GB of storage - so what if you can only write it once, you'll never run out of that much space, *drool* *slaver*... Now I have a desk covered in CD's, half of which are from AOL...

    --

    In Soviet Russia, hot grits put YOU down THEIR pants.
  10. Re:possible use... by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 4, Funny
    if its durable ernough (there are moving parts) i can see this being used by ther military since they would obviously last through an EMP blast. perfect for high density long term archiving.

    ...unlike optical media, which would obviously not last through...

    Wait. Nevermind.

    Somebody's been playing waaay too much Starcraft. The only way of generating an EMP Blast of any appreciable size or strength carries with it some other pesky side effects, as well. That, and if such an EMP blast is ever generated, well, it'll take us a while to lament the loss of long-term digital archives...

    ...but I guess it's little more than sticking my head in the sand by saying that The Terrorists (tm) will never get their hadns on EMP technology...after all, it only takes 100 energy units...

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  11. Re:Perhaps not a disk-replacement, but.... by $rtbl_this · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unless of course you loo[sic]se it.

    This reminds me of a revelation I had a few years ago, after getting my first CD-ROM drive. I'd manage to misplace a CD containing a multimedia encyclopedia and eventually found it sitting on the floor under my desk. I realised then that never before in human history had it been possible to lose an entire 28 volume encyclopedia by dropping it behind a piece of furniture. Now that's what I call progress!

    --
    "Are you being weird, or sarcastic?" said Emma. I said I didn't know because I get the two feelings mixed up.
  12. Re:oops... by Eccles · · Score: 3, Funny

    (yeah, I know... the sig is wrong... so what?)

    You could make it:
    667 The creepy neighbor across the street from the Beast
    or
    667 The guy across the street from the Beast, who despite several complaints to the Homeowner's Association, still hasn't mowed his lawn to regulation height!
    or...

    --
    Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
  13. Storage density by xant · · Score: 4, Funny

    . . . about 25 times as great as current hard disks.

    All right, so how much denser is it than punch cards?

    --
    It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.