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'Millipede' Prototype Shown at CeBIT
neutron_p writes "It was a subject of much controversy for last 5 - 7 years, but it's finally got protyped. At CeBIT, IBM for the first time shows the prototype of "Millipede" - nanomechanical data storage device. Using revolutionary nanotechnology, scientists at the IBM Zurich R&D Lab, Switzerland, have made it to the millionths of a millimeter range, achieving data storage densities of more than one terabit per square inch, equivalent to storing the content of 25 DVDs on an area the size of a postage stamp. The principle of operation is comparable with the old punch cards, but now with structural dimensions in the nanometer scale and the ability to erase data and rewrite the medium."
Like when you drop a three foot tall stack of them in the computer lab and have to spend several hours putting them back in order?
(true story)
...the worlds smallest keypunch.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
"The principle of operation is comparable with the old punch cards"
So now we feed these stamp sized cards intot he big machine, and it says "working!, working!, working!" till it spits out another stamp with the answer.
Awesome.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
That is some insane data density, to have more than one terabit per inch. And here those crazy people though nano-tech would bring about "grey goo" -- little did they know the only goo it'd bring about is from the toughts of Slashdotters having a multiple TB's of porn on myeir harddrives.
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
Unfortunately, I hear that any hardware that uses the "millipede" ends up being a bit "buggy"...
Obviously, on 10 centipedes, rotated weekly.
What the hell does that mean? I know a postage stamp, but I would rather know REAL standards. What is the LoC/FF for that item? We need to use real scientific standards people. In data storage we talk about bits and bytes, when you talk data density, you can only use LoC/FF. Anything else is ludicrous! It's like talking about car speeds at Furlongs per Week.
Geez. I wish journalistic integrity was a bit higher. It just irks me to-
What? What's LoC/FF?
Libraries of Congress per Football Field of course. You know, the standard.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
..was that this news is about 23 years old, and that's gotta be some kind of record. Even for Slashdot.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
But how will we make a backup of those?
Just press it into a peice of silly putty to mirror the surface.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
1 Library of Congress = 10 terabyes = 80 terabits
1 terabit per chip
=> 1/80 Library of Congress per Chip
16.5mm x 17.5mm x 1.2mm = 346.5mm^2
Volume of VW Beetle: 7,710,952.32 mm^2
=> 22,253.83 chips per VW Beetle
=> 278.27 Libraries of Congress per VW Beetle
Help a College Student
What this obviously means is that I'm one step closer to a cyberpunk style computer in my skull. Who needs to learn when you have google access directly interfaced with your brain?
God, I hope I'm kidding...