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Gecko's Feet Power New RAM Chips
An anonymous reader writes "IT Week has a story about carbon nanotubes being used to make memory chips. As the name suggests, carbon nanotubes are extremely small cylinders of carbon, and they have some similar properties to the extremely fine hairs on the feet of Geckos that enable the lizards to climb walls and hang from ceilings. The new chips work faster than current technologies, and hold their data without needing a power source." We've previously discussed this technology.
This article could more aptly be titled, "New technology happens to reflect Gecko trait."
My work here is dung.
...I just saved a bunch of money on my car ins...RAM Chips.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Firefox is now being used to make processors?
That's incredible!
Or do they mean just the Gecko developers?
Do they have to pedal machines to produce power to make the processors? Is THIS how they pay for the time they spend developing OSS??
Wow - that's commitment
This is nothing new at all
I'll grant you that yes, prices have come down recently but surely every geek wants our scientific research budgets spent on a much worthier use for nanotubes.
Hunni could you get the RAM off the ceiling again please!!
According to TFA they'll be shipping "later this year".
This seems somewhat unlikely, but would be cool if it was true. High speed USB pendrive anyone?
Little short on technical detail though. How many read-write cycles can these things do?
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http://www.jarfinder.com/
Never trust anyone with an id greater than 889388
It's a suppository!
We had been covering Nantero for a long time on slashdot:
Carbon Nanotube Memory on the Way
Nanotube Non-Volatile Memory Entering Production
Nanotube Applications Grow And Grow (mentions about NVRAM)
Buckminsterfullerene Strikes Again - Nanotube RAM
If you RTFA, you'll see that the "gecko phenomenon" is the basis for the device's retention of memory when the power is off. The bits are encoded by whether the tubules are erect (open circuit) or bent-over and touching the substrate (closed circuit). When the power is removed, the same van der Waals forces that underpin gecko toes keeps the fiber in the down position.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
I for one welcome our new RAM-wielding opressive and tyrannical gecko overlords.
The title doesn't suggest that the technology was born out of studying Geckos. It's a catchy title to engage you in reading the article.
I want a carbon flash drive. Or better yet, a nanotube iPod nano. Damnit, just when i thought that i knew every nick-name for USB key's. I guess i can be the first to call it the gecko drive. What's the bus speed on one of them there gecko chips? Oh wait it really has nothing to do with gecko's. I was mislead. Do you work for the Bush administration?
to say that the "The bits ... encoded by whether the tubules are erect (open circuit) or bent-over" are based on Viagra.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
If the article is correct (which is not certain), companies will produce chips like this, "later this year".
The article isn't clear about whether these will be engineering samples or full production products. But if they are full production products, and can be produced at volume soon after, this will be huge.
For at least four years I've been following news about non-volatile memory technologies like MRAM (Magnetic RAM) and FeRAM (Fero-Electric RAM). The common availability of these RAMs will have massive implications for operating system, file system, and database design. The computer science and software engineering community will for years be preoccupied with the consequences.
So if the article is true, we computer scientist types are guaranteed a few years of tremendous fun. Or the article is full of crap and just another rose-tinted article by some indiscriminant author.
It looks like an entirely new form of memory. That's really something!
If these guys manage to make this work, they'll be increidbly well off and famous.
I love how the stuff is hundreds of times smaller than the state of the art!
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
"Chameleo-browser" - A new plugin for firefox which will allow porn pages, when seen from a distance to blend in with spreadsheets and become unnoticable.
** Note - In response to these advances the LOST (Lizard Open Source Team) has chosen to patent their genetic makeup to prevent futher abuses of their technology. NTP will be handling the patents.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
Shouldn't that read: Gecko's Feet Feat...?
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Nanotubes go flash bang wallop
(Yeah, I know you didn't mean that kind of flash, but the video is kinda cool.)
Has anyone thought about using this technology not only for RAM chips, but as a possible solution to fast, solid-state hard drives?
As a long standing representative of the International Gecko Consortium, I am here by boycotting the sales of these supposed "RAM chips" for the implication and devaluing of the inherent value of our feet. We of the IGC will not stand idly by and watch you non reptilians continue to mount slanderous comments on our good name. Additionally we call into question the nature of this 'research' done by The Man - no upstanding Gecko would allow themselves to be poked, prodded, or subjected to any scientific research that would violate our religious and social mores. Furthermore if there are any geckos in captivity against their will we demand a full release and all forthcoming medical expenses for their recuperation will be paid in full by you, the evil mammalian overlords. It is high time be break the bonds of secondhand citizenship and take our place as equals!
Viva the green revolution!
Lizards that walk on ceilings... Ha. I suppose you have evidence that disproves Intelligent Design too....
I can get my computer off the desk and stick it to the wall.
"Wall mounted keyboards... It must be.... the FUTURE!" - Crow T. Robot
This isn't about a rendering engine?
"He was a wise man who invented beer." - Plato
Am I the only one that read the title like this: "Gecko has such a large memory footprint that advances in memory technology were necessary..."?
Not that I actually notice Gecko being a memory hog or anything...
Let S_n = {nst+us+vt : s,t in Z \ {0}, u,v in {-1,1}}. For all n in Z where |n| > 2, Z \ S_n is infinite... right?
I'm assuming these chips will retain the standard DIMM shape? And if so, how would it benefit me by dropping it into say a current motherboard? Just the ability to have very fast page reads and storage? Will it really be of benefit to consumers or more for servers?
"The boy is dangerous, they all sense it, why can't you?"
The "IT Week" article also mentions, "And they would enable computers to switch on in an instant, which could be good for everyone." ... locked up. I turned it off to reboot, but it is STILL locked up. What do I do now?"
:)
ROFL! "Today my brand new Gecko-Brand PC, installed with Windows Vista and all the latest Service Packs
Those chips had BETTER be equipped with some sort of Clear All Memory functionality.
Get away. You smell like feet!
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...as if millions of geckos suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Umm, so they put a gecko running in a cage to power the memory? So what, people have been doing that with hamsters for years.
from the i-don't-want-to-use-fred-flintstone's-computer dept.
What, you don't like Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers?
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Those bonds allow geckos to climb walls and hang from a pane of glass. Carbon nanotubes are about 200 times more sticky than the geckos foot hairs, and their semiconducting nature is being exploited to make memory chips. The coming chips cant walk up walls..."
Then forget it.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere