6 reasons laptop manufacturers love SSDs

I recently wrote a post about how SSDs are expected to become ubiquitous and cost competitive by 2011. At the end of the post, I mentioned that it is not just a matter of technological development pushing things forward, and that it is also in the interest of laptop manufacturers to sell SSD equipped models as soon as they can. And here is why:

1. Fast read/write speeds: SSDs have started with competitive data rates and as more manufacturers put resources behind them within 2008 we will see them outpacing traditional drives. It is estimated that Intel will offer 200MB/100MB read/write speeds. Numbers will improve with time and competition.
2. Rapidly improving capacities: If you have followed what has happened with camera flash memory, you already know that the price that gets you a certain capacity now, will most likely buy you a lot more -in some cases double the initial capacity- after a few months to a year. With Toshiba to offer 512MB SSDs in 2009, be sure that hard disc capacities will be soon matched, and when the economics allow, exceeded. (continued)

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InPhase holographic storage arrives in May

Holographic storage is a promising storage technology that has been demonstrated in NAB 2008 and is finally commercialised by InPhase this May. By storing data in effectively three dimensions of the storage media -conventional optical discs store data in planes- it achieves very high capacities, in line with ever larger hard discs and the exploding use of video.

The InPhase 300r is a brick shaped drive that takes cartridge protected 12cm diameter discs -same diameter as CDs or DVDs. Capacity will initially be 300GB, read/write data rates will reach 20MB/sec and disc life is projected to 50 years. (continued)

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Dating sites move on to niche groups

Internet dating sites are growing in popularity. A German friend was telling me that when young people get employed they have so little free time available, that he expects online dating sites to become the norm within a few years. I am not sure if I will agree or not with that prediction, however Internet dating is here to stay.

As with the rest of the web, things move on. Dating sites have multiplied and this led to the search for differentiation. In the US it seems that mainstream sites are losing ground while the ones devoted to niche groups are steadily gaining.

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RFID chips and hammers are perfect match

Maybe you do not mind RFID passport controls, after all if security wants to know something they will definitely ask. But I am sure you do mind if you are in constant danger of having your RFID data stolen by anyone that has the not-so-difficult-to-get know-how. So what do you do? But of course kill the RFID chip without leaving a trace of your deeds!

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Filmaka online studio, competition for full feature film

Major Hollywood studios are going online to draw entries from filmmakers from all over the world. You do not have to be a big name any more, people that have the technique and imagination are given the chance and -equally importantly- the cash to make their projects real full feature films, documentaries, advertisements or series.

OK cool down, it has not been officially tried by Hollywood yet. But a couple of established names believe that there is room for that kind of thing. We are talking about producer Deepak Nayar -as Reuters reports he has produced diamonds like Buena Vista Social Club and Bend it like Beckham- and former chairman of Fox Television Entertainment Group Sandy Grushow.

They have formed Filmaka, a site where everybody can upload a short production in different categories. The films are judged by artists of the calibre of director Wim Wenders. So even if the site has a typical online video feel, the whole point here is to get some serious results. This week Filmaka will announce the film contest winner that will then go on and direct a full feature Filmaka production

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Google’s 2D barcodes struggle to bridge paper ads and web

Airlines are already aware of the virtues of 2D barcodes and we will possibly see airline electronic boarding passes in the near future. Google has been quick to foresee the advantages of 2D barcodes, one of them being that a mobile telephone with a camera can read it, and with the right software automatically convert it to a conventional web address for immediate access.

Although simple as a concept, it is an ingenious way to bridge printed material with the web, where for the moment Google is unmatched. Barcodes could give instant access not only to web pages but also to very specifically targeted ads, depending on date or geography. And all this with maximum comfort, without even typing a single character of a web address.

2D barcodes exist from the 80s and are so far utilised mostly in industry. It was in 1999 that the Japanese Denso-Wave came up with the idea of reading a barcode photo with a mobile telephone. Since then, Japan has become the only market where 2D barcodes are widely used. Of course, the fact that the rest of the world has largely not even heard of or seen any of these codes presents a formidable obstacle.

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Convert your cellphone to dual SIM with the Duo SIM Card Adapter

It was only yesterday that I wrote about what I expected from a good twin SIM mobile telephone and service. Following your consideration of the DuoSIM 228, there is one more option. It comes from Malaysia, costs only $28 and needs a simple addition to your current device…

We are talking about the DuoSIM D2 Dual SIM Card Adapter a very simple device that combines two SIM cards in a single SIM mobile telephone. All you have to do is install it with care and then do of the relative settings.

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SSDs (Solid State Drives) to become cost effective by 2011

Happy with your super spacious 320GB hard disc? Wait till SSDs really start to come. At the moment they have fast read/write speeds, but that’s about it. You have to wrestle with limited capacities and prices that can instead get you some really nice tech goodies.

For laptop companies, SSDs are something like a godsend as they prolong battery life and take crash prone hard discs out of the reliability equation. According to Crave, while Toshiba currently offers capacities up to 128GB, it plans 512GB SSDs as soon as 2009. Overall, SSDs are expected to become cost effective by 2011. There is two driving forces behind SSD technology:

Falling costs: If cost falls by 50% annually, SSDs will stop being an ultra-expensive option (that can on its own buy a new laptop) and by 2011 it is expected that their price performance ratio will make them competitive to conventional hard discs.

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5 expectations from a twin SIM cellphone and service

Forced to use two mobile devices -one personal, one professional- three years ago I did a little market research on the options I had for a twin SIM telephone. Carrying two devices at the same time is incredibly annoying. Another thing that is also infuriating is the situations when I was speaking on one device while the other was ringing, becoming even worse at the office where the landline did me no favours…

The fact that I still use two cellphones is evidence that the solutions and answers I got were not so satisfactory. The Vodafone people steered me away from the twin SIM solution -the official explanation was low reliability- while TIM -now called Wind- offered a two-in-one SIM solution that had quite a few limitations.

Hearing about the new DuoSim 228 Mobile Phone my interest was renewed. For this reason, and bearing in mind that the manner of using two numbers with one mobile device also depends heavily on operator service, I decided to list a combination of expectations for a convincing twin SIM device and service:

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Favourite tech picture of the day – 26th of April 2008

Just make sure banging the keyboard when you are angry does not become a option… (Source: Yanko Design via Engadget)

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