Re-Birth Of The Punchcard?

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/06/11/ibm.storage.breakthrough.ap/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/06/11/ibm.storage.breakthrough.ap/index.html</a><br /><br />Here's an exciting story on the CNN.com Web site about new advances in storage technology that are being made by IBM. Scientists there say they've developed a new type of storage media that is analogous to the old-fashioned computer punchcard. This newest incarnation however, -- codenamed "Millipede" -- shrinks those familiar holes down to the molecular level.<br /><br />"IBM said the millipede devices can store one terabit, or a trillion pieces, of data per square inch. The data are stored in tiny sheets of plastic polymer film as tiny indentations just 10 nanometers, or millionths of a millimeter, in diameter...If IBM decides to manufacture millipede-based storage cards -- it has no current plans to do so -- the storage could begin replacing the current silicon-based flash memory cards in handheld computers and mobile phones by the end of 2005."<br /><br />Can you imagine this?!? A one-terrabit SD card? That's enough to store:<br /><br />• More than 25 million printed textbook pages<br />• Nearly 3 months of non-stop, high quality MP3 music<br />• Almost 4 days' worth of Ed Hansberry's rants on the various Pocket PC discussion boards

[Master O'Mayhem]

4 days? I DONT THINK SO!!!!! maybe 1 day... but not 4

[Ed Hansberry]

Hahahahahahahaha. You guys are just too funny..... http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/not_worthy.gif

[EricMCarson]

Yes, and think of what happens when a speck of dust covers up one of those molecule-sized impressions and you lose one of Ed's posts (god forbid)? This type of technology was previously bantered around at 3M/Imation, I believe, but was dropped due to this exact issue.

[T-Will]

Just imagine, one little scratch could erase hundreds and hundreds of pictures or millions of text documents.

[Sven Johannsen]

• Nearly 3 months of non-stop, high quality MP3 music


Yea, swell, but where's the battery technology to support it.

[stevew]

Wouldn't it be nice to trash hard drives on desktops and use these new mega data holder cards instead? No more booting up. Just push the power button on the desktop and you're up in running just as fast as you're PPC. We may even be able to finally get rid of floppies :)

[Tycho Morgan]

Brad there is a typo!

Four HOURS, not days! hope this helps :)

[Skoobouy]

• Nearly 3 months of non-stop, high quality MP3 music


Yea, swell, but where's the battery technology to support it.

Well duh. Fuel cells.

[FredMurphy]

Whilst this does seem to be a genuine article, I just can't imagine that a physical indentation in a piece of plastic is as small or durable as a magnetic domain (hard drive) or a laser-burned pit under a transparent protective shield (CD). :?

What protects the surface from contamination or scratches, especially when it's being read at speed?

It'd be interesting to see if this comes to anything but I'm sceptical.

Fred

[Timothy Rapson]

I have read story after story just like this. Remember bubble memory? It is fun to watch, but this will never be there. Just a cool idea like all the others.

[WialyDiody]

Here are a few pictures for those who are interested.
http://domino.research.ibm.com/Comm/bios.nsf/pages/millipede.html/$FILE/milli_anim_300.jpg http://domino.research.ibm.com/Comm/bios.nsf/pages/millipede.html/$FILE/milli_chip_300.jpg http://domino.research.ibm.com/Comm/bios.nsf/pages/millipede.html/$FILE/milli_concept_300.jpg

One thing I was suprised about was the fact that it is rewritable. Unfortunatly curent read rates are in the Kbps range though, it could take a while to read the 15 GB that it is capable of storing at that rate. :lol:

--edit--
Sorry to those of you with a slow connection, I didn't realize that these pictures were kind of big until after i posted. :?