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The Past, Present, and Future of Data Storage

The Past, Present, and Future of Data Storage
As we approach the end of 2011 and look forward to another year, we pause to reflect on the long history of data storage. Mankind's ability to create, process, store, and recall information is light years ahead of the days of cave paintings and engravings on stone tablets. Vast amounts of information can be stored on drives smaller than your thumb, and data centers are cropping up at an increasingly high rate. What does the future of data storage hold? Are we really that close to holographic drives? Is 2012 the year SSDs become mainstream? Embed this image on your site: Related:  Newish Computerish

Solid-state drive DDR SDRAM based SSD. Max 128 GB and 3072 MB/s. PCIe, DRAM and NAND-based SSD. As of 2010[update], most SSDs use NAND-based flash memory, which retains data without power. Hybrid drives or solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) combine the features of SSDs and HDDs in the same unit, containing a large hard disk drive and an SSD cache to improve performance of frequently accessed data.[9][10][11] Development and history[edit] Early SSDs using RAM and similar technology[edit] SSDs had origins in the 1950s with two similar technologies: magnetic core memory and card capacitor read-only store (CCROS).[12][13] These auxiliary memory units (as contemporaries called them) emerged during the era of vacuum-tube computers. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, SSDs were implemented in semiconductor memory for early supercomputers of IBM, Amdahl and Cray;[15] however, the prohibitively high price of the built-to-order SSDs made them quite seldom used. Flash-based SSDs[edit] Enterprise flash drives[edit] Memory[edit]

World's Smallest Hard Drive Built of Atoms Just 96 atoms make up one byte of magnetic storage space. - Scientists have built a magnetic storage device made of 96 atoms. - The advance could lead to tiny hard drives able to store 200 to 300 times more information than they can today. Hard drives could one day be the size of rice grains, powering music players so small they would fit inside your ear. Scientists at IBM and the German Center for Free-Electron Laser Science have built the world's smallest unit of magnetic storage, using just 96 atoms to create one byte of data. Conventional drives require a half a billion atoms for each byte. The advance could lead to tiny hard drives able to store 200 to 300 times more information than they can today. PHOTOS: 5 Computer Techs to Replace Silicon Chips "An effect that is common in nature can produce this information storage idea," said Sebastian Loth of CFEL, lead author of the research, which is being published today in the journal Science. BLOG: Scientists Build Self-Replicating Molecule

How To Become A Hacker Copyright © 2001 Eric S. Raymond As editor of the Jargon File and author of a few other well-known documents of similar nature, I often get email requests from enthusiastic network newbies asking (in effect) "how can I learn to be a wizardly hacker?". If you are reading a snapshot of this document offline, the current version lives at Note: there is a list of Frequently Asked Questions at the end of this document. Numerous translations of this document are available: ArabicBelorussianChinese, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, FrenchGerman, GreekItalianHebrew, Japanese, Lithuanian, Norwegian, PersianPortuguese (Brazilian), RomanianSpanish, Turkish, and Swedish. The five-dots-in-nine-squares diagram that decorates this document is called a glider. If you find this document valuable, please leave me a tip on Gittip. The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. If you want to be a hacker, keep reading. 1. 2. 3. 5. 2. 3.

iPads can’t improve learning without good teaching Pt 2 – Writing Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com ( ) Writing and technology has been a controversial subject for many traditionalists in education. “Spell check stops children from learning to spell”. “All students do today is copy and paste from Wikipedia and Google searched articles.” ” Children need to handwrite all their drafts”. “William Shakespeare didn’t have a laptop” ( OK, i just threw that in for fun!) The key words in that last sentence are of course publishing and writing. Which leads me once more to the star of “Mr G Online”, the iPad. I’ll preface this discussion by saying that many of my suggestions can certainly be carried out on laptops or indeed desktop computers. What is writing? A breakdown of genres, their processes and products I’m not going to use some perfectly expressed term written by literacy professors to impress anyone. Now originally, communication was verbal. iPADS AND WRITING The Composing/Editing stage

HackQuest :: Learn about Hacking, Cracking, JavaScript, PHP, Cryptology and Password security Lessons from an iPad Rollout Mobile Computing | Feature Lessons from an iPad Rollout Florida's "first iPad high school" has deployed 300 iPads to its high school teachers and students. Thanks to preparations on the infrastructure, training, and security fronts, the fall rollout has proved relatively snag-free. By Bridget McCrea09/21/11 In March and June, THE Journal reported on The Master's Academy and the challenges it was tackling on the way to becoming Florida's first iPad school. Preparations: Training, Bandwidth, Security "We distributed them about a week before school," said Salerno, "and the teachers and students are doing very well with the devices so far." Campus WiFi coverage was one area that Salerno was holding his breath over when the devices were fired up Aug. 15. The approach has worked well so far. Device security was another point of concern prior to rollout, especially because students would be taking their iPads home every night.

7 Most Notorious Computer Hacker Groups of All Time With the recent attack on PlayStation Network and a bunch of high-profile websites, computer hackers are back in the limelight again. Hackers and hacker groups were quite famous in the 80’s and 90’s but their popularity started fading since the Y2K days. Today, we are once again witnessing hackers threatening to take on giant corporations sending chills down everyone's spine. We have already featured here some of the most infamous black hat hackers of all time. This time, we will take a quick look at some of the most notorious computer hacker groups that ever existed: Masters of Deception This New York-based group was responsible for notorious acts such as downloading confidential credit card histories of stars like Julia Roberts, breaking into AT&T’s computer system and stealing credit card numbers. Legion of Doom MOD’s biggest enemy Legion of Doom was a famous hacker group founded by a hacker called Lex Luthor (real name: Vincent Louis Gelormine). Chaos Computer Club Milw0rm Anonymous

Five Clever Gadgets | February Belkin WeMo Switch - Belkin This app/plug combination package allows you to use your home wi-fi network to turn on and off electronic devices. The intuitive app is easy to set up, and allows you to activate switches manually, on a schedule, or by activating the motion sensors when you walk into a room. There's no set range for WeMo, meaning you can use your mobile internet to turn off electronics in your home from miles away or to switch your settings. It's only compatible with devices running iOS 5 or later, but otherwise WeMo is compatible with any Apple smartphone or tablet. It's backed by a one-year warranty, and the accompanying app is completely free with the purchase of a plug. Advertisement Where To Buy: Available through Belkin or the Apple store Cost: From $A59.95 Instant Wine Chiller - Ravi If you want to chill your white wine instantly (but don't want to water it down with ice cubes) consider the Instant Wine Chiller. Where To Buy: Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond Belkin WeMo Switch

Credit card-sized Raspberry Pi computer gets a video cam! Just when you thought you can no longer squeeze anything else into the tiny Raspberry Pi computer, think again: the puny device is getting a video camera. A report on PC World said developers expect to make the HD camera available by early spring, though the camera's specifications have yet to be finalized. "The first cameras are expected to come with a 15-centimeter (just under 6 inches) flat cable and sell for around $25. The lens on the camera is similar to those found on many camera phones and is expected to provide 5 megapixels," PC World said. It quoted Raspberry Pi developers as saying the camera board is an alternative to using USB cameras with the Raspberry Pi. They said a camera board may give a better-quality resolution at a lower price, compared to USB-based counterparts. Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into a TV and a keyboard. While tiny, it can do many things a regular desktop PC does, including playing high-definition video. — TJD, GMA News

ABB's FRIDA Offers Glimpse of Future Factory Robots This headless, two-armed robot may be tomorrow's factory worker. Its name is FRIDA, and it's a creation of ABB, the Swiss power and automation giant, which introduced it early this month at the Hannover trade show, Europe's largest industrial fair. Designed for assembly applications, FRIDA is capable of using its human-like arms to grasp and manipulate electronic components and other small parts. The machine is a concept robot that ABB created to show off its vision for a new kind of industrial robot. Traditional industrial robots are big, expensive, and hard to integrate into existing manufacturing processes. With FRIDA, ABB is the latest among several companies building a new generation of industrial robots that are lighter, safer, more affordable, easier to deploy and reconfigure. FRIDA, which stands for Friendly Robot for Industrial Dual-arm Assembly (you knew an acronym was coming, didn't you?) So what can FRIDA do? What do you think? More images: That's it. Images and video: ABB

60 Excellent Free 3D Model Websites 3D printers have immensely revolutionized the art and manufacturing industry. With advancements in the 3D printer technology, it is now not very difficult to own one, even in your home or office. Moreover, you don’t have to be an AutoCAD engineer to design a 3D model for your needs, as this job is taken up by numerous 3D model websites. So, either you want to create 3D furniture, a mechanical component, or even human or animal figurines, here are 50 of the best free 3D model websites to cover up all your needs. 10 Cheap and Affordable 3D Printers to Buy 10 Cheap and Affordable 3D Printers to Buy There was a time when 3D printers were a novelty - but not anymore. Pikbest Pikbest offers thousands of 3D models that are presented under various categories like decoration, wedding, appliances, bathroom, kitchen, furniture. GrabCAD GrabCAD Community Library offers 2.8+ million designs and models including CADs, thanks to its largest community of designers, engineers, and students. CGTrader Clara.io

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