Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
About this Site
Moores Law defines the history of technology. It held that the number of circuits etched on a given piece of silicon could double every 18 months as far as its author, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, could see. Moores Law has spawned constant revolutions since then, not just in computing but in communications, in science, in a host of areas. Moores Law applies to radios, and to optical fiber, but there are some areas where it doesnt apply. In this blog well take a daily look at new implications of Moores Law in real time, as it rolls forward to create our future.
Maxell is planning to release a holographic disk next year that can hold 300 GBytes of data, and transfer it at speeds to 160 Mbps. (The animated chicken is from Krittercards. Get yours today.)
While they've been competing to be "the next standard" for optical storage, in other words, they've been leapfrogged by a better, faster, more data-intensive technology.
They've both lost what I'll call the game of Moore's Chicken. Neither blinked. Neither compromised. Both fought this out over years while the technology clock ticked, and Moore's Law of Optics continued to run.
And they both got leapfrogged. They both lost.
It's funny but it begs the question. It is one thing for Howard Stringer to screw-up over content issues. This is purely a technology issue. If you're going to hire a westerner, then fire him on a westerner's terms.
It's past time for Stringer to go.
And before you ask, I don't know what else Toshiba's CEO has or has not done lately. Heads should roll there, too. I'm just not as certain the CEO there should go as I am about Sony.
1. Jesse Kopelman on November 29, 2005 04:43 PM writes...
I'm not so sure these things will kill off DVD any time soon. While they will probably dominate the market for removable PC storage in a few years, it will be a long time before they are cheap enough to use as a media distribution method. If you want to buy a HD release of a movie, you will style be buying DVD for a long time to come. Same goes for video games. I think Sony and Toshiba are far more concerned with those markets than PC storage. Even there, if I shop around a little I could buy a external USB2 kit and 300 GB drive for the $100 it will cost to buy one of these holographic diskets. This technology has a lot of potential, but we have a few years to go before we take it too seriously.
1. Jesse Kopelman on November 29, 2005 04:43 PM writes...
I'm not so sure these things will kill off DVD any time soon. While they will probably dominate the market for removable PC storage in a few years, it will be a long time before they are cheap enough to use as a media distribution method. If you want to buy a HD release of a movie, you will style be buying DVD for a long time to come. Same goes for video games. I think Sony and Toshiba are far more concerned with those markets than PC storage. Even there, if I shop around a little I could buy a external USB2 kit and 300 GB drive for the $100 it will cost to buy one of these holographic diskets. This technology has a lot of potential, but we have a few years to go before we take it too seriously.
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