Chip of the future

Scientists at IBM have a new type of digital media storage meaning such consumer products like mobile phones, iPods and many other devises will soon be able to hold 100 times more information than they can now. So that means an iPod would be able to store more than 500,000 songs.

The latest release from IPod at the moment is the release of the iPod Nano Chromatic is the 4th Generation IPod and 2nd Generation IPod Touch, released around Sept. This devise offers storage in either 8GB or 16GB.

Looking at the range of iPods you can clearly see that they all vary in size, shape, visually and usability. Take the IPod Classic. You can store thousands of songs, interface is simple but the size of the devise is huge compared to others. It may be possible one day to have and iPod so small you could embed it into a ring shape to fit the size of your finger for example and have wireless headphones? There’s a possibility!

The future for IPod at the moment is looking like they are going for smaller devises and more storage space but maintaining IPods visual look. But it makes you wonder the fact that this chip from IBM could one day revolutionize into a superchip, personal server or maybe even in a few years be a multi-functional devise?

Also new technology is not just becoming more advanced with space hey require less power.
In a paper published in the current issue of Science, a team at the company's research centre in San Jose, California, said that devices which use the new technology would require much less power, would run on a single battery charge for "weeks at a time, and would last for decades.

Chips that require less power could mean that people in society can save more on energy on their Electric bill, due to the fact they only have to charge it on average every fortnight instead of every other day.

IBMs new Racetrack memory technology changed the way information can be stored as a pattern on a nano wire which means more durability due to no solid data being held. They use a base which is a shape of a racing track so information is always moving and don’t require more space. The data is read by having a second nano wire which races around and picks up information as when it needs to.

IBM New Racetrack Technology video




Reference:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3728060.ece

From Times Online
April 11, 2008