http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/15/sciipod115.xml

Now all we need is a 256-bit 3THz processor and we can start producing
real time tracings at the same time as hunting for dark matter :-)

John

-- 
I will be brief but not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
world's shortest speech. He said, "I will be so brief I am already
finished," then he sat down.

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Doctor John wrote:
> Now all we need is a 256-bit 3THz processor and we can start producing
> real time tracings at the same time as hunting for dark matter :-)

Now, is my math wrong, or would it take about 200 years to fill this up 
at normal SATA disk speeds?

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Doctor John <doc### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/15/sciipod115.xml

  This is certainly not the first time I read news about some new
revolutionary technology which "will increase memory capacity/hard disk
sizes/CPU speeds/whatever a million-fold", yet nothing happened even after
several years. I have seen at least a dozen of those types of news during
the past decade, yet none of them has realized as promised.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 16 Apr 2008 11:12:45 -0400, Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:

>
>  This is certainly not the first time I read news about some new
>revolutionary technology which "will increase memory capacity/hard disk
>sizes/CPU speeds/whatever a million-fold", yet nothing happened even after
>several years. I have seen at least a dozen of those types of news during
>the past decade, yet none of them has realized as promised.

Bubble memory for one.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Stephen wrote:
> Bubble memory for one.

Bubble memory actually did work, and was available as a plug-in card for 
an Apple ][.  Unfortunately, increasing storage a thousand-fold back 
when you could buy bubble memory meant you could actually store as much 
as a 3.5" floppy does! :-)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:40:03 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>
wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>> Bubble memory for one.
>
>Bubble memory actually did work, and was available as a plug-in card for 
>an Apple ][.  Unfortunately, increasing storage a thousand-fold back 
>when you could buy bubble memory meant you could actually store as much 
>as a 3.5" floppy does! :-)

Yes it just wasn't commercially viable.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Warp wrote:
> Doctor John <doc### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/15/sciipod115.xml
> 
>   This is certainly not the first time I read news about some new
> revolutionary technology which "will increase memory capacity/hard disk
> sizes/CPU speeds/whatever a million-fold", yet nothing happened even after
> several years. I have seen at least a dozen of those types of news during
> the past decade, yet none of them has realized as promised.
> 
So, how close are we sticking to Moore's Law atm?
(I can't be bothered to do the maths)

John

-- 
I will be brief but not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
world's shortest speech. He said, "I will be so brief I am already
finished," then he sat down.

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Stephen wrote:

> Bubble memory for one.

Or that guy who developed genetically engineered algae that responded to 
electricity. The idea was that you could just "grow" your memory as 
large as you wanted. Near-zero manufacture cost.

He never did quite get the prototype to work - but he came closer than 
you might think...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:53:31 +0100, Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull>
wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>
>> Bubble memory for one.
>
>Or that guy who developed genetically engineered algae that responded to 
>electricity. The idea was that you could just "grow" your memory as 
>large as you wanted. Near-zero manufacture cost.
>
>He never did quite get the prototype to work - but he came closer than 
>you might think...

I did not hear about that
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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>> Or that guy who developed genetically engineered algae that responded to 
>> electricity. The idea was that you could just "grow" your memory as 
>> large as you wanted. Near-zero manufacture cost.
>>
>> He never did quite get the prototype to work - but he came closer than 
>> you might think...
> 
> I did not hear about that

Yeah, apparently this guy discovered some algae that weakly respond to 
electric currents. He grew them in the lab and engineered them such that 
you could use a small laser to set or reset them, and a small electric 
current to determine which state a given alga cell is currently in. 
Obviously, a single living cell is pretty damn small, and they're 
densely packed in 3D space, so - assuming you can get the laser to them 
and wire them all up - *massive* storage capacity ensues.

I saw it on Tomorrow's World. (Remember that program? WHERE'S MY FLYING 
CAR, BITCH!?!) Apparently nothing ever came of it.

OTOH, many people claimed that "electricity is just a fad" and "it will 
never come to anything of signifigance". Sure, using green slime to 
store computer data might *sound* crazy - but 10 years ago, a 750 GB 
harddrive sounded pretty crazy...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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