Yet Another Disc Format?
How much data can you cram onto a CD/DVD sized optical disc? Well, we know CDs manage around 800Mb, DVDs can ramp that up to around 20Gb using both sides and multiple layers, and a two-sided Blu Ray disc manages around 50Gb, but that’s small beer, compared with the new General Electric Holographic Versatile Disc (ugh!) or HVD.
Instead of the reflective pits used on conventional optical discs this uses a ‘microholographic’ process to store data, raising the bar to an impressive 500Gb per disc, enough to store more than 100 DVD movies. Read more
What makes LCDs shine light
Unlike typical cathode ray displays that produce images on a screen by bombarding electrons into a layer of phosphorous, liquid crystal displays can’t actually produce their light while functioning. This is because the pixels on an LCD are basically like little shutters that vary their opacity accordingly to the amount of electric current they receive.
This disadvantage is especially visible in the case of old-fashioned monochrome liquid crystal displays, which can be read only when they are lit with light coming from the environment, and become totally useless in the absence of it. In this case, light coming from the Sun or reflected by the environment enters the LCD, passes through all the layers of the display before encountering a reflective surface that sends the light back to the viewer. Read more
CD Lifesaver
If you have a CD or DVD writer drive then sooner or later (probably sooner) you will end up with a disc that contains files that you just can’t read on your PC. CD Recovery Toolbox Free could get you out of that hole. Once installed simply pop in the errant disc and it will see what it can find, and if the file you are looking for is there, and recoverable, just tick the box and it will be saved to a folder on your hard drive. No fuss, no mess, and no cost.
Burning Ambition
We’ve mentioned a few freeware CD/DVD burning applications in the past but they’ve tended to a bit specialist, or a bit too teccy for absolute beginners but that’s not something you could ever accuse BurnAware of. It’s very easy to use and copes with just about any optical disc format, up to and including BluRay. To use it just click on the icon for the task you want (create data disc, burn ISO image, create audio CD or DVD video and follow the prompts. That’s all there is to it, it’s as near as dammit foolproof, it’s free and it just works. So what more do you need to know?
