Century Old Idea for Memory Cards
Don’t ask us how they know, but SanDisk claims that its new 128Mb Write Once, Read Many times (WORM) SD memory card will store data for up to 100 years. If true and they’re on pretty safe ground from warranty claims — that’s a definite improvement on current technology. Data on rewritable cards and drives can start to deteriorate in as little as 5 years, though most manufacturers reckon they’re good for between 10 to 25 years.
Potential applications for the new WORM card includes storing evidential data used in police investigations, medical data, company records and so on. WORM cards can also be used for archiving photographs and home videos, in fact anything that you would like still to be around in 100 years time, though the big question with all these things is, will there be anything that can read SD cards in just 10 years, let alone in 2108…
How Flash Memory Works
Flash memories are solid state electronic devices with random access memory capabilities used for fast digital information storage. They are used in a wide range of applications, such as storing BIOS routines in typical digital computers, as medium capacity hard drives for digital cameras or as memory cards for laptop computers and video consoles.
The technology used to manufacture flash memories is based on EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) chips, which consist of memory banks formed of storing cells disposed in a grid of columns and rows. A basic storing cell has two MOS-FET transistors at each intersection, and are separated by an oxide layer. The two transistors are known as the floating gate and the control gate. Read more
Heads-Up on a new Wearable Camcorder
If you are going on the piste this winter or you are into mountain biking, skateboarding or off-roading then here’s a neat little widget available soon that might interest you. It’s called Vholdr and it’s a self contained, wearable, armoured, camcorder measuring just 95 x 53 x 34mm and weighing only 136 grams and it works in snow, rain, mud and just about anything else you care to chuck at it.
It records audio and video (640 x 480) onto SD memory cards (50 minutes per gigabyte), and the lithium polymer battery lasts around 2 hours. Read more
A Convenient Case For All Your Memory Cards
If you carry multiple Flash memory cards of different formats, the Elecom card reader is a perfect thing for you. Read more
