Sunday, November 26, 2006

I Am Crazy Excited About This New Storage Technology

HOORAY DATA DENSITY! The specific density of this new technology is about 2.7GB per square inch, and they're calling it "rainbow technology", because data is encoded and printed as colored geometric shapes. Because the information is printed, it takes no special media like CDs or DVDs; you can use plain, white paper which is, of course, biodegradable and cheaper than current alternatives. You can store 256GB on a sheet of A4 (8.3 × 11.7in). In one demonstration, "432 A4 pages of paper [were] rainbow format-encoded and stored on a two-inch by two-inch square of paper."

Right away, I'm seeing two possible limitations: optical discs like CDs and DVDs only have to read highs and lows on an imprinted disc, while a Rainbow Versatile Disc (RVD) reader would have to recognize a myriad of shapes and colors. Also, writing to this medium would require ink, introducing a second cost into the use of this technology.

As for the first problem one article says, "The extremely low-cost technology will drastically reduce the cost of storage and provide for high-speed storage as well", so maybe I'm totally wrong on that one. I was worried about the size of the reader required, but Sainul Abideen the 24-year-old student who developed this technology has also developed the reader which will be sized for laptops and after further miniaturization, smaller devices like cell phones and PDAs which would be able to read 5GB off of SIM card sized RVDs (I just checked, and I'm thinking that would have to be a double sided card).

I'm already having techno-wet-dreams about this new storage technology. Things like cleaning out my Magic binder to store data printed onto pieces of cardboard, and binding server backups into hardback book covers and putting then on my bookshelf next to titles by William Gibson, Cory Doctorow, and Charles Stross. And you know since data is printed, the recorder will also be able to print graphics and labels onto the media. This technology seems like it would be very easy to replicate, so I'm imagining readers and media in every shape and size. Cereal boxes could have special squares on the side with computer games parents could cut out for their kids. Game magazines could do away with demo discs. If I have to transport "for your eyes only" information, I could print a teensy little decal which I would stick onto my thumbnail. Text books would no longer have to come with those annoying CDs in the back that make it hard to flip through the pages. When you buy a paper book the digital version could be included, printed in the back cover. The media could be so cheap I don't know if RVD-RW will be necesary, but if it was I bet White-Out Brand would make a killing.

All those ideas only took me a few minutes, so I know the people who stand to make a profit from them will brainstorm thousands more. I need to stop writing and try to get my heart rate back down.

Oh, yeah, here are my two resources:
http://www.techworld.com/storage/news/index.cfm?newsID=7424
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=88962&d=18&m=11&y=2006

1 comment:

Unknown said...

techno-wet-dreams? You're wierd dude.