|
Hard drive revolution
in the offing
01/09/2003
At the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday, a group of
companies plans to unveil a 1.8-inch hard drive that may
change the world of digital storage. The iVDR (Information Versatile Disk for Removable Storage)
was originally introduced in Japan. In its American
incarnation, this drive will hold 80 gigabytes of data and
will be available within six months for $166 to $249. Most important is that – if successfully deployed by
manufacturers including Hitachi, Pioneer, Sanyo and the 28
other members of the iVDR consortium – these swappable drives
could significantly cut the cost of making video recorders,
computer systems and entertainment center devices. Its swappable configuration also will let consumers get the
latest drive technology without ripping into the guts of a
computer or other hard drive device. Nor would they have to
buy entirely new devices as technology progresses. Standardized removable drives also might make high-end
set-top boxes, personal video recorders and computer base
stations more affordable for consumers. Apple's next innovation may be chameleon colors Apple has applied for a patent covering a "computing device
with dynamic ornamental appearance." Apparently, Apple has the inside track on creating a
desktop computer that signals owners when e-mail arrives, for
example. The patent also indicates that color changes could be made
to iPods, iMacs and iBooks. Users could change the colors of
their casings through illuminating technology similar to that
used by the new EluminX (eluminx.com) lighted keyboards. It also means that the color of the iMac and clamshell
iBook could be dictated by the user rather than Apple plastic.
One pundit says that Apple is developing software that will
change colors of the case depending on the music being played
on iPods or by its iTunes music player. Pay phones going way of rotary dialing With the spread of wireless phones, the number of pay
phones has dwindled from a high of 2.7 million in the
mid-1990s to about 1.9 million now. Although pay phones in many locations lose money, those in
the lowest-income areas of a city are generally profitable,
says Terry Rainey, president of the American Public
Communications Council Inc., an industry group representing
independent pay phone operators. But the small companies that maintain them are pulling out
of the business. Even at 50 cents a call, many phones run at a
deficit – it costs more to clean, maintain and service them
than they return. So pay phones are being yanked from the shopping centers,
gas stations, restaurants and street corners where they used
to turn a booming profit. Copyright alternative allows limited sharing CreativeCommons.org has released its first version of
software that gives creators of digital content the ability to
allow others to use their products in a limited way. Under the guidance of Stanford law professor Lawrence
Lessig (lessig.org), the nonprofit Creative Commons project
opened with a donation of 200 O'Reilly & Associates book
titles and pledges of support from artists including DJ Spooky
and Byrds founder Roger McGuinn. The idea is to give artists, musicians and other content
creators an alternative to copyrights, which require getting
permission from the owner to use copyrighted material. Under the Creative Commons option, machine-readable markers
let others know under what circumstances they can use a work.
It is aimed at artists and authors who want to share,
rather than control, their products. Compiled from staff and wire reports |