Posted on 12/11/2006 10:18:29 AM PST by Zakeet
A prototype memory card technology 500 times faster than Flash cards has been unveiled by IBM to meet the exploding demand for portable music, video and photo storage.
Developed in conjunction with partners Macronix and Qimonda, the technology is a form of phase-change memory (PCM), which promises faster read and write times than Flash, greater endurance and the ability to write to individual memory addresses. It only requires half the power of a Flash memory card.
The technology utilises a new semiconductor alloy - a combination of germanium, antimony and tellurium - that can be scaled smaller than Flash technology. The device's cross-section is a mere three by 20 nanometres, far smaller than Flash can be built today and equivalent to the industry's chip-making capabilities targeted for 2015.
[Snip]
Like Flash, IBM's prototype phase-change memory technology is non-volatile - meaning it doesn't require power in order to retain information. It relies on the fact that heat can easily switch the alloy between two stable states - one amorphous with a high electrical resistance, the other crystalline with a low resistance.
(Excerpt) Read more at itwire.com.au ...
So, if I leave it in my car on a hot Florida day, all my work, pictures, etc. will be erased?......
By the year 2015, we won't need flash memory anyway. It will be implanted in our foreheads by Hillary.
There is an old joke about a dictionary salesman selling dictionaries for $1. When asked why they were only $1 he said "they are slightly irregular, they are not in alphabetical order".
The point being, of what possible value is memory without the ability to address?
If only I had applied for a patent on that when I first thought of it.
possibly
IT'S FASTER!
IT HOLDS MORE DATA!
but wait..... there's more!
If you act now, we'll throw in this amazing lime and rust remover!
An amazing 4 zillion dollar value
Yours for only 19.95!
Operators are standing by!
Operators are standing by!
And if you call in the next 15 minutes, you'll get a second one free!
Yes, but it would have to get hot enough to fry the electronics, too. This is similar phase change technology as used in CD-RWs.
Kind of like have write only memory.
"ability to address"
I think the meaning might be this: some memory can address any chosen byte location at anytime. Some 'memory' can only 'stream' from a basic location forward in consecutive order, say by a track, ie - start at track 2 and replay.
But can you erase individual bytes at a time? The biggest pain dealing with flash at a hardware level is that you have to erase an entire block of memory at a time instead of just one particular byte.
Please! Never, ever, ever use Hillary!™ and flash in the same paragraph again.
Any form of memory read not involving mechanical advancement of the media requires the ability to address.
Chalk that up to poor writing... what I bleieve it is supposed to say is that you can issue a write to only the specified address you want to change, and not have to refresh an entire block of memory to affect the change.
Word on the street is that Hillary is joining forces with Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan as the fourth member of the "Anti-Panty Posse".
Many think this was the real cause of the latest outbreak of sickness on the cruise ship, and what was once thought to be an E. Coli outbreak in the Northeastern Taco Bells.
For an awful lot of applications - digital music & video players in particular - most of the content is accessed by "start at the beginning, continue on 'til you reach the end, then stop". For nearly all the data therein, you don't need to address it any more specifically than "it comes after the thing before it"; the only byte you really need to "address" is the first one of the file. Being able to randomly access all data therein is, except for literally a few dozen bytes, unnecessary. Instead of accessing "byte 18,437,436,332", an addressing scheme of "file 9, fast-forward 137 seconds" is plenty accurate for music & video.
A storage device built around "file X chunk Y" instead of "directly access any byte instantly" can save a great deal of circuitry. Surprising it took this long for someone to actually catch on.
You are an evil man.
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