Re: Arrrrrrrrrrrrggggg!!

From: Beth (BethStone21_at_hotmail.NOSPICEDHAM.com)
Date: 03/05/05 

Date: Sat, 05 Mar 2005 06:54:35 GMT

Jim Carlock wrote:
> "Sevag Krikorian" wrote:
> > Don't feel so bad. I recently sent my JumpDrive packed with
> > 120 megas of data through the wash/dry cycle. The shock of
> > the ordeal separated the microchips from the board.
>
> I've sent a 250MB USB MiniCruzer (SanDisk) through the wash
> without any problems. I wouldn't recommend anyone do it, but
> the SanDisk thing is a USB "chip". Works great. It doesn't have a
> disk at all and acts more like a Removable RamDisk once the
> system recognizes it.
>
> Was cheap when I bought it two years ago. The one I got is 256MB
> in size, but they're up to 4GB now...
> http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/media/photos-cruzer-mini.asp
>
> SanDisk http://www.sandisk.com is advertising some waterproof
> models as well on their homepage. I don't think mine is waterproof,
> I sent it through the dryer as well. Nothing was lost and I don't
> recommend anyone do this. The mention of waterproof was off
> the homepage link there.
>
> Sony Was supposed to release a 40GB Flash Card at the end of
> 2003 for certain camcorders...
>
> I don't know anything about this product, but it looks like it is
> presented as a 40GB flash memory... For about $269.00.
> http://www.freecom.com/ecProduct_detail.asp?ID=1142
>
> The end of mechanical hard drives coming soon?

What? Like the end of "Moore's Law"? Or the end of the floppy disk? Or the
end of the x86 architecture?

No, it never works that way, in practice...what's the saying? "New ideas
never succeed; They simply wait around for the proponents of the old ideas
to eventually die" ;)...

It's a bit of a "myth" that probably needs countering: Producing fantastic
"new technology" in absolutely no way whatsoever makes the old stuff simply
"vanish" or anything...you know, books didn't disappear when radio
appeared, radio didn't disappear when TV appeared...letters haven't
disappeared because phones appeared, phones haven't disappeared because
Email appeared...they just all slowly "slot" into their little
"niches"...settle down and level out at their true "non-hype" level of
usefulness for certain tasks...

The truth is that the whole "obselete by new technology" thing? Stop and
think who _benefits_ for a second...yes, it's an industry "myth" to keep
that old "upgrade cycle" constantly moving...that is not to say that the
new technologies aren't so superior to their older counterparts that,
eventually, it really is naturally the "preferred option"...but, well, this
"Apple Newton will make books obselete! Interactive movies will make books
obselete! PDAs will make books obselete!" thing (apparently, _everything_
ar one time or another, will "make books obeselete"...geez Louise! What did
books ever do to deserve such constant malicious attack!?? ;)...it's
complete nonsense...

The sole thing that can make books "obselete" is _ILLITERACY_...

Anyway, over to the reason for posting...there's a "Click Online" TV
programme on BBC News (and BBC World) that's about "technology news"...and
you talking about the durability of those SanDisk flash memory cards
reminded me of a short report they covered on the show recently...

Scanning their archive, I managed to find the quite silly report, where,
basically, the reporter decides to "test" - in not too "scientific" a
manner - just how "durable" these flash memory storage cards are:

RealPlayer ("high" quality):
http://stream.servstream.com/ViewWeb/BBCWorld/File/worl_click_100205_three_
hi.rm?Media=53477

...and just in case you don't have a particularly speedy modem, the same in
"low" quality:

RealPlayer ("low" quality):
http://stream.servstream.com/ViewWeb/BBCWorld/File/worl_click_100205_three_
lo.rm?Media=53475

It's a very _literal_ demonstration of the "durability of flash memory"!!

Beth :)