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CHANNELS: Cutting Edge
Holographic Storage in a Flash
We live in a world of digital photos, ripped music, and home movies, which soon will be recorded in HDTV format. All this digital clutter needs portable storage, and even double-layer DVDs can't handle 60 minutes of home movies in raw digital video format. Enter holographic storage. "Unlike other technologies that record one data bit at a time, holography allows a million bits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash of light," says Liz Murphy of InPhase Technologies. Using a device called a spatial light modulator (SLM), light from a single laser beam is split into two beams: the signal beam, which carries the data, and the reference beam. A hologram is formed where these two beams intersect. The SLM translates the data into an optical checkerboard pattern of light and dark pixels. At the point of intersection, a hologram is recorded in the light-sensitive storage medium. This technology will deliver disks that can store 300GB of data with transfer speeds of up to 160Mbps later this year.
Portable Monster
For desktop replacement users who need portability and performance, the choices have been slim—until now. Alienware, a company known for high-performance gaming desktops, has released a laptop that weighs 12 pounds and up and packs enough power to put most desktops to shame. Dubbed Aurora m7700, it's powered by an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor. In addition to NVIDIA graphics technology, it features a 17-inch wide-screen LCD with ClearView technology that provides a crisp display and plenty of workspace. Still not impressed? The Aurora supports up to two hard drives in RAID 0 or 1 configurations and can accommodate both CD-RW/DVD and DVD-RW optical drives simultaneously.
Cordless Internet Telephony
Many of today's techno-junkies use Skype, a free internet telephony application that allows users to speak to each other for free. Skype also offers fee-based services that are probably a lot more reasonable than those from your local phone company. But using Skype has meant being tethered to your computer with a headset—until now. With Linksys' new cordless telephone (handset) for Skype, you can talk to your associates while picking lemons from the tree in the backyard.
The Linksys Internet Telephony Kit includes a handset, a charger, and a USB base station. The handset reads and displays your Skype contact list on its illuminated display, letting you know which of your Skype contacts are online. The handset also supports SkypeOut, SkypeIn, and Skype Voicemail, Skype's paid services that let you make and receive calls to family, friends, and colleagues who are using traditional land lines or cell phones, and send and receive messages up to 10 minutes long. These simple, smart products are a true indicator of how complex technology is becoming a part of everyday life.
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