Hasta La Gadget!

Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that the answer to more efficient storage might exist in a Chubby Checker song. Yep, by doing the twist, scientists are thinking it’ll be possible to store up to 20 times more data in the same space, which could lead to much smaller (or vastly more spacious) hard drives for consumers. The work revolves around twisted magnetic fields known as skyrmions, which can retain their structure even when packed very densely. In the latest development, Kristen von Bergmann and her team at the University of Hamburg have figured out how to deliberately write and erase skyrmions, which is a first for the scientific community. The method relies on a scanning tunneling microscope, which applies spin polarization to a current of electrons that are stored on a magnetic surface. The technology is nowhere near ready for consumer use — it’s currently around 60 percent reliable, and requires an ambient temperature that’s on par with liquid helium — but it’s worth keeping an eye on as development progresses. After all, few scientific breakthroughs pair so nicely with classics of the dance floor.

Filed under: Storage, Science, Alt

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Via: Gizmodo

Source: Nature

Hardware makers often sing the praises of their latest and greatest flash memory, but the folks at Crossbar are ready to show them up with resistive RAM (RRAM) that they’ve been quietly working on. Compared to NAND, RRAM comes in at half the size and boasts 20 times faster write speeds (140MB/s), reads data at 17MB per second, guzzles 20 times less power and has 10 times more endurance. Since RRAM is non-volatile memory, it can keep data even when it’s powered off, á la NAND. As if that weren’t enough, 3D stacking construction allows for several terabytes of storage, endowing one 200 x 200mm 200mm2 chip with one terabyte.

Unlike many tech breakthroughs however — we’re looking at you, graphene — this one is just about ready to find its way into finished products. Crossbar has manufactured RRAM within a standard chip factory, and claims that it can be churned out easily with existing production infrastructure. According to the firm, it’s in the fine-tuning process and plans to introduce the tech into the world of embedded SoCs. Sure, the outfit is the exclusive holder of some RRAM patents, but it aims to license its know-how to system-on-a-chip creators.

Update: Thanks to those readers who spotted our error on the silicon area — it’s now been fixed.

Filed under: Storage

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Via: VentureBeat

Source: Crossbar

Here comes a new NAS server from Mouse Computer, the MousePro-SV200ESE. Designed for SMB / SOHO users, the device is equipped with a 3.0GHz Intel Pentium G2030 processor, an Intel HD Graphics, a 4GB DDR3 RAM, a 500GB of storage, 6x USB 2.0 ports, 2x Gigabit Ethernet and runs on Windows Server 2012 Essentials OS. The MousePro-SV200ESE is available now for 104,790 Yen (about $1,071). [Product Page]

Google Drive is as much about productivity as cloud storage, but it’s hard to discover this through a cursory glance at Drive’s desktop apps. That connection should soon become clearer, at least for some users — a new version of Google Drive for Windows will create shortcuts to Docs, Sheets and Slides after installation. The editing-friendly aliases should reach Google Drive over the course of the next week. There’s no word of a Mac equivalent, but we’ve reached out to Google and will let you know if a matching update is on the way.

Filed under: Storage, Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Google Drive (Google+)

It’s no secret that many Android phones and tablets show a decrease in performance over time. Nexus devices are not immune — it’s particularly noticeable with the original Nexus 7. Our friend Brian Klug over at AnandTech discovered an interesting tidbit while testing the new and improved Nexus 7: Android 4.3 supports TRIM. What this means is that Google’s mobile OS can now instruct the flash storage controller when to collect / recycle unused data pages / blocks. The net result is that devices running Android 4.3 will no longer become sluggish with time — in fact, existing Nexus handsets and tablets will see performance improve after the update. It also looks like Jelly Bean invokes TRIM maintenance once within a 24-hour window (after one hour of inactivity), and only if the battery is 80% full (30% when charging). Follow the source link below for all the details.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google

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Source: AnandTech