DVD on the way out?

[skalie]

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/2002/02/19/FFXXNXUKUXC.html

So is that why DVD-Rom's are so cheap at the minute?

[SimpleSimon]

RW is quite correct.

The technology has existed since 1982, with refinements increasing capacity every yr or two, to pack as much as 240 gigabytes of data onto a CD sized disc.

It is called alpha-beta rhodopsin coating, and allows data storage theoretically 1,00 times greater than the best commercially available data storage media. It was developed by DARPA as an absolutely necessary part of the computer controlled fly-by-wire systems utilized in stealth fighters, which are inherently unstable aircraft, requiring microsecond-by-microsecond active control to fly.

It utilizes a bacterially produced protein which changes phase on a molecule by molecule basis under the influence of a very particular wavelength of laser light. The limiting factor is the ability to focus the laser, which is controlled by the wavelength of the light used.

[skalie]

So how many gigabytes of data can an average human brain file away?

[Mudflap]

MIne is hovering around 500 MB. I need to upgrade.

[Cruise Director]

You can have my 8-Track when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

( I just bought a DVD player so they had better be around for a while. )

[squee]

Eh, they are probably going to be backwards-compatible and they're going to call the new ones "Super DVD" or something like that. Otherwise nobody will buy them.