Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:02 PM
A bit off topic, but I was struck by an
article I read yesterday, concerning Samsung's latest development in producing a 16-gigabit flash memory chip.
According to the article, each "thumbnail-sized chip holds 16.4 billion functional transistors each measuring one two-thousandth of the thickness of a human hair. No less surprising is that a 32-gigabyte memory card incorporating 16 of the new chips can store every article of a 40-page newspaper for 200 years, 8,000 MP3 files or 32 hours of DVD-quality movies. Most astonishing is that the storage capacity may likely redouble next year if Samsung maintains the renovation tempo it has been keeping since 1999."
Wow. Just wait until your cellphone or Blackberry-like device comes standard with that type of power. Combining that level of memory and storage with ubiquitous wireless broadband connectivity and you can expect your handheld to be capable of things only dreamed of even five years ago.
I've often heard speculation that eventually all of us will carry the full power of our laptops and personal computers on our cellphone or similar device. The idea being that you would then connect your cellphone to any of millions of dumb terminals outfitted with a large LCD screen and standard keyboard. Your operating system would start up from your cellphone and all of your files and software applications will always be with you, ready to go.
If the developments we are reading about with Samsung are any indication of the future, this speculation may become fact sooner than we think. Good stuff.