Snip snip.....snippets!

1. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. announced Monday that it has developed the world's first 32- gigabit (GB) NAND flash based on 40 nanometer(nm) technologies.

NAND flash memory is widely used in memory cards, digital cameras and music players. A 32 GB NAND flash memory can store about 36,000 high-resolution photographs or 40 movie files.

In each 32 GB device, the control gate in the CTF is only 20 percent as large as a conventional control gate in a typical floating gate structure.

With CTF, there is no floating gate. Instead, the data is temporarily placed in a "holding chamber" of the non-conductive layer of the flash memory composed of silicon nitride (SiN), which results in a higher level of reliability and better control of the storage current.

The 32 GB NAND flash was unveiled just one year after Samsung Electronics developed the 16-GB NAND flash memory using 50 nm technologies. With the new 32 GB NAND flash product, Samsung is expected to maintain its leading position in the industry.


Source:
http://english.people.com.cn/200609/11/eng20060911_301666.html

2.
Radio frequency ID tags
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology will move into the mainstream this year as more retailers follow Wal-Mart in demanding that manufacturers and distributors introduce electronic tagging into the retail supply chain.

UK retailers Tesco, Selfridges and House of Fraser all recently announced RFID trials to track goods from point of manufacture to the shop shelf, using computer chips and antennas.

And in the US, analyst firm IDC predicts RFID spending in the retail supply chain to grow from $91.5m in 2003 to nearly $1.3bn in 2008.

But with more than 30 privacy and civil liberties groups demanding a halt to RFID tagging in consumer goods, there is still plenty of resistance to its introduction in the high street.

So will it be retailers' or consumers' privacy that prevails in 2004? Or better still, will we find a happy medium?

Source:
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/specials/2127639/radio-frequency-id-tags

3. Next, Apple has its "i" on TV


A significant retail battle is going on this holiday season, offering digital music and video for three different systems engaged in unprecedented competition.
The problem is that people will end up being confused about which formats to buy and which devices are compatible.
That could give the advantage to Apple, the analysts say, which has built its iPod platform on the idea of simplicity and is preparing to launch a major marketing campaign around new music and video products.

Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled some of Apple's holiday lineup Tuesday at a presentation to journalists. In addition to showing several upgraded iPod players, Jobs said Apple has started selling digital movie downloads in its iTunes online music store.

Apple also previewed a device it plans to sell next year that connects to a television and receives music and video wirelessly from a home computer.

The announcement follows a movie download and rental service called Unbox that Amazon debuted last week. Whoa m eyeing that one :)

Microsoft is planning a launch later this year of its own handheld music and video player, Zune,
along with an online content store.

So far, Apple has only one content partner — the Walt Disney Co. — for movies, and is selling 75 titles from Disney's four movie studios.

Jobs compared the dearth of partnerships to when Apple began selling TV programs last year with only five shows. Now, he said, there are 220 shows from 40 networks for sale on iTunes

iTV

Apple also showed off a post-holiday challenge to Microsoft Tuesday: a book-sized device that connects to a TV and displays movies, music and digital photos.

The $299 device, internally code-named iTV, will receive programs wirelessly from a home computer to play on television screens. The device puts Apple even more squarely in competition with Microsoft and its Windows Media Center products, which are designed to make inroads into the living room.

4. Can Microsoft Out-Google Google?

The Good Offers both no-frills and info-rich, customized search. Related results are relevant

The Bad Looks a lot like Google; video search still in beta

The Bottom Line It may not score originality points but does make for a solid search experience

If you can't beat them, copy them. At first glance, that seems to be Microsoft's strategy to capture more of the search market. On Sept. 11, the software giant officially released from testing a trio of search services: Live Search, Live.com, and Live Local Search, which share a striking resemblance to Google's own offering.

Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2006/tc20060913_775215.htm