The TechNet Australia Blog : storage

Paramount and Dreamworks Animation choose HD-DVD

Deeps — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:34:00 GMT

Just as I was losing hope for HD DVD...

Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said on Monday they will release their next-generation DVD titles exclusively on HD DVD ahead of what they say could be the biggest holiday season ever for DVDs.

Paramount had sold titles in both the new high-definition formats -- HD DVD and Blu-Ray -- but settled exclusively on HD DVD after deciding that it offered better quality, lower-priced players and lower manufacturing costs, Kelley Avery, president of Paramount Home Entertainment, told Reuters.

Paramount's first releases under the exclusive HD DVD program include "Blades of Glory" on August 28, and the summer blockbusters "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third," due for release later this fall.

Im sure Transformers and Shrek the Third will really help HD DVD sales. Read the full article here

Holographic Storage offers 300GB of storage on a standard disc

Deeps — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:27:00 GMT

The worlds first Holographic Storage devices will be launching soon. Initial storage will be around 300GB on a single disc and could offer 1.6Tbytes on a single disc within 3 years.

The product being launched by InPhase is the Tapestry 300R drive and media, which has a capacity of 300Gbytes and a transfer rate of 20Mbytes a second. The first-generation product is write once, read many, and a single drive will cost about £9,000. One disc will cost about £90. By way of comparison, an enterprise-class tape drive costs about £15,000 and a mid-range tape drive costs about £2,000.

InPhase expects to develop and release three generations of drives and media. From the initial specifications outlined above, it hopes to move to a second-generation device in 18 months to two years, which will provide 800Gbytes of capacity and a transfer rate of 80Mbytes a second. A third system with 1.6Tbytes of capacity and a transfer rate of 120Mbytes a second should be available in three to four years.

Full article here

Speaking of storage I went to my local Blockbuster the other night and tried to find some HD-DVD titles only to see only 2 titles compared to a shelf full of Blu-Ray, come on HD-DVD!

Windows Live SkyDrive Announced

Deeps — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:12:00 GMT

This was the formerly known as Windows Live Folders. It has a bunch of features including 500MB of web space for users. The beta is not open yet in Australia, Ill let you know when it does.

Here is a demo of Windows Live SkyDrive: