Maxell to release 300GB HVDs

Maxell plans to ship its first holographic storage system late next year based on 300GB holographic versatile disc (HVD) media with a data transfer rate of 20MBps, reports The Register.

However, Maxell says the technology designed by InPhase Technologies is capable of achieving 1.6TB per disk with a 120MBps bandwidth. Holographic storage systems encode data as a 3D pattern written and read by laser beam.

According to the report, InPhase is not the only company promoting holographic storage. Japan`s Optware is working on a DVD-sized holographic disc it says will hold more than 1TB of data with a throughput of 1Gbps.

The mysteries of dark matter, multiple dimensions and even the conditions following the Big Bang could be solved with the help of the world`s biggest computer grid, reports News.Com.

The report says the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being constructed at CERN near Geneva will need the hugely powerful computing to process the 15 petabytes of data that it will produce each year.

The LHC will smash protons and ions into head-on collisions to help scientists understand the structure of matter, but discovering new types of particles can only be done by statistical analysis of the massive amounts of data the experiments will generate. Although the LHC Computing Grid project will not be up and running until 2007, work has already begun on the grid to be made up of 150 computing facilities around the world.

A prototype camera made by a Stanford University graduate student could herald the end of fuzzy, poorly lit photos, says Wired News.

Computer science PhD student Ren Ng has fitted a 16-megapixel camera with multiple micro lenses to enable users to take photos and later refocus them on a computer using software he wrote.

Ng calls his creation the "light field camera" because of its ability to capture the quantity of light moving in all directions in an open space. He hopes his invention will improve commercial cameras` focusing abilities.

Rogers Wireless and Motorola Canada have announced the availability of the first Java-based push e-mail service for a GSM handset.

The new service means users of the Motorola Razr V3 can check, receive, send and delete e-mails in an instant rather than having to dial into their mobile phone network each time, reports The Register.

However, the service is available only to users of the Motorola Razr V3 with the necessary software and a Rogers wireless data service plan.