Panasonic adds smart card functionality

Matsushita Electric Industrial, better known for its Panasonic brand, will start selling SD (Secure Digital) memory cards that can be used as smart cards in Japan by the end of 2005, MacCentral reports.

According to Go Nakano, GM of the company`s network service systems group, the new device will contain two sets of memory: one stores personal and encrypted information that can be transmitted wirelessly and used for personal identification and security purposes, and the other set is flash memory, much like that in conventional memory cards.

"The Smart SD Card has two key advantages over other smart cards: it will be able to contain a large amount of memory, and it`s removable."

The cards conform to the Global Platform international smart card standard, and the Java Card standard.

Future DVDs could hold up to 100 times more information than current discs, BBC reports.

Imperial College London researchers are developing a new way of storing data that could lead to discs capable of holding 1 000GB.

The researchers believe the technique could be used to create a disc with four layers, each containing 250GBs. Such a DVD could hold 1TB of data, which would equate to 472 hours of film, or every episode of The Simpsons ever made.

Of the current technologies, HD-DVD (High Definition DVD) can hold up to 30GB, while a rival format called Blu-ray offers 50GB of storage.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates says he has no fear of Linux taking Microsoft`s place in the software market, adding that most threats simply come and go.

"Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past. It`s a good thing we have museums to document that. I`m not saying, 'This computer will go away,` but OS/2 was supposed to kill us. The same thing was said that Novell will kill us, Borland will kill us, and that makes my job interesting," Gates told technologists at the Computer History Museum.

According to InfoWorld, Gates added that it is Unix, and not Windows, that is being replaced by Linux. "We do compete with Linux. The shift of Unix share to Linux has been dramatic. [Linux will] wipe out a lot of the stuff that`s been out there down to very small numbers, [based] on current trends."

Windows and Linux will dominate market share, he said.

Netflix and TiVo have officially announced a deal that will see DVD-quality movies to mutual subscribers` homes using high-speed Internet technology.

The announcement, made last Thursday, came three weeks after the companies confirmed that they were in talks concerning a possible deal.

According to the Washington Post, Netflix has attracted 2.1 million subscribers to its $21.99 (R140) monthly service, which mails up to three DVDs at a time after customers place their orders on the Internet.

TiVo makes digital video recorders that let viewers easily record TV shows onto hard disks, skip commercials and pause live broadcasts.