Samsung predicts 'death` of hard drives

It`s only a matter of time before hard drives get replaced with solid-state Flash memory, according to Samsung`s semi-conductor CEO Dr Chang Gyu Hwang.

Hwang`s company has launched a 16Gb NAND Flash chip using 50nm technology, something he used to make his prediction, techworld.com reports.

He claimed Hwang will see laptop memory cards with 32GB of memory, based on 19 16Gb flash chips. These will appear late in 2006 or in 2007, based on mass production of the new Samsung chips in the second part of 2006.

Although flash memory storage on notebooks will not fail from the same kind of mechanical shocks that would kill a notebook hard drive, the flash chips do have a finite life in read/write cycle terms, he says.

Microsoft expects a lag of a week to 10 days between regional launches of its Xbox 360 video game console, which will debut later this year, chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach said today.

Reuters reports that the Xbox 360 launch will kick off the next major battle in an entertainment industry growing to rival Hollywood, as Microsoft and Sony create sophisticated games with extremely realistic graphics.

"We will launch in North America, Europe and Japan in the same holiday season," Bach said at the Reuters Technology and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo. "There will probably be a week or 10 days in between the different territories, just to give us a chance to manage the logistics."

Microsoft aims to supplant Sony as the global video game franchise leader with the new Xbox. Some 15 to 20 games for the new Xbox will be ready at launch and 25 to 40 by the end of the year, Bach said.

Sony aims to launch its PlayStation 3 in the spring.

Clifford Stanford, founder of Demon and Redbus, this week went to court to face charges of unlawful e-mail interception.

Stanford has been charged under The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which states it is an offence to intentionally intercept e-mails without lawful authority.

Stanford was charged with intercepting e-mail correspondence from John Porter, former chairman of Redbus Interhouse, and son of Dame Shirley Porter, silicon.com reports.