The University of Tokyo recently announced the development of "organic flash memory," a nonvolatile memory that has the same basic structure as a flash memory and is made with organic materials.
Flash memory is a compact form of storage that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. To date, it's been primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives, but during the past two years it has made its way to notebook SSD hard drives.
The memory developed at the University of Tokyo is physically flexible and can be used for large-area sensors, electronic paper and other large-area electronic devices if its memory retention time can be extended, beyond the current one-day limit. It also provides a glimpse of how computing devices could become more physically versatile depending on the situation and other components necessary to make the device work.
There are a broad range of places where non-linear, flexible technologies could make sense. Consider the possibility of wearable storage that conforms to a body shape for video capture, or the ability to use rounded objects as storage devices. This also opens the door for all kinds of practical and nefarious uses--monitoring tire pressure or capturing the data from someone's shoe to find out where they've been.
And while it will likely be a number of years before technology like this is ready for prime-time, it also shows tenets such as Moore's Law related to processors may be usurped by other functions such as the ability to be pliable. It also speaks to the fact that IT as industry needs to continue to push the boundaries on commonly accepted practices and invest in hardware innovation, not just in consumer-facing Web sites and social networks.
Flash has become a highly profitable niche for a number of players such as Sandisk, Toshiba, and Samsung with third quarter 2009 global sales rising 26 percent over the second quarter of 2009. Incidentally, electronics research firm iSuppli noted that the average selling price of NAND flash climbed 40 percent sequentially in the third quarter, double the second quarter's increase. Prices are expected to slip 2.9 percent sequentially in the fourth quarter, according to iSuppli estimates.
Industry insiders are accusing Apple of manipulating the price of NAND flash memory chips used in its popular iPhone and iPod products, according to a report in The Korea Times on Monday.
Citing unnamed sources, the article says Apple asks manufacturers to produce more chips than it eventually buys from Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor. The sources said Apple waits for the price of the chips to fall before making its purchase.
(Credit:
Apple)
The practice of not buying all of the product originally ordered, semiconductor analyst Jim Handy told CNET, is "not uncommon in the industry."
Handy, of market research firm Objective Analysis, explained that these contracts are normally negotiated with a cancellation clause, with provisions to protect the supplier and buyer. He said companies usually work closely with the buyers, so changes to orders are normally small and don't cause many problems.
Supply and demand in the NAND market are currently about even, Handy said, adding that with the popularity of the iPhone and iPod, he's heard estimates that 20 percent to 30 percent of the worldwide NAND flash memory goes to Apple. In its fiscal fourth-quarter results, the company reported selling 10.2 million iPods and 7.4 million iPhones for the three months ended September 26.
Chipmakers Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor declined to comment for The Korea Times, as did Apple's Korean office. Contacted by CNET, representatives of Apple in the United States also declined to comment for the story.
The iPhone sales numbers continue to increase, as does the number of applications available for the device. Apps are one reason the iPhone has become as popular as it is among so many different categories of users in such a short time on the market.
Apple currently has more than 100,000 apps available for download, with users having downloaded more than 2 billion apps as of November 4.
Researchers are two steps closer to creating a mass-market version of technology called phase-change memory that could change how computers of the future are put together.
Intel and Numonyx, the chipmaker's joint venture with STMicroelectonics that's focused on flash memory, announced Wednesday they've built a new type of phase-change memory chip they hope will help fulfill the technology's promise for small size and large capacity.
Its 64-megabit capacity isn't momentous on its own--Numonyx announced a 128Mb device in 2006 and Samsung said in September it's producing a 512Mb chip. But what is significant are two major advances in making the decades-old idea practical.
First, the researchers built a grid of wires into the chip so a computer can easily control the writing of a 1 or 0 in each of the 64 million memory cells. Second, they announced their manufacturing process lets them stack several layers atop each other so memory can be packed more densely in a given volume.
... Read moreMainstream servers are growing increasingly brawny with multicore processors and tremendous memory capacity, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Intel Labs Pittsburgh think 98-pound weaklings of the computing world might be better suited for many of the jobs on the Internet today.
This first-generation FAWN system has an array of boards, each with its own processor, flash memory card, and network connection.
(Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)The alternative the researchers advocate is named FAWN, short for Fast Array of Wimpy Nodes. It's described in a paper just presented at the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles.
In short, the researchers believe some work can be managed with lower expense and lower power consumption using a cluster of servers built with lower-end processors and flash memory than with a general-purpose server. And these days, with green technology in vogue and power costs no longer an afterthought, efficient computing is a big deal.
"We were looking at efficiency at sub-maximum load. We realized the same techniques could serve high loads more efficiently as well," said David Andersen, the Carnegie Mellon assistant professor of computer science who helped lead the project.
... Read moreSanDisk said Monday that it is shipping memory chips that will allow consumers to store more data on tiny Secure Digital flash cards.
SanDisk X4 chip
(Credit: SanDisk)The Milpitas, Calif., company's X4 technology packs four bits of data into each memory cell. To date, flash memory chipmakers typically stored one bit or two bits per cell. Each individual die--or chip--holds 64 gigabits of data, or 8 gigabytes. This is the highest capacity per die in the industry, according to SanDisk.
The technology is not yet shipping in cutting-edge retail products, however: it is currently being used in 8GB and 16GB SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards as well as 8GB and 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo cards, the company said.
Future related technology from SanDisk--possibly not based on current X4--is expected to yield SD flash cards that hold 64GB of data and larger capacities. Currently, mainstream SanDisk SD cards top out at 32GB.
Flash memory cards sold at retailers are typically not as reliable as solid-state drives--which also use flash chips--sold with laptops. And the higher the density per chip and the more bits per cell, the bigger the challenge for maintaining data reliability. SanDisk says it has met this challenge.
"Our challenge with X4 technology was to not only deliver the lower costs inherent to 4-bits-per-cell but to do so while meeting the reliability and performance requirements of industry standard cards," Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk's president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
But X4 will, for the time being, be hampered by poorer performance and endurance than X3 (3-bits-per-cell) technology, said Gregory Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights, which does research on flash memory technology.
The memory technology itself--the 4 bits per cell 64-gigabit memory--is codeveloped and co-owned by SanDisk and Toshiba. The X4 controller technology is solely owned by SanDisk.
Two years after Google announced Android, phone manufacturers are launching devices with the mobile operating system, and carriers are lining up to sell them.
In the past couple of months, nine devices using Google's mobile operating system have been announced. The pipeline is full of more Android devices, some that are confirmed and some that are still rumored to be in development.
U.S. wireless operators are also jumping on the Google Android bandwagon. Up to now, T-Mobile USA, the smallest of the four nationwide carriers, had been the only U.S. wireless operator to offer Android devices. But T-Mobile won't be alone for much longer. Starting next week, Sprint Nextel will introduce the HTC Hero, its first Android phone. Verizon Wireless will get two Google Android phones in the coming weeks. Even AT&T is expected to have a Google Android phone soon.
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Amazon goes global with new Kindle
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Did Viacom find smoking gun in YouTube case?
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A fine of up to $11,000 awaits bloggers who don't reveal paid reviews or free products, in the first revision to the FTC's disclosure guidelines in three decades.• Yes, new FTC guidelines extend to Facebook fan pages
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At Ceatec 2009, a starring role for 3D
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LOS ANGELES--Adobe Systems' announcement of tools to create applications for the Apple iPhone comes with some restrictions.
Adobe announced on Monday at Adobe MAX, the company's worldwide developer conference, that its Flash Professional CS5 developer tool will enable developers to create interactive applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 is expected to be available later this year.
In an interview at the conference Monday, Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development in Adobe's platform development unit, spelled out some of the limitations of creating Adobe Flash-style apps for the iPhone. These limitations exist because the Adobe Flash player is not supported on the iPhone.
Murarka clarified that Monday's announcement was not a joint announcement with Apple. "This is an Adobe announcement. This is just something that's related to our tools and what they output, which is a native iPhone app," he said.
"So, we're not running Flash directly on the device. We're actually allowing our tools to output for native iPhone apps," Murarka explained.
He then described some limitations. "Let's take it from the developer's point of view. They have a very rich environment and language. That's in Flash today," he said. "You're not going to get all of the Flash feature set that would normally be there in the run-time."
Murarka continued: "For example, high-quality video, H.264, is not available with this product because Apple does not make available the decoders. They make you use their own UI (user interface) to play back high-quality video." Apple describes the H.264 video codec as delivering "stunning quality at...low data rates."
He also cited synchronization. "Being able to do synchronization between data and video. Those can be built as Flash applications. In sporting events (for example) using flash for data overlay. Those types of things are not going to possible because we don't have access to the APIs (Application Programming Intefaces) that would give us the video decode along with all of the individual frames so we can do synchronization," he said.
And he spoke about graphics effects. "Some of the filter effects. Some of the capabilities that as a programmer you would easily do within Flash are not available as they are not natural APIs that iPhone platform makes available to us."
Murarka concluded by saying that Adobe continues to work with Apple towards getting Flash on the iPhone. "We're not there as quickly as we would like. We're not able to put Flash in the browser. We're not able to put a Flash run-time on the device directly. But this is a good step," he said.
In a surprise announcement, Adobe Systems said Monday that Flash programmers now can bring their applications to Apple's iPhone, a domain of high interest that's been off limits for the programming technology.
Because of Apple restrictions, though, Flash isn't coming in the form in which most people experience it, a Web browser plug-in. Instead, programmers will be able to change Flash applications into native iPhone applications using Adobe's Flash Professional CS5 developer tool, currently in beta testing, then offer their programs as an Apple App Store download.
"This is a great first step in the right direction," said Heidi Voltmer, Adobe's product marketing manager for Flash.
The approach spotlights the tension between Apple, which controls the iPhone tightly in an effort to ensure a good user experience, and others, which want a place on the premier mobile device on the marketplace today.
Chroma Circuit is a Flash game now available as a native iPhone app.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Adobe's back-door approach still is a significant move for the company, though, which wants to ensure that Flash is a major foundation for Internet-based applications. Programmers familiar with Flash could find the Adobe method an easier way to bring their applications to the iPhone world if they're not experts in coding for the phone and its close cousin, the iPod Touch.
Apple didn't immediately comment for this story.
Some Flash Professional CS5 beta testers are taking advantage of the technique, including BlueskyNorth, Breakdesign, FlashGameLicense.com, Muchosmedia, PushButton Labs, and Bowler Hat Games.
"With the ability to create applications for iPhone in the Flash Professional CS5 beta, I don't need to learn a new programming language or the plethora of development tools that inevitably come with it," said Josh Tynjala, founder of Bowler Hat Games, in a statement. "Instead, I'm able to spend more time exploring ways to make my games like Chroma Circuit more fun on mobile devices like the iPhone and increase my business revenue."
Adobe's ultimate goal remains the same: to get Flash on the iPhone integrated with its Safari browser. "My view is there is only one Web," said Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch in an interview. Adobe demonstrated the Flash applications at its Max developer conference in Los Angeles Monday, where Lynch gave the keynote address.
Flash Player 10.1, due in beta form later this year and final form in the first half of 2010, is spreading to just about all the other smartphones out there: Google Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS, and Nokia Symbian.
Why not the iPhone, too? "The Apple iPhone SDK (software developer kit) license terms do not allow runtime interpreted code, so Adobe is not able to deliver Flash Player in Safari on the iPhone without support from Apple," Adobe said in a statement.
Voltmer didn't comment on the state of present discussions with Apple to build Flash Player directly into the iPhone. But she did say people visit Adobe's Web site looking for it.
It's not immediately clear how easily Flash applications translate to the iPhone, and most folks won't get a chance to try it until the beta is released publicly later this year. There are some limitations, Voltmer said.
For one thing, the Flash software must be written in ActionScript 3, not the earlier ActionScript 2. For another, they can't use video because of Apple restrictions, she said.
There also could be practical limits on memory, processing power, and graphics. Last year's PC running Flash Player has a lot more computing capability than a modern iPhone 3GS.
The iPhone and iPod Touch have some features that are well-suited to mobile gaming, though, and programmers will be able to use them. That includes the multitouch interface and accelerometer that detects device orientation, said Adrian Ludwig, a Flash team member at Adobe.
Updated at 1:48 p.m. PDT with further comment from Adobe and no comment from Apple.
Adobe developer tools let Flash programmers turn their applications into native iPhone software. This is a Flash game called Chroma Circuit.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Today's Web programmers face a big choice when it comes to fancier aspects of their sites: HTML or Flash? One start-up hopes it can bridge the gap with a technology called FluidHTML.
FluidHTML shows its technology to build Flash applications with HTML-style programming with this Pong demo.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)The start-up, FHTML, announced software Monday at the TechCrunch50 conference that's intended to give HTML-style programmers the ability to use Flash features.
FluidHTML's language is an extension of HTML, the company said. "We borrow a lot of the really good ideas from HTML, because why wouldn't we?" said Chief Executive Michael Collette at the conference.
The approach holds some promise--but it also poses some risks. It may be complicated trying to get HTML and Flash programmers to work together, but at least those are established disciplines. FluidHTML requires a language known by neither set of coders right now, and the technology is supported just by a start-up still seeking its own programming staff and $1 million to $2 million in venture funding.
HTML, the traditional language of the Web, got its start showing just text and images with basic layouts. The second, begun by Macromedia and now led by Adobe Systems, is better suited for animations and flashy graphics, video, and increasingly, applications as well.
But a different set of programming skills are required to build Flash-powered sites or applications, so it doesn't always coexist easily on the same Web site. Programming is getting even more complicated as Flash converges with HTML and its companion, JavaScript.
FluidHTML relies on a Flash software module that programmers can embed in their Web pages. It interprets the HTML-esque code to supply Flash features such as vector graphics, sound, and video.
"The markup language supports very powerful commands (tags) and can do remarkable things that take enormous development effort in Flash," the company said. "FluidHTML RIAs (rich Internet applications) can be developed by less expensive programmers and require fewer man-hours to build than Flash."
Memory chip makers will offer more sophisticated flash drives for smartphones--technology that will be comparable to the solid-state drives found in laptops today.
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The Palm Pre comes with an 8GB flash memory drive: flash drive makers like Micron Technology will market more sophisticated flash drives for future phones.
(Credit: Palm)Today's flash drives, which typically range up to 32GB in capacity in products like Apple's iPhone, often use relatively unsophisticated techniques for reading and writing data. In general, the technology is not very different from that used in basic cell phones or digital cameras, according to Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron's memory group.
But as smartphones--and possible future tablet devices--become more like personal computing devices and less like basic MP3 players, memory chip makers will begin offering more sophisticated flash memory, said Shirley, in a phone interview.
"In nearly all MP3 players today it's almost exclusively 'raw' NAND. And at some point we anticipate moving more to a managed NAND," Shirley said. NAND is the type of flash memory chip used in all flash cards and solid-state drives.
Managed NAND falls somewhere between very basic flash drives--such as Secure Digital, or SD, cards--and pricey solid-state drives (SSDs) used in laptops and servers. "It's something in between the raw NAND that we've been talking about for cell phones and MP3 players and the full-blown SSD space," Shirley said.
"We believe this will be fairly busy (market) space in 2010," he added.
Solid-state drives used in laptops like the Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo get their performance from highly-developed, sophisticated controller chips and firmware, which manage how the data is read and recorded. Though managed NAND wouldn't necessarily reach this level of sophistication, it would begin to approach it.
The iPhone uses raw NAND with a separate controller, according to Gregory Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights, which does research on flash memory technology.
"They like to have control over the flash and the controller so they can boost performance," he said. "They're very cognizant of differentiating their products. The user experience is what is important to them. Whether it means you can download your music or video very quickly, whether it means you can find the data very quickly--that ties in to how they manage the NAND," he said.
But even Apple is looking for better performance as it looks to continue its very successful strategy of making its products different, according to Wong.
And future Netbooks may also use this kind of flash memory. Netbooks today using Intel Atom processors and the Windows operating system use, almost exclusively, hard disk drives. But a new category of Netbooks dubbed smartbooks--devices that are always on, always connected, and boast all-day battery life--are expected to come to market in 2010 packing flash drives. These small laptops may be candidates for managed NAND.
