The BBC has an article about storing data by manipulating a carbon crystal (a diamond, specifically) at the nanoscale level. As the article states, "One gram of this substance could store 10 to the power 21 bytes (887,808 petabytes.)" Now, the article goes on to discuss whether it's even ethical to save this much information, as only 10 petabytes would be enough to save a year's worth of continuous audio and video. A person's entire life could be recorded in a minuscule amount of space. We could, as a race, lose the ability to forget. Trying to remember someone's name? Just load the video for the last time you saw them, and there it is.
Anyhow, what most interested me was the potential for mobile computing environments. I know some of the more recent trends seem to be going the way of storing everything online (Google Apps, anyone?), but imagine if you could store all the data you ever accumulate in the jewel you (maybe) already wear everywhere you go, anyway? Build a computer with a flash chip for the OS, and a diamond reader, and no hard drive. Give it a couple of readers, put a ring on each hand, and voile, RAID 1 mirroring.
Forget PortableApps; install every program you've ever needed or ever will need on the crystal.
Worried about security? What if you get mugged? Not only did you lose a ring of some value, all of your data is completely possessed by someone else. But, what if there was a way to lock or unlock the data store based on biometric data read by sensors in the ring?
I think I was born in the wrong century.
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I was definitely born in the wrong century, but not for the reason you were. I think this is absurd, I mean I get the point, but the ethical problems completely confirm my hate for technology as a whole.
You probably picked the wrong wife too, my dear. ;)
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