When developing the PlayStation, Sony had considered removing its optical disk drive, opting instead to require gamers to download titles over the Internet, people familiar with the matter said.
All of the new line of computers boast a 250-watt power supply, a sliding front door allowing for easy access to four USB ports and dual optical disk bays.
Currently, HDTVs are compatible with a wide variety of devices via USB connection, including hard drives, cameras, and flash drives, but they do not support optical disk drives built for computers.
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Furthermore, we believe the DVD (and broader optical disk) category has already entered a long-term decline (analogous with peak-to-trough decline of VHS and CD categories), caused by rapid growth in on-line streaming and a la carte rentals (though we admit that UV has been a bit of a disappointment, so far).
As can be seen, traditional film use is 15% or less with digital technologies such as optical discs, hard disk drives, magnetic tape and flash memory are the bulk of modern recording media.
Consumer devices use common digital storage technology such as flash memory, hard disk drives or optical discs.
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There were particularly severe issues for companies making disk drives and optical networking components, but the impact was widespread.
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The team is already thinking of applications for metamaterials as read-heads for future generations of hard-disk drives or optical modulators for communications.
Regarding the longevity of storage media many of the products that we use today, hard disk drives, flash memory, optical discs and magnetic tape will react with the ambient environment and gradually lose the data stored on them or disintegrate over time.
Though not directly affected by the Thai flooding, the company cautioned that they could be affected by potential shortages of non-optical components used in customer systems, like hard disk drives.
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"Over time, an optical disc will be as much of an historical curiosity as a floppy disk, " said Michael Gartenberg, a tech-industry analyst with research firm Gartner Inc.
Key to the device is what's missing: Instead of the optical drive built into most other portable devices, the MacBook Air can wirelessly borrow another device's optical drive, so that it can access software or data stored on a disk.
Brown, meanwhile, recently announced a partnership with optical storage company TeraStor (FORBES, Mar. 24) to develop new kinds of disk storage that combine optics with magnetics.
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