Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

I don’t know if referring to someone else’s blog is still blogging or just being a traffic cop. I read an interesting article on the impending demise of optical storage. It is on zdnet and by Robin Harris. His article pointed out that hard drive storage capacity is growing and is still considerably faster than optical storage as well as cheaper. He cites the historic precedents of punch cards, tape, small capacity floppy drives and escalating changes. He ends by asking hard drive manufactures to come up with archive quality hard drives. I enjoyed the article and agreed with much of what he said. I do heartily agree that there is a need for archive quality hard drives. Until a hard drive exists of that quality, I will continue archiving on optical disks, both CD and DVD. I haven’t moved into blu-ray and don’t anticipate doing so. By the time I finish burning the major stack of optical media I have, there will be some better alternative.

For the old timers among us, 5D used to refer to the musical group, 5th Dimensions, i.e. Monday,Monday. No longer can we assume 5D and music now we have to look at storage. If you aren’t happy with the storage capacity on your current DVD, let alone Blu-Ray, wait 5 minutes and a new technology will be out. Future Shock is no longer in the future. A new optical disc format is being developed by researchers at Melbourne Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology. They are rumored to have signed a deal with Samsung to produce their technology. Simplistically they are compounding the amount of data able to be stored on a single DVD. “Ultimately the techniques produced a 5D optical disc capable of storing 1.6 terabytes of data, the equivalent of around 340 DVD movies or 400,000 songs.” iTwire has a very understandable description of the process. Needless to say excitement abounds in those of us geeky enough to be excited about thi s type of news. At the moment the big drawback is that ...

I got this article in a newsletter from Diamond Case Designs Inc. (the home theatre people) It provides a solution for a frustration many of us have with our TV. The shows we want to watch aren’t on when we are available and when we TIVO them we often blow off stuff we haven’t even watched yet due to lack of space. There is a solution that won’t break the bank. Diamond Case is a family owned and operated business that specializes in knowledge and know how as opposed to down and dirty pricing. That doesn’t mean they are expensive, it just means that finally you can get what you pay for. I highly recommend the company and will periodically reference their newsletters as they are very, very informative. (No, I do not have any financial connection to Diamond Case, however if they wish to buy me a beer, I will be happy to accept it.) Diamond Case’s Article. Is your DVR running on fumes as you constantly fill up your hard drive? Are you deleting programs you have not yet watched? Are your ch...