IBM has developed a new disk-drive technology that will dramatically increase the capacity for storing information - about eight times the current average - on desktop PCs. The Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) heads will first be integrated in IBM's new Deskstar 16GP, a 16.8-GB drive that can hold eight hours of full-motion video, a capacity previously available only on high-end workstations.
The breakthrough that led to the development of the GMR heads was a highly sensitive sensor that can read disk platters with densities of 2.7 billion bits per square inch. By 2001, IBM expects to have drives that can read more than 10 billion bits per square inch. "Drives with more bits per square inch generally have higher performance, reliability, and capacities," the company said in a statement.
The new drives, which will cost from US$675 for a 10.1-GB drive to $845 for the 14.4-GB version, will be available to manufacturers next month. The GMR-based drives will be of particular use for video and other multimedia storage.
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HTML 4.0 moves forward: The World Wide Web Consortium's HTML 4.0 working group brought the specification one step closer to an approved standard today by classifying it a "proposed recommendation."
HTML 4.0 was made a public working draft in July, and now the specification will be voted on, with comments, by the 220 W3C member organizations. Votes are expected within the next six weeks, after which the working group will make its final recommendation.
HTML 4.0 would add a variety of new features to the Web's core language, including cascading stylesheets, scripting, frames, multimedia, internationalization, and better support for tables and forms. (10.Nov.97)
