http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3381997.stm

I wonder if that's the one being used in the Ipod Mini, the Rio Nitrus, and others...

It says its just been revealed at CES. Are items at CES usually ready for release so fast?

Did anyone go this year?

I'm suprised that the writer neglected to include that drives just like this have been out for quite some time - a few years, actually - in about 1GB sizes. Hitachi makes them for IBM, and have 2GB and 4GB versions available for sale.


*edit*
sorry, I just noticed the mention of Hitachi. Still, it's not like drives in this size are new, and the one featured in the beginning of the article is just like the current microdrives, as far as I can see. Sorry, I must be missing something.

He does menntion that 1-inch drives have been out for a while in 2 and 4GB capacities, but this is the first one at under an inch.

Ah, I see. Sorry about that. Interesting.

Are items at CES usually ready for release so fast?

Sometimes a component will be announced at the same time as products which use that component. Since the 4gb Nitrus and the 4gb iPod Mini were announced for CES as well, I'm guessing this could be one of those situations.

I think its just an excuse to talk about the iPod again!

Seriously, the iPod seems to have really taken off lately and any excuse to talk about this kind of technology will get people and companies thinking. Theres probably not much thats significant about it being under an inch - just that the technology is progressing.

They're also marketing these drives for smartphones and PDAs. Having 4GB of storage on your PDA could be quite cool but it wouldn't have much of a battery life. Current PDAs with their high speed processor and large colour screens have battery lifetimes measured in hours which is a bit annoying. Ahh the days of the original Palm which lasted weeks

Yep - Toshiba had it in their (monsterously large) booth. I don't think they were showing any "real" products with it, just a mockup of a phone and a camera. But I wasn't paying that much attention & might have missed something.