From: "Rich Gauszka" 

What's the current guaranteed erase - rewrite cycle limit on flash?  I
thought I saw something like 10,000 times before all bets are off.  If so,
a rather unsophisticated program could blow away your flash drive in
minutes


"mike"  wrote in message
news:ht68v218901gqiv2340hu4u2p5b59h60gv{at}4ax.com...
>
> http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197801483
>
> ===
> Apple Inc. may sell zippy notebook computers later this year that use
> the same type of fast memory as music players and digital cameras,
> driving down prices of hard-disk drives, an analyst said Thursday.
>
> The maker of the popular iPod music player and Macintosh computers hopes
> to introduce so-called flash memory in small computers known as
> subnotebooks in the second half of 2007, Shaw Wu, an analyst at American
> Technology Research who has a "buy" rating on Apple shares
and does not
> own any stock, said in investor notes Wednesday and Thursday.
>
> A shift to flash memory in place of much slower hard-disk drives would
> eliminate one headache for consumers: lengthy start-up times when
> turning on computers.
>
> Apple of Cupertino, California, already uses flash memory in its iPod
> Nano and iPod Shuffle music players. Flash memory is lighter, uses less
> power and takes up less space than hard-disk drives.
>
> Wu, who was among the first analysts to forecast the unveiling of
> Apple's iPhone music player/phone earlier this year, cited unnamed
> industry sources as the basis for his report.
>
> "The time is right for the flash makers to make a move" as
flash memory
> prices decline, Wu said by telephone. "Apple, from what we understand,
> is pretty much ready. The ball is in the flash vendors' court."
>
> Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said the company does not comment "on rumor
> and speculation". Apple shares were up 60 cents, or 0.7 percent, at
> $88.32 in early afternoon trading on Nasdaq.
>
> A transition to flash memory for computers could put pressure on makers
> of traditional hard-disk drives including Seagate Technology, the
> largest U.S. hard-disk drive maker, Wu said.
>
> Apple, known as a technology innovator, would be among the first
> personal computer makers to use flash memory for storing data in
> computers, a step that some chip memory makers, including Micron
> Technology Inc., have said is inevitable as prices for flash decline and
> storage capacity increases.
>
> Flash memory chips have solid state circuitry that uses no moving parts,
> making them less vulnerable to damage than hard-disk drives. Prices of
> flash memory have been declining rapidly but are still higher than those
> for hard-disk drives, Wu said, meaning early flash-based computers would
> be more expensive.
>
> Apple would use a miniature version of its Mac OS X operating system in
> the flash-based subnotebook computers, Wu said, again citing unnamed
> sources. The computers could be introduced in the second half of this
> year, he said.
>
> Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. -- the world's largest maker of
> so-called NAND flash memory used in gadgets such as cell phones, music
> players and digital cameras -- closed up 0.7 percent in Seoul. Toshiba
> Corp., the No. 2 flash maker, rose more than 5 percent in Tokyo.
>
> Shares of Seagate were up 10 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $24.80, in early
> afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
> ===
>
>
> Hmmm... combine the flash drives with the LED backlights that have been
> rumoured, and the next round of Apple notebooks could be interesting...
>
>  /m

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