Digital Display Technology - Consumer Electronics Association

4FlashMemoryOVERVIEWClever wags in the entertainment and technology fields liketo say that we’re living in a wired world.Would that theyhad done their homework.People in ever-growing numbers are shedding their adherenceto all sorts of technology that need to be plugged in,and gradually moving toward the ideal expressed by GeorgeJetson when he folded up his compact plane/car and stuckit in his briefcase once he got to work: small and wireless.The most piquant display of this “Jetsonization” in the earlyyears of the 21st century is portable digital media—thegadgets that let you listen to music, surf the Internet, takepictures or nearly whatever else you want—as well as theminiscule memory devices that you plug into the hardwareto make it work.The trend might have started with portable transistorradios, and evolved into mobile cassette and compact discplayers, but now Americans can take all their music, pictures,computer data—whatever they want, really—andtake it almost wherever they want to go.And much likenotebook computers, portable digital media devices are gettingsmaller in rough proportion to how much memorythey can store—more riches on less real estate.Not only are the playback devices, digital cameras, personaldigital assistants and other media getting smaller and“Much like notebookcomputers, portable digital mediadevices are getting smaller in roughproportion to how much memorythey can store—more riches onless real estate.”more powerful, the cartridges, discs and “sticks” that handlethe memory are crammed with more capacity to storedata than at any other time in their nearly five years onthe open market.In fact, as with laptops, shrinkage is not just a compliment,it’s key.WHAT IS IT?At some point in the mid ‘80s, someone somewhere probablyrealized that all they were getting with their massiveghetto blaster was a stiff shoulder and sound in one ear.From that point on, it was up to the finest engineeringminds in the consumer electronics business to make personalentertainment on the go a convenient thing—andmore unobtrusive than a massive portable stereo atopone’s body.As with most kinds of personal electronic devices, it was aquestion of developing technology that allows people toexperience more and better sound and vision, while notbeing forced to lug around an arsenal of battery packs,wires and moving parts.In theory, the steady decrease in the size of personal technologyknows no bounds, especially considering the rise ofnanotechnology.As for the beginning of the 21st century,however, data storage on cartridges and sticks that are thesize of a piece of gum or a teabag seem to be the most hipand comfortable way to carry data.The concept is elegant because of its size and simplicity:Take a digital camera, a computer, a digital music player oryour personal digital assistant.You can take pictures, playmusic or whatever you want to do.To store that data, whyuse a compact disc that could skip while you walk, or otherkinds of storage devices that are too bulky to carry around.Instead, you notice that all of your hardware—from camerato computer—comes with a small port where you can stickin a solid-state storage medium that will hold all the datayou want.Most kinds of portable data storage products rely on flashmemory technology using Electrically Erasable5 Technologies to Watch OCTOBER 2002 19