Doc's Talk: Israeli start-up promises a 'terabyte' of storage on a single disc

Friday, September 21, 2007

Israeli start-up promises a 'terabyte' of storage on a single disc

TeraDisc, which is slightly thicker than standard CDs or DVDs, promises to hold a massive one terabyte of information on a single, removable disc. The TeraDisc - it's not replacing something, it's filling a void.

Masters of miniaturization

Building a molecular computer for the body

Micro-electronic cosmetic patch speeds us skincare results

Mempile

Dr. Beth Erez likens the new optical storage discs developed by Israeli startup Mempile to the digital equivalent of the shoeboxes our parents and grandparents once used to store their most treasured momentos. Just as Erez, Mempile's chief marketing officer, discovered an old box of 8mm films hidden away in her mother's house, so she one day envisions a day when her children or grandchildren will discover her most treasured memories stored carefully away on a Mempile TeraDisc. The difference, of course, is that those old shoeboxes couldn't really hold much information, while the TeraDisc, which is slightly thicker than standard CDs or DVDs, promises to hold a massive one terabyte of information on a single, removable disc. That's the equivalent of 212 DVD-quality movies, 250,000 MP3 files, and 1,000,000 large Word documents. Data storage is increasingly important today and will become more so in future. As the use of rich media grows exponentially, users are under more and more pressure to find a safe place to store all this new information. The optical disc revolution began with CDs, moved to DVDs, and we are now in the midst of the next battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray. When CDs were first produced they could store 600 megabytes. Today they hold 50 GB, which is still peanuts compared to what Mempile hopes to offer. "From iPODs to Tivo, the amount of digital content that consumers are recording and storing in their homes is increasing like never before. The resulting problem is that the information is stored as 'islands' on various devices as well as on home PCs, which often function as a central repository by backing up the content of the devices, with the inherent risk of the hard disk drive crashing," said Avi Huppert, Mempile's CEO, in a company statement. Mempile's TeraDisc is the next-generation storage disc. The disc is divided into 200 different layers, five microns apart, each comprising 5GB of storage space. Unlike standard multilayer DVDs, the layers are not physically stacked and stuck together. Instead, they are solid and use a translucent polymer mixture known as ePMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) that gives the discs their distinctive yellow color. The mixture was specially developed by Mempile and Arkema, a spin-off of French company Total, one of the world's largest petrochemical companies. Arkema began as a strategic partner in Mempile, and is now a strategic investor. "We think it's game changing technology. It's a niche in the home where there's nothing to fill it today. It's not replacing something, it's filling a void," says former New-Yorker Erez. According to Huppert, the TeraDisc has a 50-year lifespan, and is likely to be a fraction of the price of alternative solutions on the market. Huppert founded Mempile in 2000. He first began thinking about the idea of large-scale storage in the late 1990s while he was still a student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and looking for a way to keep permanent archives of his ever-growing library of data. In its first round of investment, Mempile raised $1 million from private investors. Since then it has gone through various rounds of investment over the years, raising a total of $33.2 million from investors which include Millennium Materials Technologies, Kodiak Ventures, Israel Seed Partners, Jerusalem Venture Partners, Hitachi CSK Venture Capital, Portview, and Alta Berkeley. The company, which employs 30 at its offices in Neve Ilan near Jerusalem and in Tokyo, Japan, has already proven the disc is capable of storing up to 1TB, and is now scaling up for mass production. Aside from developing a drive for the disc, the company is also working on preparing this disc itself for injection molding, to speed up the production process. "The good thing about this technology is that it's basically an evolutionary step from previous technologies. Its components are the same in terms of name and functions, but are clearly modified to suit our requirements," Erez told ISRAEL21c. The first prototypes of the TeraDisc will reach the market in 2010, and will be aimed at the enterprise storage market - areas like healthcare (medical records), finance, government, broadcasting, and video surveillance which have strict data retention and compliance requirements. Each of these sectors now require archival storage technologies that can hold a high capacity of information, but which are secure, permanent, removable and affordable. Prices will initially be high - the drive is likely to cost in the region of $3,000 and 600GB discs in the region of $30-50, but will fall as economies of scale are introduced. By 2012, the TeraDisc will be ready for the consumer market, entering the home storage field at the high end. There are currently no solutions for archiving personal content other than low-capacity optical media, which has a limited lifespan. With future optimization and the jump to blue laser technology, the company believes it will be able to follow the TeraDisc up with a blue-laser version that could store up to 5TB. In the world of high technology, this all sounds like a long way away, but Mempile recognizes that the market is not yet ready for this revolution. It also understands its own shortcomings. "We need partners," says Erez simply. "As a startup, we can't compete with electronics suppliers. To make it in this market we need a major conglomerate. We believe we have the next generation technology, but we can't do it by ourselves, so we have to make people aware of us. This is the key reason that we have gone public about what we do." Does Erez ever worry that they might be pipped at the post? "It concerns me every day," she admits. "I'm constantly reading, trying to figure out what's going on. The market can change suddenly, or some other physicist can pop up unexpectedly with a solution. At the end of the day though we can basically only look at what we know. "We can see the capacity of magnetic storage is growing, for instance, but it's not a permanent media. We see it as a complimentary or synergistic technology. If people are using more magnetic storage in their homes or at work, they will need more archives, so that's good for us," Erez says. "People are also saving things online, but again the American consumer might be willing to put things online, but they will also want to put them in his closet, specially if it's a cheap media. At the moment we offer a great advantage to anything else emerging." The industry is definitely interested. "Some of the vendors are talking to us seriously, some are just listening, but we do have an audience," says Erez. "The Japanese industry is the major source of electronic vendors today and they are gearing up for whatever the next generation technology will be, even while they try to get a return on the technology they just released. 2010-2012 fits their market needs." The following year is going to be a highly significant one for Mempile, admits Erez. "It's the make or break it year."

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk