Friday, February 01, 2008

Storage progress -- every movie ever made on an iPod

We discuss the progress in electronic, communication and storage technology that underlies advances in network-based applications. Robot designer Rodney Brooks uses the Apple iPod to illustrate improving storage capacity. If the current exponential rate of growth continues, an iPod will be capable of holding every movie ever made by 2020. (That includes all the bad movies -- he figures all the worthwhile movies will fit by 2016).

Brooks made the point in a talk outlining his work on robotics. You can hear an excerpt on the growth of iPod storage here, listen to the entire talk here, or watch videos of a robot in Brooks' lab interacting with humans here.

How old will you be when your iPod has the capacity to hold every movie ever made? What other applications might it be used for? Will it be useful to you in your work and career?

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