A coalition of Japanese firms and universities plans to develop an optical disc that can store 1.5 terabytes, the equivalent of about 300 DVDs, a report said yesterday.
The optical disc would be able to record 300 two-hour films and the player to use it would be compatible with standard DVDs, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.
Japanese electronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, office equipment maker Ricoh Co and Osaka University will start developing the optical disc with plans to have it on the market by 2010.
Audio-visual equipment maker Pioneer Corp, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp, Aishin Seiki Co, Kyushu University and Shizuoka University will also be involved.
The coalition will invest Japanese Yen 2 billion to Japanese Yen 3 billion (US$16.6 million to US$24.9 million) over five years, starting April, to develop the disc.
The disc, 12cm in diameter, will introduce 3D multilayer optical memory technology and storing data in a 10-layer structure, according to the newspaper report.
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In a small town in Paraguay, a showdown is brewing between traditional producers of yerba mate, a bitter herbal tea popular across South America, and miners of a shinier treasure: gold. A rush for the precious metal is pitting mate growers and indigenous groups against the expanding operations of small-scale miners who, until recently, were their neighbors, not nemeses. “They [the miners] have destroyed everything... The canals, springs, swamps,” said Vidal Britez, president of the Yerba Mate Producers’ Association of the town of Paso Yobai, about 210km east of capital Asuncion. “You can see the pollution from the dead fish.
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