Day: October 7, 2004

Western Digital Enters the 2.5″ Hard Drive Market

Western Digital has announced a series of 5400 RPM 2.5″ hard drives in capacities from 40 gb to 80 gb.

According to a PC World article on the drives,

The company claims that models in the Scorpio line are the quietest mobile hard drives on the market. Heat won’t be a problem either, according to spokesman Darrin Bulik. “Scorpio has run cooler in our tests than the competing 4200-rpm and 5400-rpm models we’ve.

. . .

With the market growing at about 20 percent annually, according to industry research analysis firm TrendFocus, demand for mobile hard drives is increasing. Western Digital’s customers have been urging the company to offer mobile drives, says Bulik. With their strong resume, Scorpio drives are likely to thrive under these conditions.

Hmmm…if the market is so strong, why is progress so slow on increasing capacity in 2.5″ hard drives? Is making high capacity 2.5″ drives a really challenging engineering problem or is there a perception that the laptop market is demanding quieter, faster and lower power consumption drives rather than higher capacity ones?

There are now 400gb 3.5″ drives, so where’s my 200gb 2.5″ drive? Come on folks, get with the program here.

Source:

New Cool, Quiet Laptop Hard Drives. Rex Farrance, PC World, October 7, 2004.

Media and Terrorism

I happened to be home having lunch this afternoon when the Sheraton in Baghdad was attacked. Watching the coverage on Fox News was surreal.

The Fox News commentator kept emphasizing the fact that terrorists in Baghdad like to attack near hotels where journalists stay because it guarantees that the attacks will have instant, worldwide coverage. At one point, the commentator went so far as to compare the strategy with the Tet Offensive which was, as the Fox person put it, a military defeat but a propaganda victory.

Okay, so Fox is convinced that terrorists attack journalists or near journalists to garner coverage. And Fox repeated it through their non-stop coverage of the attack for a solid hour, and the coverage was still ongoing when I left to go back to work.

Doh!

Worst. Self. Fulfilling. Prophecy. Ever.

Advice on Writing a Best Selling Fantasy Novel

Ran across a link to this page of hilarious advice on How to write a best selling fantasy novel.

Tough Old Warriors

All fantasy novels must have an elite brotherhood of highly trained, pathologically loyal, hereditary fighters. These are invariably sturdy, sullen and have livid scars, one eye missing, only one arm etc. Contrary to reality, the more injuries they bear, the greater their fighting skills.

Pure Maiden Warriors.

Losers are scared of sexuality or dependency in women, so women in fantasy novels are so powerful and pure they make Joan of Arc look like Pamela Anderson. They are strong, noble, loyal, brave, high-bred and usually die in the end – well what else are we going to with them? They’re too scary to marry, and no one in Epic Fantasy Novels ever has sex.

E-Bay Auction Finally Over

My E-Bay auction finally ended and I ended up paying $31 for this:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals threatened to distribute these to kids at McDonald’s back in 2000, though they apparently never followed through. I’ve been trying to get my hands on one ever since, and someone tipped me of to a journalist who had received one and was selling it on E-Bay.

I almost got outbid by an individual who works at an anti-animal rights group, but apparently I’m the only person dumb enough to bid this much for a piece of PETA epherma.

So that’s out of the way. I’m still looking for a Burger King “Bloody Crown”, however, if anyone has one or knows someone who does.