There is a new compact disc format being proposed by an alliance of leading entertainment, electronics, and manufacturing companies called the SD, or Super Density disc. Glass mastering disks are used as in current CDs. To show they are serious, they have already successfully mass produced 650,000 SDs on an actual manufacturing line. The rewriteable SD contains 2.6 gigabytes of storage per side and incorporates phase-change technology for reading, writing, and rewriting of data. I've exhausted the applications inspiration my hard disk provided, but staring at the monitor has given me a second wind.
Displays are a huge applications market.
Liquid crystal displays have revolutionized many products and markets, particularly portables. Indeed, countries as well as companies ponder the flat-panel market. Several other display technologies, such as digital micro-mirror, field emission, plasma, and electroluminescent are making their move. The installed base of CRT displays is enormous, and new electronic product offerings are astounding. This is clearly a market with great potential, and competition.