But regardless of the solution you choose, it would probably behoove you not to fall within the imperiled 77 percent. Modern technology still hasn't conquered the shoe problem, but some high-tech companies are working to make it easier to store data. At NEC Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., Senior Research Scientist Richard Linke and his colleagues are developing a method for transferring data to crystals using holography. He divides a laser light into a signal beam, which carries the data, and a reference beam, which etches the data into the crystal. Linke says the crystals could store up to 1,000 times more data than today's hard drives.
Monthly rates range from less than one cent to several cents per megabyte.
Enter the venerable Oxford English Dictionary. This month, anxious wordsmiths will for the first time be able to consult the OED online. They also will receive quarterly updates published as part of an ongoing effort to revamp the lengthy work. For the past 10 years, the OED crew has been painstakingly charting the changes time hath wrought on the English language since the first edition was published in 1928. Stores with shopping carts enjoy almost a 20 percent advantage.