by Lidia Paulinska | Oct 12, 2016
Fathom events, October – Offered for a single-evening engagement at select US theaters on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, Fathom Events presented Mel Brooks’ 1974 horror movie parody Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder in the title role. The wonderful supporting cast included Teri Garr as the doctor’s fetching (very) personal Inga, Cloris Leachman as the evil Frau Blucher (at the very mention of her name, horses become hysterical), Marty Feldman as the devious bug-eyed hunchback, Peter Boyle as the Creature (IT’S ALIVE!!), Madeline Kahn as the horny up-tight socialite, and Kenneth Mars as the one-eyed, one-armed police inspector. Gene Hackman makes a brief cameo appearance as Harold, the blind old recluse.
This delightful film is a hilarious parody of the flood of classic horror film adaptations of Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein that were produced by Universal in the 1930’s. Shot in black and white to evoke the proper atmosphere, Brooks even employs the original lab equipment props used in the 1931 Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff and features 1930’s style opening credits and period scene transitions such as iris outs, wipes, and fades to black. Young Frankenstein was a box-office smash and critically considered be one of the greatest film comedies of all time, ranking number 13 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 funniest American movies.
The story involves the respectable Dr. Frankenstein, a physician played by Wilder, who inherits his infamous mad-scientist great-grandfather’s castle in Transylvania and of course that’s where the fun begins. Dr. Frankenstein decides to follow in his mad great-grandfather’s footsteps and re-animate the dead. He ultimately succeeds. “IT’S ALIVE!!”
Arriving at the Transylvania train station, Dr. Frankenstein is met by a hunchbacked, bug-eyed servant named Igor (Marty Feldman). Frankenstein insists his name be pronounced “Fronken-steen,” so Igor insists his name be pronounced “Eye-gor.” A beautiful young assistant by the name of Inga (Teri Garr) is assigned to Frankenstein and when they arrive at the castle, the doctor comments favorably about the size of the door knockers and Inga thanks him, thinking he’s complimenting her anatomy. The movie is full of visual and word gags like this. When Igor asks the Doctor to follow him, he says “Walk this way,” and Frankenstein obediently limps along behind him. The doctor at one point suggests to Igor he can do something about his hump to which Igor replies “What hump.” And much to the doctor’s astonishment, Igor’s hump also seems to inexplicably switch from one side of back to the other. More hilarious moments include the top hat and tails song and dance routine performed to “Puttin on the Ritz” reminiscent of Fred Astaire with Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature singing and dancing in perfectly synchronized vaudeville style.
“Dressed up like a million dollar trouper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super-duper.”
Mel Brooks addressed the Fathom Event audience at the conclusion of the screening and it was a delight to listen to him share aspects of his professional career with us. He considered Young Frankenstein to be his finest (though not his funniest) film as a writer-director. Interestingly, he felt his funniest film was Blazing Saddles (1974), followed by The Producers (1968) and then Young Frankenstein. However, as far as most audiences are concerned, they are all equally hilarious and our lives are richer because of them. We may have personal favorites, but thankfully we have a rich comic heritage from which to choose.
Aristotle wrote much in an attempt to define tragedy, but claimed he didn’t write about comedy because no one took it seriously. (Drum roll please: da da bum). Without realizing it, he was our first stand-up comic!
If someone tells us they don’t take us seriously, we should consider it a compliment. Mel Brooks would.
by Lidia Paulinska and Hugh McMahon
by Lidia Paulinska | Oct 4, 2016
September, CTIA – The last day of CTIA 2016 conference brought a very special guest as keynote speaker – Academy Award winner, Golden Globe winner and 10-time Grammy Award winner, singer and songwriter – John Legend. His fireside chat discussion with Chris Hercik, senior vice president of Creative + Content, The Foundry@ Time Inc. the musician talked about how he and his wife Chrissy Teigen are for the technology and how they fully embrace it. He loves to be connected. He gave insightful overview on a topic how mobile technology continues to impact music industry.
Hercik also brought the information that not many know about the musician. John Legend is also a philanthropist. He volunteered to help the survivors after the Hurricane Katrina and Haiti. Recently he was ranked number 6 on the “World’s Greatest Leaders” list for the most influential figures from around the world in business, philanthropy and arts. On that list are people like Bono and Pope Francis. Legend was awarded for his effort to reform United States school and prison systems. Musician established the Show Me Campaign, a non-profit organization, to break the poverty trough education. He is also involved in some other charity organizations such millennium Promise Alliance to help African villages.
He spoke about his personal life with wife Chrissy and shared what makes him up. My daughter Luna –answered Legend with laugh. Luna is just few month old. I love music, I love doing what I am doing, and hopefully it makes the world more interesting and more beautiful place – stated Legend – I am lucky that I can do it every day.
by Lidia Paulinska | Oct 3, 2016
September, CTIA – Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, told us in 1:1 interview during the CTIA conference that the focus on 5G is good because we need to be looking at the future and the things we need to do to stay connected. This includes providing more mobile broadband, more massive LTE, less latency and finally reliable communication. For the foundation of mobile broadband, 4G and 5G will be integrated together as well the incorporation, with a big role, of LTE Advance and LTE Advanced Pro. But there is some economic reality behind the adoption of the technology in that, if you are an operator, and you want to deploy 5G, you have to have a business case to spend hundreds of millions or billions to pay it back.
5G Americas advocate for more innovations and investments from the private sector to look at the best interests of the end customers. The customer can be consumer, enterprise or verticals inside IOT.
5G Americas is the voice of 5G and LTE for all the Americas. They work by supporting the ecosystem of mobile operators and vendors, working with government agencies, regulatory and standards bodies, as well as other global wireless organizations to promote the 5G & LTE technologies. They work in three (3) different areas:
First – Technical recommendations and facilitations. They don’t typically create standards but they are part of the process of education on the direction of the technology that they want. They also contribute their white papers with the associations around the world and governments around the world with focus on Americas region.
Second – They work on regulatory policy, that as Pearson admitted – become more and more important because of what 5G is going to be doing. 5G is getting to the other verticals and other areas such as: education, transportation and health care. He believes that 5G ecosystem should include and will include a regulatory aspect as it enters market already subject to regulatory control.
Third – Education. They provide outreach with all wireless headquarters including industry media, industry analysts and a lot of influencers and government processes.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 25, 2016
September, Fathom events – On Wednesday, September 14, Fathom Events presented “Snowden,” an expertly directed docu-drama by the incomparable Oliver Stone followed by a Live conversation with Edward Snowden (via the internet) and Oliver Stone and the two main actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley (live from NYC).
“Snowden” is the story of an idealistic young man by the name of Edward J. Snowden, probably the world’s most famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, whistle-blower, who worked for National Security Agency and the C.I.A. as a data analyst, and whose experiences with those organizations lead him to question some accepted truths about patriotism, one’s responsibility to one’s country, and to ultimately challenge the very essence of authority.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden does a remarkably empathetic representation of a shy, intelligent idealist, drawn to government intelligence work out of a sincere desire to serve his country and the gradual and cinemagraphically nuanced transition he experiences at those agencies from an unquestioning data analyst to either a patriotic whistle-blower or traitor depending on one’s point of view. Stone’s interpretation of the events clearly supports the former.
In contrast to many of Stone’s earlier efforts, “Snowden” is a remarkably restrained and intelligent film in both cinematic and political terms…no rage against the system or beating the drum of justified revolution. Snowden is represented as a sincere and thoroughly rational idealist whom Stone frames within a world of divided loyalties, secrecy, and indications of astonishing world-altering power. We witness his ethical angst within a very effective restrained cinematic context. It’s a world of data, codes, and algorithms, a context within which Stone may in fact not be able to choose a course of unrestrained anger and leftist polemic as is typical in many of his earlier works.
Stone makes his case uncharacteristically a-political case with enormous skill, discretion, and restraint without the need to dazzle or enrage his audience. “Snowden” is a clear and honest dramatization of one of the more outstanding news events of the past several years and worthy of our attention.
by Tom P Kolodziejak | Sep 20, 2016
September, Fathom events – Picture Home Entertainment and Fathom Events bring “Labyrinth 30th Anniversary” to the big screen on September 11 at hundreds of theaters throughout the country to celebrate Jim Henson’s imaginative adventure.
“Labyrinth,” a children’s fantasy complete with extraordinary Muppet-type puppets, was produced by George Lucas in 1991 and featured David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. It was initially a critical and box office failure, costing $25 million to produce and grossing $12.5 million. Over the years, however, it became something of a cult favorite, enjoying a new audience ten years and beyond. In fact, the Fathom presentation enjoyed an enthusiastic standing-room-only screening on the evening of it’s presentation.
It was directed by Jim Henson who was the creator of the Muppets of TV’s groundbreaking “Sesame Street “ which first aired on PBS November 10, 1969 and is currently enjoying it’s 46th successful season and continues to feature many of Henson’s original Muppets, including Elmo and Oscar the Grouch.The film features a rather menacing and demonic-looking singing Wizard played by David Bowie who seems rather uncomfortable in the role, perhaps he had to share top billing with a bunch of puppets. The plot is a simple one dealing with the mis-adventures of 15-year-old Sarah in search of her baby brother Toby. Needless to say, it has a happy end.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 13, 2016
Biotechnology, September 2016 – The opening keynote for Biotechnology conference in San Francisco this past June was a brilliant pairing of two speakers – Forensic pathologist Dr Bennet Omalu and famous actor Will Smith.
What brought them together? The answer is – cinema.
Both of them are the characters of the movie “Concussion” that was released at the end of 2015 and many claimed that it deserved an Oscar nomination. It is the story of Dr Bennet Omalu (portrayed by Will Smith in the movie) who discovered and described a disease called CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy after a few dramatic accidents resulted in the early deaths of football players in Pittsburgh. For those who haven’t seen the movie I save writing a review, because it is worth going to see.
Dr Bennet Omalu talked on the stage about science for the sake of knowledge and the interrelationship of pure science and its faith. Will Smith talked about his reaction to the film. How he suddenly got concern about his son that likes to play football. Both men are very colorful characters. Omalu’s sense of humor and unstoppable laugh was dominating on the stage. Will Smith was talking about challenges in that role including Omalu’s accent and the laugh.
The film opened the public eyes at the challenges that players facing and shake the NFL world. Omalu who is dedicated to the science as investigating how the world works, and to this end, used his own money to investigate why the admired Steeler team football player Mike Webster, ended up his life alone, homeless and in unbearable pain. Omalu kept asking why that happened and why at so early an age. The road to acceptance of the discovery wasn’t easy but Omala believed and searched for truth no matter what.
As many attendees came being attracted by Will Smith presence they were taken by surprise and found Dr Bennet Omalu very interesting and compiling person.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 9, 2016
IDF, September 2016 – At the Intel Developer Forum, while a lot of the discussion was on IoT and smart connections, Intel continued their technology advancement and development of multi-core processors for the consumer computer market. The company held a briefing to announce their 7th generation Core series microprocessor.
The new processors continued the take advantage of the new process technology. The processors use the Intel 14nm+ technology which is an updated and advanced version of the 14nm process released a short time back. This new process is about 12% faster than the standard 14nm process and allows for increased productivity in the design. The new process is not only faster but also lower power so the designs of the new PC’s using them can be thinner and lighter with longer battery life.
The higher density design on the 14nm+ process allowed for the addition of a new graphics engine to be built into the chip that will now support UHD 4K video without an additional external GPU card or chip. This will all the computers for be used for immersive applications such as VR, and high resolution movies.
This year, there are supposed to be over 100 designs from multiple manufacturers that will be released with the new core generation core processors. These designs now support new standard functions such as USB 3.1, Thunderbolt 3, Windows Hello, a pen/stylus, and 4K display panels. These will enhance both gaming/entertainment and standard office productivity. The computers with the new processors, and supporting the new DDR4 DRAM memory and Flash memory storage solutions, are many times faster and more productive than a computer from as little as 5 years ago.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 6, 2016
Siggraph, July 2016 – The annual SIGGRAPH event is the meeting place for the academics, innovators, industry and professional media producers to meet and share their experiences. The commonality is the blending of the technology and engineering with the artistic vision that drive cinema, TV and advertising. To help realize these visions on a release schedule, the computers used had to change and became workstations.
Dell’s Precision Workstations had a lot of visibility at the SIGGRAPH 2016 show even though Dell did not have a booth on the show floor and the company did not introduce any new products. We living on providing solutions – said Molly Connolly, WW Industry Strategist, Media & Entertainment – We are looking for symbiotic microcosms. She confirmed that the company understands the balance with software professional community and also their customers. Her focus is on how we can engage with the community and listen what their needs are to make their workstations even better.
Dell’s workstation is a solution for the SIGGRAPH community.
The facts are that you don’t need the workstation if you are just running office and email but everyone who is creating visual and digital content, and those who are using the professional applications for creating the digital content; those professionals need system commonality, multi-processors with multiple cores, ECC memory, professional graphics compute capability, fast storage, fast IO & networking. All that workstation provides.
Workstation are for time critical applications and they are designed not to fail and require the user re-crate the content. If you running a 3 day rendering task, and you know that your film has to be in theaters in 8 weeks, the workstation is the solution for you. The same for broadcasting space. Broadcast cannot let the screen go dark or have the content interrupted.
Dell’s workstations for M&E Tech space enables the magic to happen – said Molly. Dell’s workstation has been used by the last five winner of Academy Awards for Visual Effects. Molly went on to state that – “We’ve been very fortunate. Dell precision workstation has been recognized as leader in performance.” This recognition has been for both the desktop and portable workstations.
This capability is what is driving Dell as one of the dominant platforms for the creation of VR content. The workstations are designed to support all the pieces needed for this new stereoscopic and 360 degree content marketplace, and are being quickly adopted as the computer of choice for the VR creators.
Looking at the process. Artists create the content – mostly at the workstation, they manage the content – typically on server, then they deliver the content and you enjoy it (or consume it). The workstations, with their fault tolerant design, construction for long hours of continuous operation and capacity for high performance computing allow this process to happen on a predictable schedule, freeing the artists to create their vision, rather than worry about the computing.
by Tom P Kolodziejak | Sep 5, 2016
Flash Memory Summit, August 2016 – The process of consumerization of flash memory started around 2004. This year NAND prices drop below DRAM prices for the first time at the same density. Panasonic and Sanyo launched the first flash-based camcorders. SanDisk inaugurated Flash Sansa MP3 players. In 2005 NAND revenue exceeded $10 billion when Apple introduced its first iProducts.
Below is the timeline of consumerization of flash memory.
2005 – Apple introduced its first two flash-based iPods, the iPod shuffle and the iPod nano. Microsoft launched Hybrid Hard Disk Drive concept. MMCmicro card was introduced by MMCA. 70nm process was initiated. Micron introduced NAND product. Over 3 billion flash chips were shipped. NAND GB shipments overtook those of DRAM.
2006 – Flash revenue exceed $20 billion. Intel introduced Robson Cache Memory, now known as Turbo Memory. Microsoft launched ReadyBoost. M-Systems announced 4-bit MLC technology. That was an important year for SanDisk. The company announced 4-bit NAND technology and the microSDHC card. SanDisk acquired two enterprises: Martix Semiconductor and M-Systems. Samsung and Seagate demonstrated first Hybrid Hard Disk Drives. IMFT was formed by Intel and Micron to manufacture NAND flash. Spansion introduced ORNAND flash. 56nm process was announced. 300 mm wafers started to be produced.
2007 – Flash revenue exceeded $22 billion (NAND $14.5B) Toshiba introduced eMMC NAND and first MLC SATA-based SSD. IMFT started shipping 50nm NAND flash. Apple launched the iPhone with 4GB or 8GB of flash. Fusion-io announced 640 GB ioDrive MLC NAND-based PCIe X4 board. BitMicro launched 3.5”SSD with capacity of 1.6TB for military applications. Spansion acquired Saifun. Several laptop MLC SSDs were introduced with up to 128 GB of flash. Dell launched SSD option for laptop models. Sub-$200 netbook computers were introduced with flash memory storage. Microsoft initiated flash-based Zune Player. Seagate launched the Hybrid Storage Alliance and the first hybrid HDD, the Momentus PSD.
2008 – SanDisk introduced ABL to enable high speed MLC, TLC and X4 NAND. 34nm process announced by Intel and Micron. Toshiba initiated first 512GB MLC SATA-based SSD. Intel and STMicro spanned off Numonyx. IBM demonstrated first “Million IOPS” flash array. EMC announced use of flash-based SSDs for enterprise SAN applications. Apple introduced two generations of MacBook Air, with 64GB and 128GB SSDs and no HDD option. Micron, Samsung and Sun Microsystems announced high-endurance flash memory. Violin introduced first fully flash-based storage appliance. Samsung announced 150GB 2.5”MLC SSD with SATA II Interface. Several companies demonstrated MLC flash SSDs with up to 256GB for notebook apps. Micron introduced first serial NAND flash. Toshiba developed 3D NAND structure, BICS. Apple sold 1M iPhone 3Gs in 3 days, with 8GB or 16GB of flash.
2009 – Intel, Micron introduced 34nm TLC NAND. Samsung introduced the first full HD camcorder with a 64GB SSD. Seagate entered SSD market. SandForce introduced first compression-based SSD controller. Virident and Schooner launched first flash-based application appliances for the data center. Pillar Data converted Axiom SANs to SSD. Plaint introduced first SAS SSD. SanDisk shipped 4-bit/cell SDHC and Memory Stick Pro cards. Western Digital acquired SiliconSystems and got into SSD business. NVELO introduced first PC flash caching software “Dataplex’. SanDisk introduced 100-year flash storage vault. The revenue reached 19 billion.
2010 – Toshiba introduced 128GB SDcard based on sixteen-chip stack. Intel, Micron introduced 25nm TLC and MLC NAND. Numonyx was acquired Micron, SST by Microchip. Samsung started producing 64 Gb, 3-bit NAND and introduced high-speed 512 GB SSD utilizing toggle-mode DDR NAND memory. Seagate announced first self-managed hybrid HDD, the Momentus XT with 4GB of NAND flash and 500GB HDD storage. The revenue reached $26 billion.
2011 – Year of many acquisitions: LSI acquired SandForce; SanDisk acquired IMFT, Apple acquired Anobit, Fusion-io acquired IO Turbine. Intel announced Smart Response SSD caching for PCs. Seagate introduced II generation Momentus XT hybrid HDD with 8GB of NAND flash and 750GB HDD storage. Richard Pashley, Stefan Lai, Bruce McCormick and Niles Kynett from Intel received FMS Lifetime Achievement Award.
2012 – Ultrabooks begin to ship with Smart Response SSD cache. SanDisk and Toshiba announced 19nm flash memory enabling 128Gb chips. Macronix and Winbond entered NAND flash business. Seagate introduced SSHD combining flash memory with a HDD. Elpida introduced ReRAM. Micron and Intel launched 20nm 128Gb NAND chip using hi-k planar cell. SK Hynix formed upon SK Telecom’s acquisition of controlling interest in Hynix Semicondactor. MOSAID sampled 333GB/s HL-NAND. Adesto acquired Atmel’s Serial NOR business. Spansion introduced 8Gb NOR chip. DensBits Technologies introduced Memory Modem. Proximal Data introduced AutoCache. SanDisk acquired FlashSoft. OCZ acquired Sanrad. Samsung acquired NVELO. Intel acquired Nevex and introduced CacheWorks. LSI introduced Nytro flash with MegaRAID CacheCade caching software. Micron introduced 2.5-inch PCIe enterprise SSD. SanDisk co-founder, Eli Harari, received FMS Lifetime Achievement Award.
2013 – Samsung announced availability of 24-layer 3D V-NAND and demonstrated 1TB SSD at FMS 2013. Diablo Technologies announced Memory Channel Storage technology. SMART Storage Systems incorporated Diablo Technologies designs into ULtraDIMM. Western Digital and SanDisk introduced SSHD using iSSSD combined with an HDD. Toshiba introduced line of SSHDs. Everspin Technologies announced shipments of STT MRAM. Micron and other companies sampled 16nm flash memory. SanDisk released CFast 2.0 memory card, fastest memory card for professional video. M.2 PCIe interface formalized NVMe standard issued to accelerate communications with flash storage. Western Digital acquired sTec, Virident and Velobit. SanDisk acquired SMART Storage Systems. NVMdurance introduced software to extend flash endurance. Micron acquired Elpida. Intel introduced Intel Cache Acceleration Software. Fujio Masuoka, formerly of Toshiba, received FMS Lifetime Achievement Award. The revenue reached $30 billion.
2014 – Samsung, SanDisk and Toshiba announced 3D NAND production facilities. SanDisk introduced 4TB Enterprise SSD. SanDisk announced 128GB microSD card, a 1000x increase in capacity on device’s 10th anniversary. IBM announced eXFlash DIMMs using SanDisk ULLtraDIMM’s implementation of Diablo Memory Channel Storage technology. Samsung rolled out II generation of 3D V-NAND with 32 layers. Spansion introduced HyperFlash NOR with 333 MB/s HyperBus. Toshiba acquired OCZ. Everspin introduced and ramped production of ST-MRAM. Samsung introduced 3-bit/cell 3D NAND SSDs. Adesto shipped one-millionth CBRAM. SK Hynix acquired Violin’s PCIe SSD business. Seagate acquired LSI/Avago storage business. SanDisk acquired Fusion-io. HGST acquired Skyera. Samsung acquired Proximal Data. Simon Sze, formerly of Bell Labs, received FMS Lifetime Achievement Award.
2015 – SanDisk introduced InfinitiFlash storage system. Cypress Semiconductor acquired Spansion. Toshiba and SanDisk announced 48-layer 3D NAND. Intel and Micron announced 384Gb 3D NAND. Samsung introduced first NVMe m.2 SSDs and 4 B layer V-NAND. SanDisk introduced 200GB microSDXC UHS-I-card. Cypress introduced 4MB serial FRAM. Intel and Micron announced 3D XPoint Memory. Intel introduced XPoint-based “Optane” DIMMs and SSDs. Bob Norman, formerly of SanDisk and Micron received FMS Lifetime Achievement Award. The revenue reached $35 billion.
2016 – SK Hynix sampled 3D NAND m.2 NVMe SSD. XMC broke ground on first China-owned NAND flash fab. Micron presented 768Gb 3D NAND. Western Digital acquired SanDisk. Micron shipped 3D NAND. Everspin announced 256Mb MRAM chips and 1 Gb chips by the end of year. IBM adopted TLC to PCM. Samsung shipped 48-layer 3D NAND. Kinam Kim, President System LSI/Semiconductor Business, Samsung received FMS Lifetime Achievement Award.
The revenue for 2016 is estimated to reach $37 billion.
Information from Flash Memory Summit. Flash revenue numbers provided by Objective Analysis.
by Tom P Kolodziejak | Sep 5, 2016
Flash Memory Summit, August 2016 – Flash memory is the enabling technology for most of the mobile devices today. It allows for very high capacities of storage for things like music, voice, photos and videos to be stored for long periods of time, without needing power to store the information when it is not being used.
Eli Harari, who holds over 100 patents and has widespread recognition (including IEEE Reynold B. Johnson Data Storage device Technology Award in 2006 and IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal in 2009), described flash memory as descriptive technology in that time. This descriptive technology enabled consumer applications such as cellphones, digital cameras, music players etc. that we enjoy today and they shape our lives. Here is a timeline of history of flash memory development.
The beginning of successful story of flash memory started at Bell Laboratories. In 1967 Kahng and Sze invented the floating gate memory device which allows a transistor to remember a digital value of 0 or 1, without power, until it is ready to be checked. Few years later Eli Harari of Hughes Electronics filed for first practical floating gate EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) using thin SiO2 and using the electron characteristic of Fowler Nordheim tunneling for program and erase.
In 1978 Hughes Electronics introduced first CMOS NOVRAM 256-bit chip (non-volatile SRAM) and two years later the 1980, first CMOS EEPROM 8Kbit chip was released. Both of these chips used Fowler Nordheim floating gate EEPROM technology. In 1980 Intel introduced the Intel2816, a 16K bit HMOS EEPROM with Fowler Nordheim tunneling and 3 years later the Intel2817A 16K bit EEPROM. While these chips were in the marketplace, the first paper describing flash EEPROM was presented by Fujio Masuoka of Toshiba at IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco in 1984, the year after Exel filed patent for the first NOR organized flash memory cell. In 1986 Intel introduced the flash card concept with ECC and on-card controller and the company formed unit focusing on solid state drives.
The flash memory industry financial success started grown rapidly at the end of the 1980s ($1.6M in 1987; $6.4M in 1988; $25M in 1989) followed by many inventions and patents.
1987 – Fujio Masuoka of Toshiba presented first NAND-type flash memory technology at IEDM. Intel invented first Flash File System concept and introduced NOR flash chips.
1988 – Early EEPROM inventor/investigator Elli Harari along with Sanjay Mehrotra and Jack Yuan founded SunDisk (later the name was changed to SanDisk) in 1988 to develop new “system Flash” architecture combining embedded controller, firmware and flash memory to emulate disk storage. The company filed the first two MLC (Multi-level-cell) flash patents. JPEG and MPEG standards allowed economical production of digital cameras and first flash-based digital camera, Fuji DS-1P was demonstrated. Intel sampled 1Mb NOR flash. Intel and Psion designed flash-based mobile PC.
1989 – SunDisk filed System Flash patent. M-Systems was founded and shorty after introduced the Flash Disk concept, that was precursor to flash SSDs. The same year Intel shipped 512K and 1Mb NOR flash. Psion introduced flash-based PC. Microsoft joined effort with Intel and introduced its Flash File System. Western Digital and SunDisk launched a NOR-based Flash SSD fully emulating a traditional rotating ATA HDD.
At Comdex (Computer Dealers’ Exhibition), the largest computer trade show in the world (precursor of today’s CES) that was held in Las Vegas, DiGiPro introduced 8Mb NOR Flashdisk. The flash industry reached 100 million parts shipped and made many introductions such as EReader by Sony, camera prototypes by Kodak, 1MB and 4MB linear flash PCMCIA card and 2Mb NOR chip by Intel, first NOR flash SSD: 20MB 2.5”, fully compatible with Conner Peripherals 2.5” ATA HDD. This year also PCMCIA set standard on ATA PC card form factor and pinout, using SunDisk “System Flash” specification for full HDD compatibility.
At the beginning of 1990 flash memory industry expanding amazingly fast like never before and the revenue grown from $170 million in 1991, $295 million in 1992, $505 million in 1993, $864 million in 1994 and reached over $1.8 billion in 1995.
1991 – Toshiba developed world’s first 4 Mb NAND flash. Kodak shipped DCS-100, its first DSC at $13,000. Zenith Poqet and HP showed palm-sized notebook computers using flash memory cards at Spring Comdex.
1992 – Information Storage Devices introduced flash based voice recorder chip. AMD and Fujitsu released its first NOR product. M-Systems demonstrated TrueFFS that was adopted later by the PCMCIA as FTL. That was a year when Intel launched few products including: second generation FFS2, 8Mb flash chip, 4MB-20MB linear flash memory cards and 1Mb “boot bloc” NOR flash with sectors for BIOS applications – first use of internal write state machine to manage flash write algorithm. SunDisk introduced first serial 9Mb NOR Flash chip for SSD applications. Starting 1992 PCs began using flash for BIOS storage.
1993 – Datalight introduced “Card Trick” flash management software. Apple initiated the use of NOR flash in their Newton PDA. Intel inaugurated 16Mb and 32Mb NOR flash. Intel and Conner jointly developed 5MB/10MB ATA flash disk drive. AMD introduced 5-volt-only NOR using negative gate erase.
1994 – SunDisk presented CompactFlash card and 18Mb serial NOR Flash chip for SSD applications. Norris Communications introduced Flashback, the first portable digital voice recorder with flash memory.
1995 – Casio launched the QV-11 digital camera with flash rather than film or floppy. Mitsubishi introduced DiNOR. M-Systems initiated flash-based Solid State Drives and NOR-based DiskOnChip. SunDisk that changed the name to SanDisk introduced 34Mb Serial NOR Flash, first MLC flash chip for SSD applications.
In 1996 flash memory revenues reached $2.6 billion and noted 163% growth in 10 years.
1996 – Toshiba introduced SmartMedia Memory Card also called Solid State Floppy Disk Card. Samsung started shipping NAND flash. Kodak DC-25 was first DSC with CompactFlash card. Datalight launched “FlashFX” flash management software supporting NOR and NAND in the single driver. SanDisk initiated first flash cards with MLC serial NOR. Palm introduced flash-memory-based PDA.
1997 – First cell phones were shipped with flash memory. SaeHan Information Systems presented flash-based MPMan MP3 player. SanDisk and Siemens introduced the MultiMedia Card (MMC and MMCplus). Sony demonstrated the Memory Stick. M-Systems launched NAND based DiskOnChip/200 mm wafers began production/500 million flash chips were shipped. Intel introduced 2-bit/cell 64 Mb MLC StrataFlash.
1998 – NOR revenue exceeded $2 billion. 250nm process was announced. SaeHan Information Systems and licensee Eiger shipped world’s first mass-produced MP3 player (MPMan) with 32MB. Diamond Rio demonstrated its PMP300 MP3 player. Panasonic, SanDisk and Toshiba launed SD card.
1999 – NOR revenue exceeded $4 billion. Toshiba and SanDisk created flash memory manufacturing joint venture. Micron announced NOR products/over 1 billion flash chips were shipped. Dov Moran of M-Systems applied for patent on a USB-based flash drive.
2000 – Flash (NOR and NAND) revenue exceeded $10 billion. M-Systems (working with IBM) and Trek Technology introduced USB flash drives. Intel shipped its one billion flash unit/160nm process was announced.
2001 – NAND revenue exceeded $1 billion. Toshiba and SanDisk announced 1Gb MLC NAND. SanDisk by itself introduced first NAND System Flash product. Hitachi launched AG-AND. Samsung began mass production of 512Mb flash memory device.
2002 – Olympus in the cooperation with FujiFilm presented xD-Picture Card. MMCmobile card was introduce by MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA). Sony and SanDisk jointly launched the Memory Stick PRO and half-size Memory Stick PRO Duo cards. AMD introduced MirrorBit charge trap flash. 130nm process was announced.
2003 – NAND revenue exceeded $5 billion. SanDisk introduced mnSD card. Sony in cooperation with SanDisk launched the Memory Stick PRO Micro. Spansion was created out of AMD and Fujitsu.
2004 – NAND prices drop below DRAM prices for the first time at the same density. SanDisk and M-Systems introduced U3 software system for USB flash drives. SanDisk and Motorola launched the TransFlash card, now known as microSD card. Datalight initiated multi-threaded “FlashFX Pro” management software to support multimedia NAND devices. Spansion introduced MirrorBit Quad 4-bit NOR. The 90nm process node was announced for flash memory production. Hynix and ST Micro formed joint venture and Hynix NAND product was introduced. Infineon NAND product based on Saifun Charge Trap Flash was announced. Panasonic and Sanyo launched the first flash-based camcorders. SanDisk inaugurated Flash Sansa MP3 players.
In 2005 Apple introduced its first two flash-based iPods, the iPod shuffle and the iPod nano. The process of consumerization of flash memory started.
Information from Flash Memory Summit. Flash revenue numbers provided by Objective Analysis.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 3, 2016
Fathom events, August 2016 – On Wednesday, August 24, 2016, Fathom events offered a one-night only screening of the classic American film, “Thelma & Louise,” featuring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon respectively in the title roles. This showing was in celebration of the films 25th anniversary.
Film critic Roger Ebert in his syndicated column of January 1, 1991 praised the film as being a classic in the expansive, visionary tradition of the American road picture. “It celebrates the myth of two carefree souls piling into a 1956 T-Bird and driving out of town to have some fun and raise some hell. We know the road better than that, however, and we know the toll it exacts: Before their journey is done, these characters will have undergone a rite of passage, and will have discovered themselves.
What sets “Thelma & Louise” apart from other great classics of traditional road movie like “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Easy Rider,” and “Rain Man,” and iconic buddy movies such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” is the fact that the heroes are both women.
They are initially presented as two very ordinary working-class girlfriends, Louise, a waitress at a small Arkansas town who lives with an Elvis look-alike musician, and Thelma, a housewife married to a verbally abusive buffoon who’s a self-important rug salesman. To escape their hum-drum lives, the girls decide to hit the road for a weekend of fun, but through successive, unanticipated events, often hilarious, yet equally as often, toxic and life-changing, the weekend is extended into a microcosm of an almost cosmic release of these two women’s inner, repressed selves. It’s as if we’re witnessing the free-flowing liberation of their inner-most psyches. They bare progressively their souls in the name of freedom throughout their journey and ultimately pay the price. They seem to take on a universal every-woman identity, one which few have the courage or the means to explore.
The film has two additional characters, understandably not included in the credits: the first is the harsh, barren, and unforgiving Bad Lands through which they journey seeking “a good time;” the second equally as harsh and brutal is the overwhelmingly male-dominated milieu in which they live, visually engulfed by big-rigs, 18-wheelers, oil tankers, predatory truck stops and run-down gas stations, all symbolizing the threatening and palpably dangerous environment in which they must survive. It’s all hard-edge and steel and one can almost smell the oil and stench of burning rubber.
But like a couple of unexpected, fragile daisies growing through a pile of concrete rubble, Thelma and Louise grow and mature spiritually in unanticipated ways, precariously pinched between a New Life of self-awareness and utter destruction.
This is not a “chick flick” or “women’s lib” gesture, but rather a ground-breaking cinematic milestone, in what may be viewed as the emergence on the popular screen of the female archetype in which the essence of womankind is given full and very moving expression.
Produced by Ridley Scott & Mimi Polk
Genre: Drama, Road Movie, Thriller
Rated: R
128 minutes
Cast: Susan Sarandon as Louise, Geena Davis as Thelma, Harvey Keitel as Hal and Brad Pitt as J.D. (debut)
Review by Hugh McMahon and Lidia Paulinska
