Word: disks
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Spilled milk may be worth crying about in at least one instance: when the stuff happens to land on a floppy disk. These sensitive magnetic devices, which carry the software and data used in personal computers, can be rendered useless by a tiny amounts of errant dust or goo. When that happens, the user's work is lost. The problem inspired Polaroid, a new contender in the nearly $1 billion market for floppies, to make the bold claim last March that it could bring any of its damaged disks back to life for no charge. Last week the company boasted...
About 20 consumers and computer magazine editors put Polaroid to the test by heaping indignities on their disks. Staffers at one computer journal poured a hot-fudge sundae on theirs. Another publication sent Polaroid a floppy covered with mustard, catsup and relish. One disk had been used as a chew toy by a golden retriever. In all those cases, Polaroid was able to clean the disk or electronically transfer the user's work to fresh floppies. The only disk that was less than 100% salvageable was one that a user had sabotaged by riddling it with staples...
...rise and fall of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh some consider history's first monotheist, it unfolds in gradual waves to reveal two particularly striking moments: a ravishing trio for Akhnaten (a countertenor), his mother and his wife in the first act; and Akhnaten's glorious hymn to the sun disk in Act II. The prevailing mood, though, is dark and brooding, emphasized by Glass's use of an orchestra without violins. Rich in detail and sharp in characterization, Akhnaten...
...galactic material swirls into the abyss, it forms a giant disk around the black hole, heats up and begins radiating energy. It is probably this so- called accretion disk that the astronomers measured. Nonetheless, to prove that Sgr A* is indeed a black hole, scientists must conclusively determine its mass. Then, knowing its size, they will be able to calculate its density. Says Lo: "When you find that the density is extremely high and the gravity is so strong that it will overcome all known mechanisms of pressure support, then that would be proof that there is a gravitationally collapsed...
...medical memory card is in part the brainchild of Computer Whiz Douglas Becker, 19, of Baltimore, who approached Blue Cross after reading about laser cards in computer magazines. Like the videodisk and compact audio disk, the laser card, which was developed by Drexler Technology Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., depends on laser optic technology, in which a low-power laser beam is used both to burn digital information onto the card and to "read" that information by scanning the surface. Says Becker: "This is a new application for an older mousetrap...