Yes, you read that right. Half a million. A friggin’ 500,000 songs on your iPod or 3,500 movies. Add to that a battery which can support continuous charge for a week at a single go, and have we just discovered Kryptonite? Not we, guys at IBM did. Sources from Fox News say:-

So-called “racetrack” memory uses the “spin” of an electron to store data and can operate far more quickly than regular hard drives.

Like flash memory — the most advanced type of memory for small devices such as mobile phones — it has no moving parts, meaning that the problems associated with mechanical reliability are dramatically reduced.

But unlike flash, these memories can write data with almost no “wear-out” mechanism, which means a longer life of the data as well as the medium. For the complete story read the report here.

So what would this bring to us. A much larger memory which can hold and handle as much data as we ever can imagine to have. Now, the question is, with data storage pushing the limits, and data compression breaking new grounds, while media is supposedly getting smaller and crispier, the space is getting expanded. How much would we need to finally fill it?

Pic Courtesy: happylandfill

The first big move in the wave of the predicted recession of 2008 in IT has come across as a huge blow to the entire IT community. One of India’s largest software exporter, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) has implemented a plan, according to which, all the salaries of the employees would be reduced by Rs.2000 (50 USD) a month, for the next 3 months.(figures- citation required, some sources even indicate it’s Rs.10,000 or 250 USD). This is what the authorities claim to be a step taken to meet the shortcomings in the project revenues resulted from the appreciation of the Rupee vs. Dollar. Although, IT communities across the country are condemning the business tactic through web campaigns and blogs, there is no legal way to combat it, as the move is perfectly legal. This comes as a big surprise, and could be an indication of the tough times ahead for the IT Industry as outsourcing will falter, as speculated by big industry gurus.

The message is loud and clear though. The IT bubble isn’t growing anymore. What is more surprising is that this news has come at a time of the year end review when most of us (IT professionals) expect their yearly appraisals. It also is a very depressing news for the new joinees and also the ones who have their dates scheduled to join TCS. 2008 hasn’t really started on a good note for IT ,especially in India. Earlier, IBM was in the news for laying off 100,000 employees (out of its approximately 350,000) worldwide. As I sit down to hit the Publish button on this post, there are many people of my fraternity, who are busy expressing their anguish in the comments sections on blogs reporting the news. Is the IT bubble soon going to go ‘boom’?

For Related posts, read these:
Economic Times
Discussion Forum on the TCS pay cut on DexterNights
Sify.com’s post