Photo caption: 50 years of the cassette: In 1963, Philips Electronics officially introduced the “compact cassette,” which contained a length of audio tape approximately 3.15 millimeters wide that ran at 1-7/8 inches per second. It was intended to replace the bulkier reel-to-reel tape and be used for dictation, but over the next 50 years, it would prove to be far more versatile. Lou Ottens, shown here, led Philips’ team.

By Doug Gross, CNN, Thu May 8, 2014

(CNN) — Forget the cloud, and rework your mental image of those mysterious data centers. Sony has reinvented a tool for storing a mind-numbing amount of data:

A cassette tape.

But this isn’t one of those rattling plastic tapes you used to compile your ultimate summer road-trip jams and, too often, were probably forced to rewind with a pencil.

Sony’s record-breaking magnetic tape technology allows it to store 180 terabytes of data on a single cartridge. That’s the same amount of storage as 1,184 iPod Classics, Apple’s roomiest music player, which can hold about 40,000 songs. Using that number, Sony’s new cassette could technically store about 47.3 million songs of its own.

That’s enough jams for a really long road trip — say, driving in Atlanta during a snowstorm.

If you’re more of a movie buff, think of it this way. The cartridge, which stores 148GB of data per inch of tape, has room for 3,700 Blu-ray discs full of your favorites.

Cassette tape could hold 47M songs

The number obliterates the standing record, set in 2010 when Fuji developed a tape that could hold 35 terabytes of data.

Sony, which worked with IBM on the tape, presented the new technology over the weekend at InterMag Europe, a magnetics conference in Dresden, Germany.

In very simple terms, the technology involves shrinking the microscopic magnetic particles on tape that store data. On average, the new particles are 7.7 nanometers wide. There are 10 million nanometers in one centimeter.

In a news release, Sony said it would like to pursue a commercial use for the new cassette tape technology, as well as continuing to improve it.

But if you’re dreaming of someday popping that tape into some sort of digital-age boombox and pushing “play,” you may be in for a bit of a disappointment.

Tape has the potential for massive data storage, but it’s unwieldy to actually use. Recording to, and retrieving data from, tape takes a lot longer than digital storage devices and players we’ve become accustomed to in an era of Web streaming.

So, it’s a lot more likely that tape will be used to back up huge databases than to save, and play, our music collections. That’s too bad. We liked the idea of needing only one cassette for a cross-country drive.

Toyota announced last month it sold 1.2 million Corollas in 2013, a 5% year-over-year increase. Since its introduction in Japan in 1966 — the car became available in the U.S. in 1968 — Toyota has sold more than 40.7 million Corollas, more than any other car model. The Corolla’s success on the market is likely due to its reliability, relatively low gas mileage, and affordability. The newly redesigned 2014 Corolla is the model’s 11th generation, and it claims to have better gas mileage and a slightly larger interior. Brand new, the Corolla’s starting MSRP is $16,800.

Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

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If I could give you one thing in life,
I would give you the ability to see yourself
through my eyes.
Only then, you would realize
how special you are.

Source: txt2nite

When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.

~Laozi Chinese Philosopher

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Courtesy Peta

Written by PETA, Posted 05-07-2014

Today, the Honourable Supreme Court of India passed a landmark judgment in favour of PETA India and the government body the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) clarifying that bulls must not be used in jallikattu, bull races, bullfights or any other type of performance. PETA was represented in court by leading counsel Raj Panjwani.

PETA has vigorously campaigned against the use of bulls in these cruel events. The group’s  investigators have found that terrified bulls are deliberately disoriented, have their tails twisted and bitten and are stabbed, punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground. During races, bulls are often hit with nail-studded sticks. In bullfights, the round ends when one of the bulls is either killed or manages to flee. PETA’s campaign to end this abuse was vocally supported by legendary actors Hema Malini and John Abraham, who both wroteto the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) calling for jallikattu to be stopped.

Although the MoEF issued a notification in 2011 that banned the use of bulls as performing animals,thereby banning jallikattu, bull races and bullfights, these spectacles were still permitted to be held. Now, the Supreme Court has made clear that this notification must be upheld. It also struck down the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009, a state law that permitted jallikattu.The Supreme Court also noted that the penalties for cruelty to animals under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, are weak and that the act requires an update. The AWBI had formulated a draft Animal Welfare Act, 2011, to strengthen the law, but this draft has yet to be passed.

You can help pass the draft Animal Welfare Act, 2011.