b-one-inch form factor. The device is suitable for use in a wide range of mobile devices, including palmtops, ultra- portable notebook PCs, handheld GPS units, and digital audio players and jukeboxes. With the new drive, Toshiba has achieved a smaller, lighter, high-capacity storage medium in which low-power consumption is complemented by high performance. The drive will have an initial capacity of 2 to 4 GB and deliver enhanced data storage to smaller, lighter more efficient products. Toshiba expects the new drive to bring the functionality and versatility of hard disk drives to a wide range of devices, including mobile phones, digital camcorders, and external storage devices, as well as inspire other manufacturers to develop new applications. The device is scheduled to begin appearing in mobile devices during 2005. Work on the drive has centered on Toshiba's Ome Operations-Digital Media Network, home to the company's main development site for digital and mobile products and the manufacturing site for the device. The drive under development is planned to have a capacity of 2 to 4 GB, but Toshiba antici- pates achievement of even higher densities in the near future. 2.14.2 Optical Storage A new optical storage medium, developed jointly by engineers at Princeton University and Hewlett-Packard, could profoundly affect the design and capa- bilities of future mobile devices, including mobile phones and PDAs. NUTS AND BITS-TELECOM HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND MORE The discovery of a previously unrecognized property of a commonly used conductive polymer plastic coating, combined with very thin-film, silicon- based electronics, is expected to lead to a memory device that's compact, inex- pensive, and easy to produce. The breakthrough could result in a single-use memory card that permanently stores data and is faster and easier to use than a CD. The device could be very small because it would not involve moving parts such as the laser and motor drive required by CDs. "We are hybridiz- ing," says Stephen Forrest, the Princeton