 one cubic centimeter, which is about the size of a fingertip. Developing the invention into a commercially viable product will require additional work on creating a large-scale manufacturing process and ensuring compatibility with existing electronic hardware, a process that might take as few as five years, Forrest says. The technology offers numerous potential mobile device applications. Extensive and detailed street map databases, designed for use with GPS and other location-oriented services, could be easily inserted into even the small- est mobile devices and consume very little power. Other possible applications STORAGE include easily accessible music and e-book libraries, shopping and attraction directories, and powerful software applications. Funding for Forrest's research came in part from Hewlett-Packard as well as from the National Science Foundation. Princeton University has filed for a patent on the invention. Hewlett-Packard has an option to license rights to the technology. 2.14.3 Nanoring Memory Recent nanotechnology research at Purdue University could pave the way toward faster computer memories and higher density magnetic data storage, all with an affordable price tag. Just like the electronics industry, the data storage industry is on the move toward nanoscale. By shrinking components to below 1/10,000th the width of a human hair, manufacturers could make faster computer chips with more fire- power per square inch. However, the technology for making devices in that size range is still being developed, and the smaller the components get, the more expensive they are to produce. Purdue chemist Alexander Wei may have come up with a surprisingly simple and cheap solution to the shrinking data storage problem. Wei's research team has found a way to create tiny magnetic rings from particles made of cobalt. The rings are much less than 100nm across-an important threshold for the size-conscious computer industry-and can store magnetic information at room temperature. Best of all, these "nanorings" form 