Moving and Storage Business News

The News Review:

- Samsung Developing Cheaper, Faster Chips
- Moving beyond the iPod
- Zimbabwe: Increase Production, Cattle Producers Urged
- RFID System tracks assets and consignment materials.

Samsung Developing Cheaper, Faster Chips
PC World – Oct 23, 2007
–> Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service Tuesday, October 23, 2007 06:00 AM PDT Samsung Electronics Co. has developed a chip-manufacturing technique able to significantly increase the amount of music, pictures, videos and other data people can store in future iPods, iPhones and other devices. The world’s largest memory chip maker showed off a 64G-bit multilevel cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chip made with an entirely new 30-nanometer production technology. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and the measure refers to the average size of the smallest features on the chip. The manufacturing breakthrough, which Samsung calls self-aligned double patterning technology (SaDPT), will enable the company to greatly increase the storage capacity of new NAND flash memory chips once the technology is in commercial production.

Moving beyond the iPod
ZDNet – Oct 23, 2007
The sustaining elements of the computing revolution weren’t unique to Apple–the company merely made those elements more attractive. Nearly a generation later, Apple is once again trying to create a totally controlled, self-contained environment–this time not for computers, but for music and entertainment. However, the market served with Apple’s iPod devices is far more digitally sophisticated than those early computer users. And today’s legions of tech-savvy music listeners are not likely to accept the company’s shackles for long. Despite popular conception, Apple did not invent the digital portable music player…
We’re already beginning to see this paradigm shift. Consider the following industry changes, which have occurred in the last several years:• Traditional audio manufacturers–Denon, Yamaha, Bose–are bringing to market equipment boasting super storage, connectivity and the ability to play multiple audio formats. • TiVo and other set-tops are tapping their storage and processing abilities for more than time-shifting TV shows. • All the major cell phone manufacturers have phones with increased storage, processing power, connectivity and use of different audio and video formats in their five-year design plans. This year alone we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of new music phones and a clear shift in the marketing to consumers. The greatest objective for today’s music listeners–what they regard as their inalienable right–is absolute portability: music that can be accessed anywhere, at anytime. Today’s consumers want their music immediately available at home, in their car, at work, on their phones, at a party, or while working out at the gym, without the hassle of using multiple devices that are each tethered to different services.

Zimbabwe: Increase Production, Cattle Producers Urged
AllAfrica.com – Oct 23, 2007
Speaking during the Windmill Cattle field day at Doon Side Farm in Mutorashanga last week, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Cde David Chapfika, said the Cold Storage Company had resumed beef exports to regional and far East markets such as Hong Kong. GA_googleFillSlot(“AllAfrica_Story_Inset”); "Malaysian veterinarians visited our country recently to inspect some of the CSC facilities with a view to importing beef from here. We are hopeful that in the near future, this market will also be available to us," he said. He added that these strategies would involve developing sustainable breeding programmes and adopting high management standards to achieve quality and maximum breeds. "Pedigree cattle play a very important part in the cattle industry-in recent years, this component has decreased significantly…
"Farmers must develop strategies to substitute these raw materials if their cattle are to avoid malnutrition or at worst, starvation. Thin animals have poor reproductive performances, and limited resistance to diseases and parasites, all resulting in low performances or productivity," he added. Cde Chapfika, however, urged companies that produce stock feed, pharmaceutical and dip chemical manufacturing industries to continue training farmers which will have a long term positive impact on the live stock sector. "Training programmes should also be extended to cover other areas like animal health and breeding in order to give our farmers a complete package," he said. He added that the Government was working on creating an environment that is conducive for farmers to rebuild the national beef herd to above pre-land reform period both in numbers and quality. "This will enable our country not only to achieve food self sufficiency, but to produce surplus to our local needs and benefit from foreign currency generated through exports to the region and beyond. Relevant Links Southern AfricaAgribusinessEconomy, Business and FinanceZimbabwe "The Government will continue coming up with win-win pricing regime, like foreign currency from exports such as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's import parity pricing scheme," he said.

RFID System tracks assets and consignment materials.
Industrial News Room – Oct 23, 2007
Storage + a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) enabled smart cabinet is a product garnering a great deal of attention from the manufacturing, medical and commercial industries, as a solution for the tracking of assets and consignment materials. The Storage + smart cabinet is the new paradigm in secured, self tracking storage, with an unlimited array of uses. The Storage + smart cabinet knows real time what items it has inside, what items have been removed, and who took them.