And that’s a fairly hefty increase
of some 60% over the twelve months before (the number is expected
to reach 15m by 2007 - what is even more interesting though is
that it seems home users are far more fearless about introducing
wireless networking technology than the corporate's are.
A lot of this is down to the boom in broadband, of course, as
it becomes possible to share one Internet connection around a
home and still get a good speed. And as broadband speeds continue
to increase, it’s equally likely that more will be looking
down the wireless route for their home.
Bigger Recordable DVD's
Currently, if you’re burning to a DVD you are - with one
or two exceptions - limited to 4.7GB. However, under development
now from the likes of Pioneer and Philips are dual layer versions
of DVD-R and DVD+R, which can potentially hold up to 8.5GB of
data apiece.
The discs work by adjusting the focus of the burner’s
laser beam to move it onto the second layer, and many commercial
DVD movies employ this method anyway (which is why you occasionally
see a slight pause in the middle of your latest blockbuster purchase).
It’s unclear at this stage whether the discs will be compatible
with existing drives, but a launch for the new discs is still
expected at some point
in 2004.
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