Summit Notebook

from MediaFile:

Speak, memory! The eternal search for notebooks with flash drives

Good news for us computer geeks! PCs are nearly ready to ditch hard drives for faster, less energy-intensive drives with flash memory, like in a camera or cell phone, according to memory maker Micron, which ought to know. That is exciting news for victims of crashed hard drives and people who always want something new.

"I think it'll be a story in 2011, and it'll be pretty good penetration in 2012. But, you know, maybe I'm wrong," said Mark Durcan, president and chief operating officer of Micron, during the Reuters Global Technology Summit.

Sadly, he may well be right about the last part. The last Micron exec to speak about so-called solid state drives to an appreciatively nerdy Reuters summit was CEO Steve Appleton, who in November 2005 predicted that flash drives would replace hard drives within five years. Actually, he's still got time, but folks better hurry!

There are some notebooks with flash drives (like Apple's super-thin MacBook Air) and  Durcan says consumers love 'em. Hiccups with the technology from a year and a half or so are gone -- power efficiency now beats hard drives, and annoying problems which slowed solid state drives have been solved, he said, comparing now with when Appleton spoke, on the cusp of 2006.

"In 2006 it was the promise. It wasn't the reality. But it's real now." Still, he added, computer makers are wary of the volatile prices.

Hopefully by next year's Tech Summit that will all be worked out.

No gadgets please, we’re tech executives!

Tech managers are not just savvy about new technology but also own the coolest, most cutting edge gadgets, right? Think again, some of them have no use for gadgets at all, finding pleasure instead in century old paintings and (gasp) pen and paper.

Alain Dutheil heads the world’s second largest mobile chipmaker, ST-Ericsson, but told Reuters Technology Summit he is not a big fan of the gadgets that run on his company’s chips.

“I am not a gadget man. I prefer paintings,” Dutheil said. He is particularly fond of late 19th and early 20th century masters from his home region Provence, which he collects.

Warren East, who runs leading chip designer ARM, admits he too has little use for gadgets. “I am a pen and paper kind of man. I can’t live without my fountain pen, it goes everywhere.” He does own a BlackBerry but says it’s just a “work tool” for him.

KPN’s Stan Miller, responsible for the Dutch company’s international mobile business, has only one thing to say when asked what his favourite device is or which gadget he cannot live without: “I don’t do gadgets.”

CEO hails motorcycle to make it to Reuters Summit on time

Alain Dutheil, CEO of  mobile chipmaker  ST-Ericsson,  is not a man easily deterred when he wants to get somewhere.

“My plane was late and when I arrived there was no car there to take me into town as planned.” So what did the 64-year-old do?

“I took a motorcycle, it was the only way I could make it to the Reuters Summit on time.”

Dutheil, who could retire next year, said the ride took him 25 minutes from Orly during morning rush hour in Paris for 55 euros, just around 15 euros more than a regular cab fare.

“Of course, I didn’t ride the bike myself,” he added.