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20 Years Later: DVD format today and where will it go?

It was 20 years ago this month that consumer electronics companies Sony and Toshiba launched a new home video format called Digital Video Disc, or DVD. The format promised a four-fold increase in resolution over VHS and the permanence of music CDs, in that the video would not degrade as you played it.

The DVD had a lot of promise. It would be a new optical format for PCs, since the CD-ROM format had reached its capacity rather quickly, and it would also be used as a new format for music, called DVD-Audio. But the launch in the U.S. on March 19 was centered around home video.

It’s hard to overstate how different and primitive things were back then. We all had CRT televisions that used a 4:3 aspect ratio and watched movies using the TV’s built-in speakers. DVD used a format called Dolby Digital 5.1, a 6-speaker surround methodology that virtually no one knew anything about, and none of the stereo receivers had it built-in.

DVD rolled out in seven major US cities before its nation-wide launch. If one decided to become an early adopter, this meant a $600 investment in a Dolby Digital amp that connected to the receiver, $800 for a shiny new DVD player, and a few hundred to increase the speaker count.

The choice of movies available on the new format, however, was very limited. Fox, Paramount, Disney and Universal did not support the format at launch, so many movies were unavailable and would not be for years. The studios feared theft of the content and people stealing perfect copies of their work. Bootleg VHS was one thing, since they degraded, but a DVD copy would never degrade.

Then came a second threat to DVD: retailer Circuit City took the format and created a variant called Divx. Divx was different in that you had to connect a phone line to the player and basically get approval to watch it. You could buy the movie for $4.50 and watch it once, then pay $3.25 to watch it again, or pay $12.49 for unlimited viewing.

The introduction of Divx rubbed everyone up the wrong way. It was viewed as Circuit City and the studios trying to control viewing habits and get more money out of us for each viewing. The reaction among internet fans of DVD was incredible, with sites like The Digital Bits leading an unrelenting anti-Divx charge.

Divx came out in 1998 and crashed and burned spectacularly. In the process it also took down Circuit City. At the time of DVD’s launch, Best Buy was a modest chain, but it threw its support behind DVD fully. On every DVD board people swore they would never set foot in Circuit City again for the Divx effort. They all supported Best Buy and gave it their business. This resulted in Best Buy becoming a retail giant, while Circuit City is dead. No doubt there were many more variables, but Circuit City’s ill-fated Divx project had at least something to do with its fall.

In 1999, the holdouts were starting to come on board. Stephen Spielberg was among the last to do so, not even allowing movies he executive produced to be released on DVD, until that year.

And then it happened. A kid in Norway named Jon Johansen produced a small utility called DeCSS, which copied the video file off a DVD, removed the encryption, and wrote the video back out without the encryption. Thus perfect copies were made, realizing the fear of every studio.

Later on the investigation journalist Andy Patrizio of Wired News tracked down Jon on IRC and spoke with him. Johansen said that a PC DVD player made by a company called Xing failed to encrypt their deprotection key, so he was able to make DeCSS from that. He agreed to be interviewed and didn’t mind using his name. He was only 15 and lived in Norway.

LB Jon Lech Johansen, DVD-Jon

The interview ran on Wired News and drew 400,000 views. In 1999, that was a lot.

There was a hope that since DVD was still in its early days they could do some kind of firmware upgrade to fix the security and render DeCSS useless, but they never did, and now DVD ISOs clog BitTorrent.

Nonetheless the Divx and DeCSS issues, DVD survived studio boycotts and by 2003, sales surpassed VHS. It created a collector culture that didn’t exist in VHS, since the discs didn’t degrade in quality. Also, with DVD extras, studios started adding director’s cuts, deleted scenes, behind the scenes interviews, and other interesting qualities. People built libraries in the hundreds and even thousands.

In 2006 came another problem: a format split. DVD’s resolution is 720×480, while high definition TV is 1920×1080. That’s actually six times the resolution. HDTV was coming into play and suddenly DVDs looked like VHS by comparison.

Two competing factions came out with HD-versions of DVD. Sony had Blu-ray, a completely new design with higher capacity, while Toshiba led the way with HD DVD, a derivative of DVD with a lower capacity. After a two-year fight (2006-2008), Blu-ray gained momentum and Toshiba threw in the towel. It was in some ways a Pyrrhic victory. Blu-ray won the physical media war only to have its lunch eaten by on-demand and streaming.

And so here we are 20 years later. Video stores have all but vanished from the retail landscape. Sony is no longer an electronics company beyond the PlayStation, and Toshiba is in such dire financial straits it may not survive. DVD-Audio never went anywhere despite being a massive improvement over Compact Disc audio. Circuit City and Divx are dead. DVD as a format is fading and the studios have all sharply reduced their home video efforts.

Despite this, we have a history of discarding technologies and then realizing what we’ve lost. Print books are coming back into favor, as is vinyl for music. Maybe DVD will get a boost from 4K video.

At the same time there is a number of industries out there where DVD not only maintained its positions, but also improved them over the last two decades. One of them is digital data archiving and preservation. Long term data storage becomes only possible when a storage media is able to resist the external environment challenges, such as temperature and humidity contrasts.

Falcon Technologies International continuously conducts quality assurance tests to make sure that optical media archival solutions are able to store and preserve data for at least 500 yeas. There is no other data storage solution that can guarantee such a long minimum lifespan at the moment. The closest possible technology is 5D quartz disc, but it is still in the stage of concept.

One thing’s for sure, no one could have predicted what the first 20 years of DVD would be like, so don’t even try to guess then next 20.

SOURCE: Computerworld

Exploring the History of Archiving: Exhibit Examines the Evolution of Technology Used to Record Memories

Before we typed on PCs, touched smartphone screens and wrote on paper, people in the past carved into rocks and clay or wrote on trees and even animal bones.

It’s the instinct to record that perhaps set us apart from other species.

It also is through documentation that our memories can expand beyond what our brains can remember and that we can pass down memories to the next generations.

The newly-opened Memory Museum within the National Library of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, sheds light on how documentation evolved throughout history. From pre-historic rock art to Egyptian papyrus; from woodblock to modern printing; from a typewriter to a PC, humans have managed to find a better way to record and store memories and data.

Upon entering the exhibition hall, located within the institution’s digital library building, visitors see a media art piece featuring a human face and a book.

Renowned media artist Lee Lee Nam created the piece to celebrate the opening of the museum. Titled “Face Within a Book,” it features LED lights on metal slates and the lights create five different imageries that represent humans’ creativity and imaginativeness.

It represents that humans are destined to archive, and that books and libraries are important for that reason.

About 200 items are on display.

One of the highlights from the first section of the exhibition, titled “Archival Media, Awakening Civilization,” is the Great Dharani Sutra of Immaculate and Pure Light (Mugujeonggwang Daedaranigyeong), printed in the 8th century during the Unified Silla period (668-935) period. The publication is considered the world’s oldest woodblock print, although what is on display at the museum is a copy.

While this section is more about text, the second section expands to scope into how humans archived pictures and sounds. Naturally, items like cameras and films are displayed here. One of the interesting artifacts in this section is the stereoscopic viewer from the 1900. When people gaze at two photos through the viewer, they get a 3-D effect. Lee Kwi-bok, the chief conservator at the library’s preservation and research center said, “the basic logic is the same as the 3-D equipment today,” adding that such devices were brought to Korea by American missionaries.

The last part focuses on digital archiving, showing how PCs and their components have developed. Korea’s first ever personal computer, SE-8001, developed in 1981, is on display, as well as Korea’s first hard disk drive (HDD), donated by Yonsei University, which can store up to 20 megabytes, as well as Korea’s first semiconductor, donated by Samsung Electronics.

There are some interesting programs that visitors can take part in at the end of the exhibition.

They can write a letter using ancient printing tools, like woodblocks and metal movable types, as well as a typewriter. Also if you have any data on older media formats, like VHS, reel-to-reel tape, cassette tapes or LP records, you can take them to the museum, which can convert the data into a more modern format, like digital files, CDs or DVDs.

“Civilization and the culture today exist because of archiving and media,” director Park Joo-hwan said. “Archiving is what transcends time and space and connects the past with the present. And libraries have been part of this process throughout the history.”

Source: Korea JoongAng Daily

Falcon Technologies International LLC shares these universal values of cultural heritage preservation and puts them as a base for the development of archival media production. We firmly believe that without knowing where we come from, there would be no vision of where are we heading to, therefore data preservation for the future generations is essential.

FalconMEDIA Century Archival is a professional grade optical media, that is able to store and preserve data of any kind for hundreds of years, literally meaning that many things around us may change forever, but the information that is stored under the Century Archival’s Gold Protective Layer will be still accessible.

Stop Worrying And Love The Compact Disc, the format that refuses to lie down…

When the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) released its final figures for 2016, commentators immediately seized upon certain tropes, a few recurring patterns. Vinyl was back, they said – accounting for some 3.2 million album sales. Downloading was over, it followed, with streaming becoming the de facto means of listening to music in the digital environment.

Yet despite 47 million album sales the compact disc was rarely – if ever – mentioned. Sure, the humble CD may have recorded an 11% year on year drop, but let’s put it this way: despite virtually no media attention, despite technology overtaking it, despite record shops remaining out-of-the-way places, the compact disc ratcheted up 47 million sales. That’s almost one per person across the whole of England. That’s a lot of music that nobody talks about.

Of course, there are very good reasons for both sides of this. Firstly, the compact disc itself is an inherently great format.

Launched in 1982, it became the warhorse of the music industry as labels reached their commercial zenith. Vinyl was phased out, cassette never really became the format it promised it would, and the era of the compact disc heralded undreamed of profits – in 1998 the label system reached its titanic bulk, its absolute zenith. It scaled an absolute mountaintop of compact discs.

This flood of money also enabled artists to try new things with the format. Pearl Jam’s 1994 release ‘Vitalogy’ echoed a medical textbook from 1899, fusing imagery and text with outmoded treatises on the nature of life. Eddie Vedder, in fact, was so committed to the idea that an extra 50 cents from the album deal was removed from the band’s end to make it happen.

On the other side of the Atlantic, too, great minds were at work. Spiritualized’s behemoth work of space-rock gospel ‘Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’ – 20 years old this year – was presented in lavish packaging that echoed the addictions that plagued creative force J Spaceman. Featuring 12 blistered discs, one for each song, the presentation even included faux medicinal advice on their use, and proscribed dosage.

But that’s not all. The CD could be used to ‘hide’ certain tracks, creating wonderful hidden treats for fans. Nirvana smuggled ‘Endless, Nameless’ onto ‘Nevermind’, while even The Stone Roses vastly overblown and absurdly over-hyped ‘Second Coming’ found room for a hidden cut (as if that album needed even more ballast to weigh it down…)

It couldn’t last. With profits flooding in, the music industry channelled its attention to ratcheting up those figures, with the price of CDs going through the roof – searching through charity shop racks now almost feels like peering into an alien world, with long-vanished retailers such as Our Price demanding £14.99 or more for Kula Shaker albums. No wonder the roof fell in.

Napster launched in 1999, ending the music industry’s easy-living 90s in one fell swoop. Profits dropped, panic set in, and a whole series of entertainment companies struggled, and often failed entirely, to adapt. The CD, though, sat through it all – before streaming became viable, before iTunes became the norm, it was sometimes the only thing that kept the music industry afloat, like water wings on a particularly nervous toddler that has somehow made its way to the deep end of the pool.

Perhaps that’s why the compact disc is so unloved. A totemic item of music industry manipulation, it’s also had the misfortune to stand firm, to hold its ground. Vinyl almost disappeared entirely, becoming the occupation of hoarders and record nerds before its resurgence took hold in 2007. The cassette, too, has fallen drastically, with Sony halting production of its iconic Walkman player back in 2010.

The compact disc, though, is still there, still bringing in results. Sold everywhere from niche record shops to Sainsbury’s, it’s ringing in cash registers across the land – even with an 11% drop, 47 million units in 12 months is an imposing figure.

And it’s also a key element of the underground. CD-Rs are easy to smash out, meaning that certain facets of the electronic, noise, and DIY indie scenes are based around the compact disc. It doesn’t take much to make the presentation special, and it’s almost always worth your while – just check out this foldable cardboard sleeve from Scottish group PAWS:

So maybe it’s time to stop worrying and love the compact disc. The CD is the old friend who’s always been there, but you never get around to calling. It’s the solid 7/10 player who never quite gets the match ball. It’s small, it makes pretty rainbow shapes in the sunshine, and if you press pause and then rewind for 30 seconds it might spew out a previously hidden cut.

Of course, they won’t play if you smear jam on them… but then, why would you want to? Compact discs are perfect the way they are.

Source: Clash Music

How to Let Your Media Speak for Itself?

Even though we live in the era of flash-memory, hard disc drives and cloud storage solutions, optical disc still remains number one choice for the offline data distribution and long-term information storage and archiving.

Optical disc - still leading archival tool — Optical disc – still leading archival tool

Just like a good old book, an optical media disc also has a cover that contains the summary of what is recorded on it – otherwise it would be impossible to distinguish two absolutely identical glowing circular pieces of pressurized polycarbonate from each other. A disc printable layer (sometimes called simply “label”) is something that gives a disc personality, lets it speak for itself and identifies what is recorded on it. It is important for this label to be vibrant and colorful to replicate the design that was initially tailored by the publisher, so that the end consumer will be able to understand what type of content is on the disc from the very first glance.

Vibrant and colourful disc label - good way to boost the sales potential of the media — Vibrant and colourful disc label – good way to boost the sales potential of the media

There were plenty ways to create the labels for the media: the most common method was to print the design on circular pieces of paper and glue it to the surface, but times have changed and not it is impossible to glue discs that spin at over 5000 RPM instead of 33 RPM back in the days of vinyl. Some manufacturers even tried to implement a technology of “in-drive label burning”, but the labels made with this technology were typically black and white and very faded.

For over a decade, Falcon Technologies International LLC prioritized its Research and Development efforts on printable surfaces and managed to implement high-tech solutions into its production process. FTI’s wide range of printable layers are designed to meet any professional media duplication industry requirements according to highest standards.

FTI is proud to introduce its brand new SMART GLOSSY printable layer – a surface that is able to illustrate your personalized graphics and labels brighter and shinier than ever before. FalconMEDIA Smart Glossy printable discs are perfect to create customized, long-lasting, ultra-vivid design disc labels. Our Research and Development team have invested significant resources to tailor this brand new technology to allows you to have superior image definition, color saturation and vivid quality of printed graphics.

Key Features of the Product:

Superior ink absorption and faster ink drying printable surface (best in class)
Better glossiness surface delivering full color, glossy photo quality printing
Excellent color whiteness
Consistent printing across the full surface giving excellent uniformity
Long lasting print surface
Excellent water resisitant quality makes the printable surface free from scratches, smudging and smearing in wet conditions
High yield on inkjet printer (economic ink consumption)
Excellent Black/White Contrast with economical ink saturation setting
Wider compatibility on all standard professional inkjet printers
Good handling characteristics to ensure smooth operation with leading robotic duplication and publishing systems

To conclude it would be fair to note here that in media duplication and distribution business it is very important to select the right supplier, that is able to ensure high quality of the optical media and compatibility with a wide range of mass-printing equipment.

CEO of Falcon Technologies International LLC participated in the panel discussion during the Ras Al Khaimah Finance and Investment Forum

Michael Gutowski, CEO of Falcon Technologies International LLC participated in the panel discussion on the importance of innovation in business during the Ras Al Khaimah Finance and Investment Forum on December 13th and 14th.

During the panel discussion Mr. Gutowski emphasized that currently FTI holds the status of the best professional optical media producer globally, which has been achieved for a number of reasons, one of them being the constant implementation of small innovations on a daily basis and continuous improvement of the production processes.

“People are as important as innovation,” – Mr. Gutowski stated during his speech, – “You can’t change everything in a single big shot, as creating an innovation culture is an every day process.”

Mr. Gutowski also pointed out that an essential part of the FTI’s success is company’s ability and willingness to “listen to customers” and meeting their needs, based on the comments and suggestions that they receive. Within FTI listening to customer feedback became and remains the key trigger which promotes innovative product development practicies.

During the panel discussion it was also noted that early stage businesses should consider seeking partners in areas of expertise that they do not have in-house experience to ensure an increased chance of successfully translating their core strengths into a product offering with wider market appeal and less perceived business weaknesses.

Critical Role of Data Archiving for the Financial Institutions

Finance is an excessively regulated industry, with many moving parts and data that must be monitored and reported in order to stay protected and compliant with all regulations. One of the most important aspects of regulatory compliance for banks and financial organisations is record keeping and archiving electronic communication data. With the right tools and plans in place, archiving compliance does not have to be a daunting task.

Financial institutions generate a lot of data, which has to be archived by law.

Brokers, dealers, investment advisors, lending agents, futures and transfer agents, and businesses like mortgage companies, credit unions, banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, exchanges, commercial and retail banks, lenders and insurers, payday lenders, foreclosure relief services and debt collectors are all required to capture, monitor and archive business related communication data for review, audits, eDiscovery, litigation, and compliance.

But how do you become compliant? Let’s just jump right into the What, Why, and How of archiving compliance for banking and financial organisations.

Compliance with data archiving regulations is vital prevention of cyber crimes.

In short, a financial institution of any kind should be archiving all business related electronic communication data.

Email has been around long enough that just about everyone realizes the need to have a complete and easily accessible email archive. But you should really be archiving every bit of electronic communication data created by your organization. This includes social media, instant messaging, and content created on mobile devices.

The most obvious reason to archive emails and other business communication data is that your business is regulated and thus, mandated to do so.

Another thing that has to be archived - corporate e-mails — Another thing that has to be archived – corporate e-mails

Another reason why you should archive, that isn’t obvious at first, is data leakage. If you have proprietary data, customer account, transactional or confidential information, you are obligated to make sure that it isn’t shared, either purposefully or accidentally. The use of email, social media, instant messaging, and mobile devices increases the ease at which your employees could share this type of data. Couple that with the fact that the line between personal and business communication is blurred on corporate mobile devices. In addition to data leakage, you need to guard against insider trading, inappropriate financial advice, and stating personal beliefs about a financial investment or trade as fact. Having an archiving solution provides you with protection against these threats by giving you oversight. This oversight on employee communication data, coupled with an effective communication policy, will not only discourage bad behavior, but will encourage proper behavior according to established policy. Your employees will know that, according to your policy, everything they communicate is being stored and can be accessed for review.

As you can see, almost every commercial entity produces and accumulates large amounts of various data on a daily basis, so the “archival question” is becoming more actual nowadays and will become even more critical in the future. Data storage and archival solutions in the age of “informational revolution” we live in are required to provide not only the big data storage and rendering capacities, but also ensure the integrity and accessibility of data for years, decades and centuries.

art4 Falcon Technologies International LLC’s Research and Development team have created a solution that complies with the archival needs and requirements of the financial institutions and government entities. Our FalconMEDIA Century Archival CDs and DVDs with golden and platinum reflective layers showed outstanding results during the internal and third-party benchmarking tests: data stored on these professional archival discs stays accessible and integer for more than 500 years – timeframe that is enough to archive data for almost 7 future generations of the humanity.
Source: GWAVA

Russia passes ‘Big Brother’ anti-terror laws, telecom providers now have to store huge volumes of data for minimum 6 months.

We live in the age of informational technology. Digital telecommunication systems have changed our world drastically over the last 50 years. Everything now is on a distance of arm’s length: e-commerce, online banking, food delivery through web – all these things are now known as essential parts of our daily routines. Technology gives us more freedom to quickly do things, that previously took more time to get them done. And as we know, freedom is a great value, but it is also a well known fact that bigger freedom carries bigger risks of various kinds.

Where does the online freedom ends and national security preventive measures start?

Ever since Internet became widely used across the world, the evil elements like terrorist organizations, criminals and corrupt politicians started using its advantages to perform all sorts of malicious activities. Soon the “Internet freedom” became a source of high danger for the worldwide society. At some point the laws, that were usually enforced “offline” became absolutely inapplicable “online”, and this “jurisdiction hole” was used by many to perform certain criminal activities without facing any kind of responsibility. World faced a challenge and jurisdiction had to be widened towards the digital world of the Internet.

The debate about “Internet freedom of speech” and “Online freedom” in general are still going on. Just like the general concept of “freedom of speech”, it makes extreme points of views collapse in the eternal “fight for truth”.

Even though freedom of speech is an essential part of Pantheon of Universal Democratic Values, one can not deny the fact that any system has to be held under control. If not controlled – system eventually collapses and evolves into chaos.

Earlier this year Russia’s parliament has passed harsh anti-terrorism measures law, which is mostly related to the online sphere. The regulations package is known as “Yarovaya law”, named after Irina Yarovaya, Russian MP who is known for previous legislative crackdowns on protesters and non-governmental organizations.

Russian MP - Irina Yarovaya — Russian MP – Irina Yarovaya

New legislative norm makes it a crime to not warn the authorities of “reliable” information about planned terrorist attacks, armed uprisings, hijacking and several other crimes. Expressing approval of terrorism on the internet will now be punishable with up to seven years in prison.

The legislation obliges telephone and internet providers to store records of all communications for six months and all metadata for three years, as well as help intelligence agencies decode encrypted messaging services. Telecoms firms have complained that users rather than providers typically possess the encryption keys, and that storing this huge amount of information would require expensive new infrastructure.

The overall volume of data grows exponentially.

The new law clearly states the following obligations that Russian Telecom companies have to accept:

To store physical copies of the information confirming the fact of receipt, transmission, delivery and/or processing of voice data, text messages, pictures, sounds, video or other communications (i.e., metadata reflecting these communications) for a period of 3 years (with respect to telecom providers) or 1 year (with respect to Internet arrangers).
To store physical copies of the the contents of communications, including voice data, text messages, pictures, sounds, video or other communications (this requirement will come into force starting from July 1, 2018 for a period of 6 months.
All physical copies of the data have to be stored on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Now these regulations put a serious challenge in front of the telecom companies. The cost of IT infrastructure that will be able to store such giant volumes of information for the period of minimum 6 months must be very high. Therefore, these companies are now looking for the cost-efficient solutions, that will be reliable and compliant to the regulations listed in the new law.

Optical disc storage - a relatively cheap way of data archiving. — Optical disc storage – a relatively cheap way of data archiving.

Optical media based solutions might be a good answer: they are normally lower-cost, reliable and long-lasting. Big volumes of information, stored on the so-called “cold backup” storage showed decent level of cost-efficiency and reliability in cases like Facebook’s cpld storage (LINK).

In FTI we believe that optical media is still a highly-potential technology that may serve as a solution to a wide range of challenges faced by the informational society today. We stay committed to the “Quality and Beyond” statement and carry on producing and supplying the cutting-edge optical media for a wide range of industries.

Our “Century Archival” line is the product specifically tailored to store data for long periods of time. “Century Archival” DVDs demonstrated capability of storing data for up to 200 years, whereas the “Century Archival” CDs – a longevity in excess of 400 years, making this product line the most durable and secure archival digital media product available in the market today.

Falcon Technologies International LLC Celebrates 11th Anniversary

Falcon Technologies International LLC have celebrated its 11th anniversary on November 13th, 2016. Since the company launch in 2005, we have managed to build a great team of specialists to develop and manufacture the highest quality of optical media products available in the market today. Marking the beginning of second decade on the global market, FTI is looking forward to further development and growth of its worldwide presence and remaining at the cutting edge of product development and quality assurance in the field of optical media.

On behalf of the FTI Management Team we would like to thank all of our clients and partners worldwide for being with us all these years!

What Every Consumer Should Know About Big Data

While “Big Data” may sound like nothing more than a buzzword, many companies are using it for a wide variety of online applications; for instance, to target marketing efforts to customers more effectively. But what is big data, really?

Big data is the collection of information that can be gathered online, which businesses can analyze and use to find patterns, trends or associations that will help them make better decisions. But while big data can be used to enhance user experience and provide targeted ads, there are still some privacy concerns. Eight members of Forbes Technology Council offer their insights into things everyone should know about big data:

1. Big Data Isn’t Moral

Data is just that — data. Just as the news interprets data, so does every application to determine how to use it. The same data that allows stores to intelligently sell you what you really want may also allow a government to infringe upon your rights. The data is just data, but how it is used determines morality. “1984″ was written before the means were known, but human nature has remained the same. – Nicholas Thompson, Grit

2. Aggregation Masks Private Data

Consumers often fear big data due to privacy concerns. However, if big data is regulated and used properly through aggregation, individuals’ privacy will not be breached, and at the same time, consumers’ experience will be enhanced. I personally love it when Amazon or iTunes recommend products based on aggregated behavioral data. – Arash Asli, Yocale

3. Most Big Data Is There To Help You

It might sound cliché, but 99% of the organizations using big data are doing so to align you with relevant content or experiences (and spare you from those that have nothing to do with you). The better the data and analysis, the better the experience you’re going to have with the brands and content you engage with. And it’s more likely you’ll discover new things that are also relevant to you. – Or Shani, Adgorithms

4. If It’s Online, It’s Discoverable

In this day and age, it’s important to treat any data you give online as discoverable. Anything you put out there will be found no matter how many times you delete it. If it goes online, someone is archiving it. Take this into consideration before posting anything on the web and you’ll be just fine! – Danny Boice, Trustify

5. Privacy Is A Real Issue

As with all data collection, privacy will be top of mind for consumers. Social networks and governments are taking consumers’ concerns around privacy seriously, rolling out new legislation and regulations. When dealing with big data, the industry needs to respect and protect privacy by design. This means designing in principles of data governance, collection, anonymization, usage and retention. – Tim Barker, DataSift

6. Big Data Enhances User Experience

Consumers should realize big data has been going on for years and has contributed to enhanced online shopping experiences, such as suggested items in your Amazon account. There are many laws in place to protect privacy and they continue to get more stringent. We do not want companies restricted too much, as their user experience could suffer. – Chris Ciabarra, Revel Systems INC

7. Big Data Supports Our Digital Experiences

Too many consumers believe big data is ethereal and unapproachable, but they should know that it is the enabling the phenomenon that supports every digital experience they have, whether it’s using their preferred map app or sharing their family experiences over social media. Big data underpins it all and is going to enable even more incredible experiences in the future.– Adam Wray, Basho Technologies

8. Machines Don’t Gossip

The concerns consumers have over data privacy and giving companies access to their personal data may be assuaged with new artificially intelligent systems. These systems can analyze big data (without sharing it) and, at last, break the deadlock between consumers’ fears about data privacy and business’ need for more data/better personalization. – Paulo Marques, Feedzai

Data may be called “immortal” in some sense nowadays. Everything one has ever written or has been recorded saying is saved forever, in some obscure server somewhere on the planet. Going in and deleting data doesn’t work either. It can simply be recovered, even by a hacker with limited skills. Try pulling out of Facebook, for example. While your account will be shut down, Facebook will tell you that you are better off deactivating it so you can come back to it at some future time. It brings to mind Don Henley and Glenn Frey’s immortal line from the song Hotel California, the Eagles’ greatest hit, which says “you can check out, but you can never leave”.

Data is now referred to in zetabytes (where one zetabyte is equivalent to one trillion gigabytes). Studies show that in 2006, the Internet produced about 0.16 zetabytes of data, which then grew at a compound annual rate of 25% for the next decade, going to 8.5 zetabytes at the end of last year.

It is important to understand that in this age of Big Data we live in it is crucial to prioritize the secure storage of private information. The less it is connected to the Internet, the safer it is – an axiom known almost by any school kid nowadays. Anything that is anyhow connected to the web is automatically unsafe and non-secure.

Falcon Technologies International LLC understands the need of safe data storage solutions and develops the supreme quality optical media to ensure that the data is stored safely and for extended periods of time. FTI’s Century Archival discs are able to securely store the sensitive information for hundreds of years, ensuring that it stays integer, accessible and readable by the future generations.

The need for innovation and longevity in technology

Thirteen seems to be the unlucky number for Apple, with a decline in iPhone sales leading to the first revenue decline in 13 years. This has been attributed in part to the struggling Chinese economy, still the second-largest market in the world for Apple products behind the USA. The iPhone accounts for nearly two-thirds of Apple’s revenue. However the company sold 16% fewer iPhones than it had during the same period in 2015 and made 18% less profit from them. The total tally for the device was $32.9bn from 51.2m phones sold; the year previous Apple brought in $40.3bn from 61.2m phones.

So what is exactly driving the first annual revenue decline since 2001? Perhaps the entry price of the smartphone in the developing world is still a barrier, even among very inexpensive devices. The iPhone smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. run Apple’s iOS mobile operating system with the first generation iPhone being released on June 29, 2007. Followed by the iPad, and both were constantly updated with new, highly-anticipated iterations which sold in their hundreds of millions around the world, sending the company’s sales to ever soaring heights. A year ago Apple sold $58bn worth of gadgets, this equates to nearly $650m a day in the first three months of the year.

The Apple Watch has been publicized by the company as a multi-billion dollar business, rivaling many classic watch brands. Thus So far Apple has not delivered a breakout detailing the number of units sold per quarter. Instead the Apple Watch revenue has been combined with other products including the iPod, Apple TV, and Beats. Samsung shipped 0.4 million of its Gear and Gear2 watches in both 2015 and 2016. However Garmin was the only brand to show growth with shipments of 0.6 million in the third quarter of 2016 compared with 0.1 million in 2015.

Apple has promised some “amazing innovations” in the pipeline. Such as new headphone ports which are dust-proof and waterproof, and the redesign of key buttons. Are these innovations going far enough and will the brand achieve longevity? Many see Apple’s iPhone 7 objective as a premium product and not innovation. The products no longer have their unique appeal and a point of mental saturation has been reached.

Google self-driving car project

In the battle for longevity, constant new ideas and innovation sees one stand out diverse innovation are the Google self-driving cars, this represents a new breed of autonomous cars, developed by Google X as part of its project to develop technology for mainly electric cars. The vehicles are taught to navigate through many complicated scenarios on city streets.

These cars use their sensors and software to sense objects like pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and more and are designed to safely drive around them. The cars use sensors and software to detect objects like pedestrians, cyclists, other vehicles and more (e.g. How to navigate through construction zones), and are designed to safely drive around them. The development has been initiated since 2009 and the work is building towards vehicles that take you to a destination at the push of a button. Components have been added to existing cars like Lexus SUVs, the next step sees designing of a new prototype from the ground up to better explore what should go into a fully self-driving vehicle. This includes removing the steering wheel and pedals, and incorporating software and sensors which will handle the driving.

FTI and innovation

At the heart of the range of products Falcon Technologies International L.L.C., FTI offer is Innovation. Innovation is the key driving force behind our product diversity. FTI has always believed that a strong culture of innovation, in all areas of the company, is an essential contributor to business success. High quality R&D has historically been at the foundation of FTI since it’s inception in 2005, and the company has consistently invested in extensive and innovative product R&D, and in acquiring a world-class, in-house knowledge base at the forefront of the optical digital media technology landscape. With the aim of market longevity and creativity today FTI continues to engage in cutting-edge R&D, internally and in collaboration with partners in academia, research and commerce.

FalconMedia SOUND suits both professional and amateur recording requirements, whether mass producing an audio CD, recording a concert master copy, or facilitating the amateur musician who wants to produce and sell his music on a smaller scale.

FTI’s culture of R&D and innovation go hand-in-hand, with our central commitment to new product development, process and manufacturing improvements, segmented market research and advancements in the science of Optical Digital Media key indicators of how innovation runs through the fabric of FTI’s operations.