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Rebellious rocker Neil Young hates the sound of compact discs. So he waited 15 years for a different technology, which he says will allow him to share his life's work the way he wants his fans to enjoy it. Starting this fall, Young plans to release a comprehensive archive of music, videos and other material dating back to 1963 on a series of interactive Blu-ray discs, which he demonstrated Tuesday for several thousand software developers and tech enthusiasts at Sun Microsystems' JavaOne conference in San Francisco.

One of the best ways to speed up any computer is to add more memory to it. As the old joke goes, you can't be too rich, too thin or have too much RAM. There are two places data live in a computer: in memory and in storage -- either a hard drive or an optical disk, such as a CD or DVD. Working with information in storage is always slower than working with it in memory. Chances are, if you have a Windows or Macintosh computer, at some point you've filled your available memory with programs and data, and your system must spend more time reading from the hard drive.

Western Digital is now shipping the next generation of its 10,000 RPM "Raptor" series drives. The new drive doubles the previous capacity to 300 GB and picks up a 35 percent performance increase. Aimed at PC and Mac enthusiasts as well as users of professional-grade workstations that can benefit from high-performance drives, the new WD VelociRaptor is a SATA hard drive built in a 2.5-inch form factor that's encased in a special built-in "IcePack" heat sink. The IcePack keeps the little drive extra cool, WD said.

Unlike in the digital audio player market, the fight between NAND flash and hard-disk drive on the personal media player platform is far from over. The 1.8-inch HDD still has a firm grip on the PMP category that requires storage capacity of 20 GB or higher due to the cost per byte advantage over NAND flash. Our consumer survey indicated that among PMP owners, hard drive-powered devices still account for a slight majority of the ownership. On the other hand, the micro-drive segment, which features a capacity ranging between 4 to 12 GB, has been hit hard by the NAND flash.

Companies evaluating iSCSI are driven primarily by the need to lower the cost of their storage infrastructure. However, adoption of iSCSI storage solutions by large enterprises has been slow. A recent study by Aberdeen, surveying more than 140 organizations, provides evidence that iSCSI is now replacing or supplementing fibre channel and other competing technologies in all market segments, including large enterprises. Best-in-Class companies are using iSCSI to reduce overall storage costs and to simplify storage infrastructure and management.

The "digital universe" of data was bigger than expected in 2007 and continuing to explode in size, according to a new study from IDC. The study, sponsored by EMC and titled "The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe: An Updated Forecast of Worldwide Information Growth Through 2011," found that there were about 281 billion gigabytes -- or 281 exabytes -- in the digital universe in 2007, exceeding original estimates by about 10 percent. With a compound annual growth rate of almost 60 percent, meanwhile, the digital universe is also growing faster than was previously thought.

Conserving energy, reducing floor space and managing utility costs are becoming major priorities for IT organizations. As the number of servers continues to grow and demand for storage capacity increases, companies are faced with the challenge of powering and cooling these systems while controlling their energy consumption and complying with environmental regulations. Results from a recent Aberdeen survey provide evidence that the best performing IT organizations experience lower operating costs as a result of implementing a green initiative.

A new free Web-based product, SyncWizard, aims to change the way people store and access their own personal data and files. SyncWizard scans PCs or Macs for the most valuable data and uploads it to a variety of Web-based storage sites, then makes it accessible via live, customized Web page. It's a product of Ajax13, a company helmed by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson. Users can access their data and files via any of the popular Web browsers -- including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

HP launched a new virtual storage disk array targeted for midsized businesses Tuesday. The HP StorageWorks 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array provides medium-sized organization users with a combination of features normally found in systems for enterprise-class businesses. The EVA4400 is a solution for businesses with a need to reduce the costs and complexity of implementing a storage-area network in order to manage large amounts of data, HP said. Targeted at organizations with up to 1,000 employees, the EVA4400 provides users with a virtualized storage and server environment.

IBM announced a host of improvements to its line of storage offerings aimed at businesses large and small. The enhancements provide greater efficiency in tiered storage infrastructures that bring businesses increased cost savings, integrated data security and enhanced archival solutions, according to IBM. They're aimed at helping companies meet compliance requirements necessary in an information on demand environment. Included in IBM's regular update of its storage product lines is the newly improved N7000 series.