The Difference Between Flash Memory and a Hard Drive

One of my favorite computer help sites, Of Zen and Computing, published a great article about the difference between flash memory and a hard drive. I really should have thought of this myself, as I often have to explain the difference.

The short answer...

Both are used for long term storage. A hard drive uses spinning magnetic disks. Flash memory is just a chip, it has no moving parts. No moving parts means it is less likely to fail. However, you can't just replace your hard drive with flash memory, yet.

For more information, read the entire article.

Nike + iPod

For Father's Day I got a new pair of running shoes and the Nike + iPod Sports Kit. I have used it for about 3 weeks now and I absolutely love it.

In case you don't what I am talking about, the Sports Kit is a accelerometer that is attached to your shoe. A receiver is attached to your iPod Nano which is allows it to measure and record distance and pace of your run or walk. Personally, I don't care for running, but I do like to walk.

The coolest part is that your run data is synced to a Nike website. The website will track all of your runs and makes note of your quickest times. The part of the website that I thought I would use the least, has turned out to be my favorite. The challenges. Anyone can make a challenge and invite others to complete. You can set all sorts of requirements for the challenge. For example, I am competing in the Terrific Turtle Challenge. I am competing to run/walk the most miles over 21 days. The only rule is that you must be slow, your pace must be over 10 minutes per mile. I am currently in 10th place.



The Sports Kit runs about $30, not bad if you already have a Nano. You are supposed to use Nike+ shoes, but I have read that you can attach to any shoe and get good results.