Sandisk Corp., a leading manufacturer of flash memory-based products has filed lawsuits against 25 makers of flash-powered products accusing them in patent infringements. The company wants Western District of Wisconsin and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban import of products from those 25 memory makers into the U.S.

These actions demonstrate SanDisks long-term commitment to enforcing its patents, both to protect our investment in research and development by obtaining a fair return on that investment, and out of fairness to third-parties that participate in our patent licensing program, said E.

(Full article ‘Sandisk Sues Flash Memory Suppliers for Patent Infringement’)

Rival memory, semiconductor and mobile device makers have joined forces to support the new Universal Flash Storage (UFS) specification — a standardized format for removable flash memory cards and embedded memory technology.

Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Micron Technology Inc., STMicroelectronics, Spansion Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. jointly announced support for the fledgling UFS standard, which is being developed by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association.

Work on the UFS standard is expected to be completed in 2009.

The new standard is expected to boost the performance and speed of flash card storage devices.

(Full article ‘Memory, handset makers backing flash storage standard’)

While most people will agree that memory is an important aspect of a system build, few think to make their memory flashy. With the recent increase in additions to memory ranging from extra LEDs to large passive coolers, people are now finding yet another part of their computer to modify.

The OCZ memory we received (PC2-6400 Special Ops Urban Edition) is right along those lines. The memory incorporates OCZ’s cooling style and a quite unique paint scheme. Classified as the Special Ops Urban Edition, we were quite intrigued to see what made this memory so much different than the run of the mill OCZ memory.

To be honest, there is not much of a difference between memories apart from clock speed and timings. Don’t get me wrong, the paint job and new heat spreader are bonus points when it comes to having a show system.
(Full article ‘Camouflage DDR2 Memory by OCZ’)