Wednesday Toshiba of Japan revealed (translated) a Write Once Memory Card for use in government agencies and businesses. As the name implies, data can be written only once to the card, mimicking CDs and DVDs but without the annoying traits that plague optical media.
Now arriving in Japan, the 1 GB Write Once Memory Card is an ideal solution for saving sensitive data in a time where it's far more easier to store or transport a small card than a disc. Police agencies could store crime scene images and other evidence to the card, or photographers may simply want someplace to permanently store their originals before porting them into Photoshop for edits.
On the malware front, the card would be ideal in preventing malicious code from jumping from PC to PC. In many cases, an infected PC accessing an unlocked SD card or USB device can unknowingly dump malware onto the media, thus infecting other PCs accessing the card or stick later on. As long as the original PC is clean, a Write Once Memory Card should prevent this type of digital epidemic.
What's not clear is how much the Write Once Memory Card will cost, or if it will be distributed in a pack similar to old 3.5-inch floppy disks There's also no indication of when this new media will arrive in the States, but there's a good chance it will be introduced into the American market sometime this year.
