And We Now Have A Data Pipeline

And now, a quick tech rant that has me excited and reading everything I can find (which isn't much at this time):

Scientists at the Universities of Southampton and Penn State have found a way to embed electronic components into optical fibres, in a breakthrough that could lead to the creation of super high-speed telecommunications networks.

Rather than trying to merge flat chips with round optical fibres, the team of scientists used high-pressure chemistry techniques to deposit semiconducting materials layer by layer directly into tiny holes in optical fibres. This bypasses the need to integrate fibre-optics onto a chip, and means that the data signal never has to leave the fibre.

"The big breakthrough here is that we don't need the whole chip as part of the finished product. We have managed to build the junction – the active boundary where all the electronic action takes place – right into the fibre,” said Dr Pier Sazio, senior research fellow in the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC).

“Moreover, while conventional chip fabrication requires multimillion dollar clean room facilities, our process can be performed with simple equipment that costs much less.”

That's a win-win no matter how you slice it. Cheaper, faster, better. Your pron will be delivered at exciting new speeds. Oh yeah, and keep Netflix from sucking the reserves dry.