floppy

IBM started to ship diskettes in 1973 and this type of removable storage media eventually become so popular that Japanese government agencies imposed a rule to submit data on diskettes and over time on CD-ROMs. Apparently, this rule is still valid, so officials have been using diskettes and CD-ROMs — instead of emails or cloud storage services — to submit data to this day. Some of Japan's Ministers of State think that it's time to move forward."Where can you buy floppy disks these days?" Taro Kono, Japan's Minister of…

Image: Epov Dmitry (Shutterstock)Japan, a country known for advancing some of the world’s most innovative and quirky tech, is preparing to launch an all out “war” against the humble floppy disk.Taro Kono, the country’s newly appointed Digital Minister, bellowed out his battle cry on Tuesday, via Twitter. According to Kono, floppy disks—along with other dated tech like CDs and MiniDiscs —are still required for around 1,900 government procedures. Kono’s vow to purge the government of the 50 plus year old floppy tech comes…

Image: Getty Images / Saturno Dona' / EyeEmJapan's digital minister has vowed to remove laws requiring that data sent to the government is shipped on floppy disks and other physical media. Digital minister Taro Kono on Tuesday vowed to dismiss Japan's laws that have entrenched floppy disks and CD-ROMs in the nation's systems. In a tweet from his English Twitter account, Kono said he was declaring "war" on floppy disks as part of its digital transformation and enabling citizens to submit data online.  Kono explained…

Japan has started discussion to scrap laws that require citizens to use storage devices like floppy disks and compact discs (CDs) to file applications. The country's Minister for Digital Affairs, Karo Tono, will soon end the practice of submitting data through these storage devices in a country that is known for its technological advancements, according to a report in Japan Times. In a review, the Japan government found more than 1,900 rules that require use of floppy disks to share data with the government, the outlet…

When I was a kid growing up in rural Yorkshire, one of the regular attractions at local fairs was a huge steam-powered organ: a baroque monstrosity of pipes, horns, and whistles that would parp out classical tunes to the delight of onlookers. I don’t know if steam organs are still a thing, but if they’ve been retired then I have the perfect replacement: the Floppotron — a mammoth “PC hardware orchestra” that plays music using only electric motors. Like a fairground organ, the Floppotron is unwieldy, massive, musically…