A hot-from-the-lab optical chipset from IBM promises to reduce the download time of a movie to as little as a second. It moves data at 160 gigabits per second by replacing electrons flowing through wires with light pulses.

Of course, that's exactly what the fastest current fiber-optic networking technology — like Verizon's FiOS — is doing now on a nationwide scale. But IBM's new technology is eight times faster. And the chip would scale down optical connectivity to the circuit boards inside PCs, set-top boxes and other products. Instead of copper and silicon, exotic materials like indium phosphide (InP) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) would come into play.

The only thing IBM's technology won't do is improve the quality of the movies and music. Who will speed up the pathways of Hollywood's brain? — Al Boline

IBM Press Release, via The San Francisco Chronicle