You know that impossible-to-miss NASDAQ sign on Broadway at 43rd Street in New York City? Yeah, the one that's 11,000-square feet in size. The Walgreen Company has set out to make that look like child's play, as it aims to erect a 250,000-pound sign at a three-level emporium in Times Square. Said display will reportedly be used to "raise [the drugstore's] visibility in New York," while doubling as a "focal point for it nationally." This beast will be covered in 12 million LEDs -- 17,000 square feet of them, to be exact -- and you can only imagine the hardware that will be required behind the scenes to keep this thing up and running. If you just can't wait until next fall to peep this in person, head southward to the read link and dig in.

[Thanks, Brock]

Remember how Sandisk was flirting with read-only, cheap-archival storage based on their new "3D memory' back in February? Well, it sounds like they're about to commit. We just received a tip from a SanDisk customer who took a survey about a proposed write-once memory card. The most interesting new piece of information is the price: a 400 photo, 1GB write-once card for a proposed $5.99 as described by our tipster. We can't vouch for his claims -- nevertheless, what he says is consistent with what we've heard and certainly makes sense. We'll break it down for you as we received it:

• The new "memory cards (memory stick)" will be widely available in food, drug, camera, and convenience stores (we already knew that Wal-Mart and Walgreens were involved)
  
• The new format fits your existing camera
  
• Large enough to store at least 100 photos per card (does that mean 256MB cards for $2.00 or less?)
  
• Write-once technology stores your pictures safely for over 100 years (check)
  
• Less expensive than standard re-writeable memory cards (duh)
  

No dates were provided in the survey, but at this point, a near-term launch certainly appears imminent.

[Thanks, Chris G]

We've seen this one coming for quite awhile, but now that the DVD CCA has approved its restrictive download-to-burn scheme, Walgreens is diving in head first to the movie-burning kiosk arena. Reportedly, the company is hoping to "launch DVD-burning kiosks in the next few months," and it's said that the firm is already "working with Hollywood studios" to get the technology in stores on the double. According to reports, consumers would be able to create a DVD "in about 15 minutes," and while no pricing specifics were doled out just yet, Polar Frog [a licensing outfit] Chief Executive Todd Rosenbaum suggested that studios weren't likely "to discount the DVDs." Oh, and just in case you were wondering where Blockbuster stood on the matter, spokesman Randy Hargrove stated that the firm "would examine" the situation, and if it "made sense to get into kiosks, it's clearly something [it] would do."

Getting wind of a flash memory successor is far from new, but a major player in the flash game now seems to have something a bit counterintuitive going on behind the scenes. After slashing jobs and prices in an attempt to "keep up with competitors," SanDisk is now reportedly delving into the "read-only memory" realm, as it seeks to create a product that acts as a "cheap archival device." Although the company is remaining tight lipped about the details, this self-proclaimed "3D memory" is said to last "up to 100 years" and become the "new digital film," but we're not exactly sure the digital disposable market is apt to boom anytime soon. Moreover, SanDisk seems to hope that this new creation will "remove the PC from the equation," allowing users to relive to excruciating annoyance that is developing film in-store while removing the ability to delete photos or overwrite bad snapshots once taken. Nevertheless, the memory is purportedly being tested in a retail pilot program, and Greg Rhine (head of SanDisk's consumer business) noted that Walgreens and Wal-Mart both raved over the invention, as it would theoretically force more customers to revert to ages ago when OTC development was an unfortunate mainstay.

It's been a long time coming, but the major Hollywood studios have finally agreed to amend the CSS (content scrambling system, found on store-bought DVDs) licensing restrictions to include support for both commercial and private download-to-burn options. First mentioned last summer, this new agreement uses technology from Sonic Solutions called Qflix (initially adopted by Movielink) to slap that good ol' digital lock on discs that consumers burn either on their PCs or at in-store kiosks like the ones Wal-Mart and other big box retailers have been planning for some time now. Of course you can already burn downloaded flicks to DVD through CinemaNow's aptly-titled "Burn to DVD" service, but compatibility issues have relegated this option to merely a stopgap solution. While Qflix burns should be readable by any old player that supports CSS, the downside is that new media and -- in some cases -- new drives will be required to perform this neat little trick (some current burners can apparently be made Qflix-compatible through firmware upgrades). Besides the studios, other companies that are down with Qflix include disc manufacturer Verbatim, video-on-demand provider Akimbo, your friendly neighborhood Walgreens, and of course, Movielink. It's not clear when consumers will start seeing this these new devices and kiosks in the wild, but rest assured that you'll soon have a way to spend those 10 to 15 minutes waiting for your prescription that doesn't involve sitting next to a bunch of sick people in a germ-ridden pleather chair.