Archive for category Technology
The Worlds 10 Fastest Super Computers
Posted by admin in Technology on June 8, 2011
Supercomputers are super achievers, giving highest and most enviable performance at any given time. Cray 1, released in 1975, is considered to be the first real supercomputer.Supercomputers were designed primarily by Seymour Cray, who started his own firm Cray Research Inc after leaving Control Data Corporation.The Cray-1 cost between $5 million and $10 million to build, and had a memory of 4MW semiconductor and speed of 160 MFLOPS (MFLOPS stands for Mega FLoating point Operations Per Second.). Building supercomputers was a passion for Seymour Cray.Today, supercomputers are developed by companies like Cray, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. The IBM Roadrunner, located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, US, is the fastest supercomputer in the world today.
Scientists around the world are experimenting with supercomputers and developing high-speed, power-packed computers.Novo-G, hailed as one world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputers of its type, has become operational at the University of Florida. This is a reconfigurable computer that can be from 10 to 100 times faster than other computers its size while using five to 10 times less energy. The Novo-G project is led by Professors Alan George and Herman Lam at Florida.
Check out the top 10 supercomputers as per the TOP500 list.
supercomputers
1. IBM Roadrunner
The world’s most powerful supercomputer is IBM Roadrunner. Eight of the top 10 supercomputers are located in the United States.Among the top Asian performers was HP’s EKA – Cluster Platform 3000 BL460c at the Computational Research Laboratories owned by the Tata Group. EKA is ranked 18th in the world.
IBM Roadrunner
With a speed of 1.105 petaflops, the Roadrunner system at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was built by IBM.In June 2008, it became the first system ever to break the petaflop/s Linpack barrier. It still is one of the most energy efficient systems on the TOP500 list.It has the computing power of 100,000 of today’s most powerful laptops. According to IBM, in the past 10 years, supercomputer power has increased by about 1,000 times.It is also the fourth-most energy-efficient supercomputer in the world on the Supermicro Green500 list, with an operational rate of 444.94 megaflops per watt of power used.Roadrunner will be used by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to perform calculations that vastly improve the ability to certify that the US nuclear weapons stockpile is reliable without conducting underground nuclear tests. Read the rest of this entry »
Learn Digital Photography – Is Digital Photography Dead?
Posted by admin in Technology on May 15, 2011
Yes, digital photography is dead in the water IF ‘photography’ is taken out of digital photography. As Kodak’s brownie box camera and their Instamatic brought photography to the masses in the 20th century, so the digital camera has done the same in the 21st. But, once the ‘ability to take photos novelty’ wears off, the lack of skills will relegate the digital camera to the hobby drawer.
There is a principle in management science that says in business a person is promoted to the level of their own incompetence and no further. It’s called the ‘Peter Principle’ formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in his book of the same name. After that they stagnate and can only move sideways. This is true for photography also. Once you reach your level of incompetence or maximum ability, there you sit. It’s at this point the interest wanes and your camera outings become more and more infrequent. In other words, another death of digital photography.
There will always be the hardliners in any field who will continue to practise to the level of their incompetence, but, the average Joe who was once excited by digital photography is no more. The enthusiast has lost his enthusiasm.
So what’s the answer to the problem? The focus, as in any hobby or pastime, is a continual learning process. In the business world we call it upskilling. Adding competency and qualifications to your existing tool bag will keep you moving up the ladder of promotion. It is the same with photography. Learning is imperative.
Most of us are at some stage dissatisfied with our photos. They don’t quite look like those in the glossy magazines and daily newspapers. What is it that they have that rest don’t? They’ve learnt the techniques and disciplines of photography and have applied them on a continual learning journey to great photos. Read the rest of this entry »