World's Fastest Computer

Oak Ridge's Titan Named World's Fastest Supercomputer

 

The U.S. once again has the world's top supercomputer.

The Titan, a Cray XK7 system installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, has been named the fastest supercomputer in the world in the 40th edition of the twice-annual Top500 List.
According to a Top500 news release, the Titan achieved 17.59 Petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second) on the Linpack benchmark. The computer runs 560,640 processors, including 261,632 Nvidia K20x accelerator cores.

Titan replaced Oak Ridge's XT5 Jaguar, which ranked as the world's fastest computer in November 2009 and June 2010 before it was bested by the Chinese Tianhe-1A system at the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin two years ago.

This summer, however, the U.S. reclaimed the top spot among the world's supercomputers when an American computer topped the list. The Sequoia, an IBM BlueGene/Q system located in the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, won the race in June, but has since been knocked to No. 2.

"The new Top500 list clearly demonstrates the U.S. commitment to applying high-performance computer to breakthrough science, and that's our focus at Oak Ridge," director Thom Mason said in a statement. "We'll deliver science from Day One with Titan, and I look forward to the advancements the Titan team will make in areas such as materials research, nuclear energy, combustion and climate science," he said.

The hybrid machine combines the traditional central processing units (CPUs) with graphic processing units (GPUs) — one of the first steps toward the goal of exascale computing, ORNL reported. The new format would generate 1,000 quadrillion calculations per second using 20 megawatts or less of electricity.
Filling out the top five spots, in order, are Fujitsu's K computer at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Kobe, Japan; a BlueGene/Q system called Mira at Argonne National Laboratory; and a BlueGene/Q system named JUQEEN at the Forschungszentrum Juelich in Germany, which has been upgraded and is now considered the most powerful system in Europe, according to Top500.
America also contributed a new system to the Top 10, a Dell PowerEdge C8220 system dubbed Stampede, installed at the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas in Austin. Using new Intel Xeon Phi processors, it reaches 2.6 Petaflop/s.

The U.S. has plenty of supercomputer competition, mainly in Asia, where China and Japan dominated the list, with 72 systems (up from 68) and 31 systems (down from 35), respectively.
Meanwhile, computers with multi-core processors dominate the November list. More than 84 percent of the systems use processors with six or more cores, and 46 percent with eight or more, Top500 reported. The majority of those processors are provided by Intel (76 percent), while AMD Opteron produced 12 percent — the same as six months ago, and IBM Power rounded out the bunch with 10 percent.

Operating System Reviews : Android

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Android 4.2 introduces a completely new camera experience, a new form of typing that helps you power through your messages, and much more.

One tablet, many users.

It’s your fully customized tablet. And theirs, too. With support for multiple users, you can give each person their own space. Everyone can have their own homescreen, background, widgets, apps and games – even individual high scores and levels! And since Android is built with multitasking at its core, it’s a snap to switch between users – no need to log in and out. Available only on tablets.

Share what’s on your phone on the big screen.

Android 4.2 allows devices to enable wireless display. You can share movies, YouTube videos, and anything that’s on your screen on an HDTV. Just connect a wireless display adapter to any HDMI-enabled TV to mirror what’s on your screen quickly and easily.

Daydream.

Daydream lets your Android device display useful and delightful information when idle or docked. Show off your photo albums, get the latest news from Google Currents, and more.

Expandable, actionable notifications.

Android has always put you in control when it comes to staying notified and connected. Just swipe down from the top of the screen to see all your notifications in one place. Late for a meeting or missed a call? Take action in an instant directly from the notifications shade.

Fast and smooth.

We put Android under a microscope, making everything feel fast, fluid, and smooth. With buttery graphics and silky transitions, moving between home screens and switching between apps is effortless, like turning pages in a book.

Beam photos and videos.

With Android Beam on Jelly Bean you can now easily share your photos and videos with just a simple tap, in addition to sharing contacts, web pages, YouTube videos, directions, and apps. Just touch two NFC-enabled Android devices back-to-back, then tap to beam whatever's on the screen to your friend.

Widgets work like magic.

With Jelly Bean it's now even easier to personalize your home screen. As you place widgets on the screen, everything else automatically moves to make room. When they're too big, widgets resize on their own. Interacting with your favorite apps and customizing your home screen has never been easier.

Enable screen magnification to easily zoom or pan the entire screen to get a closer look. Visually impaired users can now enter full-screen magnification with a triple-tap on the screen, and even type and interact with the device while zoomed in. Blind users can use Gesture Mode to reliably navigate the UI using touch and swipe gestures in combination with speech output.

Os Reviews : Mac Os X Mountain Lion

Mac Os X Mountain Lion

Built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, OS X is engineered to take full advantage of the technologies in every new Mac. And to deliver the most intuitive and integrated computer experience.

Hardware and software made for each other.

Since the software built into every Mac is created by the same company that makes the Mac, you get a fully integrated system in which everything works together perfectly. OS X works with the processor in your Mac to deliver the best possible performance. It works with the Multi-Touch trackpad in Mac notebooks so they feel natural to use.

Multi-Touch, Mac style.

Use your fingers to tap, scroll, pinch, and swipe your way around the Mac. Because Apple makes both the hardware and software, Multi-Touch gestures are remarkably precise. This precision makes Multi-Touch the most natural and intuitive way to use a computer. When you scroll down on your trackpad or Magic Mouse, your document scrolls down. When you scroll up, your web page scrolls up. When you swipe left, your photos move left. These and many more gestures make all you do on your Mac easier, intuitive, and fun.

It’s remarkably simple.

From the desktop you see when you start up your Mac to the applications you use every day, everything is designed to be easy and intuitive. And it all makes perfect sense, especially if you have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. The desktop is clean and simple. It takes one click to open an app and a few more to buy, download, and install new apps from the Mac App Store. On a Mac, it’s easy to find, share, and do just about everything. And a Mac does so many things automatically, sometimes you don’t have to do anything at all.

Find, organize, and share files fast.

The Finder helps you find, organize, and access practically everything on your Mac. And features like Spotlight and Quick Look make locating the file you’re looking for effortless — even if you don’t know what it’s called. Say you’re searching for a document, and the only thing you recall about it is the phrase “surrealist painters.” Open Spotlight, start typing “surrealist painters,” and your Mac generates a list of files that contain those words. And with Quick Look, you don’t need to open an application to know you’ve found the right file — just hit the space bar and you’ll see a full-size preview. Want to share a file with someone nearby? Just drag and drop to send it wirelessly with AirDrop.

iCloud. It’s how Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch work even better together.

Sign in once with your Apple ID on your new Mac, and iCloud is automatically set up in all the apps that use it.² So if you have iCloud set up on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, whatever you do on your Mac happens on those devices, too. And it works the other way around. Update something on another device, and the same update will be made on your Mac. So your mail, contacts, calendars, messages, documents, data, and more go wherever you go. From your Mac to your iPhone to your iPad and back to your Mac.

OS X Lion system requirements
To use Lion, make sure your computer has the following:

• An Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
• Mac OS X v10.6.6 or later to install via the Mac App Store (v10.6.8 recommended); you can install without Mac OS X v10.6 by using an OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, available on the Apple Online Store
• 7 GB of available disk space
• 2 GB of RAM

ZTE Grand S vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 2

We compare ZTE’s newly announced Grand S with the hugely popular Samsung Galaxy Note 2

ZTE today unveiled its Grand S, a device which will (when it’s released) hold the title of the world’s thinnest smartphone. It’s a device which looks to be brimming with promise, and to get an idea of quite what we’re dealing with we’ve decided to pit it against Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2, another top-tier, large screened device.

 

Internals & Features

Both of these devices come running Google’s Android OS, with the Galaxy Note 2 running Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, with a Jelly Bean update available, and the Grand S rocking Jelly Bean from the get-go.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 is a highly powered device which runs on an Exynos 4412 Quad chipset consisting of a quad-core 1.6GHz processor and Mali-400MP GPU.
The device also features 2GB RAM, comes in 16, 32 and 64GB flavours and supports micro SD cards, and, tellingly, the beast also has a 3100mAh cell too!
Camera-wise the Note 2’s pretty well covered, with an 8-megapixel primary shooter capable of some impressive stills (and 1080P video capture) and the 1.9-megpixel secondary performs soundly too.
The ZTE Grand S is a monster of a device, and one of the few which can boast that it has more muscle than Samsung’s phablet. The device is powered by a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset made up of a ‘Krait’ processor clocked to 1.7GHz, and an Adreno 320 GPU, both of which have proved their worth consistently.
The device also boasts 2GB RAM and 16GB of on-board storage, support for micro SD cards, LTE antennae and a 2500mAh cell.
In addition users will find the device equipped with a13-megapixel primary camera capable of 1080P video capture, and a 2-megapixel secondary camera.
Winner – ZTE Grand S

Display

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a fantastic 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen which operates at a resolution of 720 x 1280 and features a pixel density of 267PPI.
Visually the Galaxy Note 2 excels. Images are sharp, colours are rich and blacks are deep.
The display is also fronted with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2, for protection from knocks.
The ZTE Grand S boasts a 5-inch FHD display which operates at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and belts out an incredible 440PPI – so users can expect some seriously sharp visuals from this device.
Winner – ZTE Grand S

At just 6.9mm the ZTE Grand S is, as we previously mentioned, a shoo in for the world’s slimmest smartphone. On top of those credentials the device has a pleasant, minimal design but nothing really special leaps to the fore.
Build-wise we expect the device to meet up with ZTE’s previous standards and be well assembled but, again, unremarkable.
The Galaxy Note 2 is, well, something of a monster, owing to its large battery and big screen, so don’t expect it to sit well in the average jacket pocket.
Previously a device carrying all that the Note 2 does and measuring only 9.3mm thick would have been impressive, but today, in the presence of the Grand S, it appears bulky.
The device looks pleasant enough though, in spite of its size, and the all plastic construction gives it a far less oppressive weight than one might have expected.
Winner – ZTE Grand S

And the winner is…

ZTE Grand S
With tons of power, a gorgeous screen and a supermodel like body, the new kid on the block takes this one hands-down.
The Galaxy Note 2 is still one of Samsung’s finest devices, but when compared to newbies like the Grand S, it pales in comparison.

Processors : Difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7

Intel Core i3, i5 and i7

If you want a plain and simple answer, then generally speaking, Core i7s are better than Core i5s, which are in turn better than Core i3s. Nope, Core i7 does not have seven cores nor does Core i3 have three cores. The numbers are simply indicative of their relative processing powers.

Their relative levels of processing power are also signified by their Intel Processor Star Ratings, which are based on a collection of criteria involving their number of cores, clock speed (in GHz), size of cache, as well as some new Intel technologies like Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading. 

The more cores there are, the more tasks (known as threads) can be served at the same time. The lowest number of cores can be found in Core i3 CPUs, i.e., which have only two cores. Currently, all Core i3s are dual-core processors.

Currently all Core i5 processors, except for the i5-661, are quad cores in Australia. The Core i5-661 is only a dual-core processor with a clock speed of 3.33 GHz. Remember that all Core i3s are also dual cores. Furthermore, the i3-560 is also 3.33GHz, yet a lot cheaper. Sounds like it might be a better buy than the i5. What gives?

At this point, I’d like to grab the opportunity to illustrate how a number of factors affect the overall processing power of a CPU and determine whether it should be considered an i3, an i5, or an i7.

Even if the i5-661 normally runs at the same clock speed as Core i3-560, and even if they all have the same number of cores, the i5-661 benefits from a technology known as Turbo Boost.

The Intel Turbo Boost Technology allows a processor to dynamically increase its clockspeed whenever the need arises.

Whenever the CPU finds that it keeps on using the same data over and over, it stores that data in its cache. Cache is just like RAM, only faster — because it’s built into the CPU itself.

Display Technology

Future on display: Technology you'll want to stroke

Whatever you might expect from the latest computer technology, fur is unlikely to be one of them.

An unusual display at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics and animation conference in Los Angeles this month is all about the senses, and uses optical fibre to create a surface that feels furry.

Humans are naturally inclined to stroke furry objects, say Kosuke Nakajima from Osaka University, Japan, and colleagues. So, they say, we will need no instructions to interact with a furry display. "The surface of the Fusa2 display is covered with fur made of optical fibres. When a user stands in front of the display, they begin to touch its surface without any suggestions and instructions," says Yuichi Itoh of Osaka University, who is project manager of Fusa2.

When you stroke the display, it changes colour, creating "stroke marks". "In order to detect the touched area, the fibre-optics surface has many infrared LEDs," explains Itoh. Underneath the display, half the fibres lead to a camera and the other half to a projector. When a hand strokes the fibres, the infrared radiation is reflected and travels down the fibres to the camera. This image is fed to a computer, which calculates the track of the hand and has the projector shine coloured light up through the other fibres to create the coloured trails.

Itoh believes there are practical applications for a screen that users intuitively want to stroke. Because people are naturally drawn to it, it could work well with digital signage, he says, or for robotic pets. "If we create a bigger one, we could even construct a soccer stadium with turf made of a Fusa2 display. This could show lots of information, like the offside line, players' positions and score."

 

Best iPod Products

Apple - iPod Nano

The best iPod product.

Another year or two, another look for Apple's iPod Nano. This 7th generation of the silvery audio player features a bigger, longer screen, new ear buds and a new type of charging port.

For more detail visit : Apple iPod Nano