Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Supercomputers are great, in fact even the name is great: conjuring images of CPUs in red capes flying to the help of damsels in distress.  However, in the real world they are hundreds of cabinets stuffed full of computer stuff and do in fact loo incredibly dull.  The opposite can be said of what they actually do as they push the boundaries of what is capable using solely 0s and 1s to solve complex calculations, help define new theorem, and play Crysis on full graphics.

Yet, as with everything in this world, it has become a competition to have the fastest computer and this has been going on since computers began; in fact, even Romans competed over abacus skills.  In June, the Roadrunner which was built by IBM, became the fastest computer ever achieving a sustained speed of 1.026 petaflops. 

However there could be a new leader on the Top 500 list which is compiled by computer experts and is to be updated this week in a supercomputing conference in Austin.  This is Cray’s Jaguar XT, which claims to have reached 1.64 petaflops, a massive increase on its probable predecessor and is set to gain this prestigious honor.  It runs Linux and has a massive 362TB of memory which is spread out over its 284 cabinets, each of which holding 192 quad-core AMD Opteron chips.

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There are some products you can’t help but think are just pointless and you cannot see why anyone would possibly want to buy it.  This is one of those.

The Pure*Gold PC is a fairly mid range PC with decent specifications, supposedly low noise levels and a nice design, but as its name suggests there is something different about this: it’s made from gold.  But no, it is not gold trimmed, and no, it is not gold stylishly designed into and practical and aesthetically pleasing design.  Oh no.  This is a big, gold box. . . .

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Since it is Halloween, Gadgetell is taking a look at some the tech horror stories our writers have experienced.  Here is one tale.

In my house, we usually built our own computers; we had, at most, two computers that were purchased pre-built.  The second computer we built did everything it was supposed to.  It connected to the Internet and could be used to write school reports on.  Not to mention it handled “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion” almost perfectly (if you were willing to take away some of the draw distance).
 
The computer had many hours logged into it, the hard drive was maybe three quarters filled.  Oblivion and Civilization IV took care of most of that for me.  My brother used it to go online, and my grandmother used it every hour we weren’t there to play her casino games.  It had served us well. 

That was until the one morning when we awoke to something we were quite used to. . . .

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Christmas is for the kids, right?  Better get them crossed off the shopping list first.  I checked out a few of the wish lists floating around and thought I would share them with you.  Wouldn’t you know, they are filled with electronics.  We have plenty of shopping days til the holidays.  That is, unless your kids want Elmo Live, which is already selling out.

What are your kids asking Santa for? Keep reading to see.

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Disney movies, independent films, anime and Bollywood flicks have something in common – starting soon, you’ll be able to download them directly to your TiVo.  TiVo has struck deals with Disney, CinemaNow and Jaman.com to get new downloadable content to TiVo boxes everywhere. 

The content will be rolled out over the next couple of weeks.  Stuff from Jaman.com, like indy films, anime, and Bollywood flicks, will be available today.  CinemaNow brings the Disney content and that won’t be available until next week.  More information, including pricing, after the break.

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When I was in Sao Paulo last April, a free Linux based OS was the furthest thing from my mind as I surveyed the Favellas (slums) as well as the metropolitan parts of the city.  In this country of new hope, the government has taken an interesting tack: computers for all.  Their plan is to offer a free operating system to keep computer costs low and thus more affordable for all.  It is an interesting approach that is gaining acceptance.

To date, the OS has an installed base of 1.5 million and looks to climb to 2 million by year’s end.  The first open source OS for the country is Insigne, which opened a training center in Sao Paulo.  Working closely with vendors, Insigne prides itself on a simple UI and basic functionality for email, word processing, spreadsheets, and browsing.

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With the number of home-based entertainment and productivity applications that are running over home networks growing by leaps and bounds, some Wireless-G routers just can’t handle users’ demands.

Netgear saw this problem, and as a result, developed a new Wireless-N technology, which they feel is leaps and bounds above anything out there now.  The “Green” crowd will also appreciate Netgear’s new products since they are eco-friendly. 

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Sections: Computers, Desktops, Hardware, Laptops, Networking, Security, Software / Applications, Wireless, Gadgets / Other, Green, Gaming, Miscellaneous, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Websites

We’re always being told to “Think outside the box.“  Well, Antec is putting their money where there mouth is with their upcoming “Skeleton” case.  And they aren’t offering the bare bones minimum with it either. 

There is plenty of room for expansion with 7 expansion slots and 4 drive bays.  2 of the drive bays are internal and 2 are external.  If you take advantage of expanding the capabilities of your computer, you are going to need some more cooling than just an open case.  Antec throws in a front-mount hard drive cooling fan and a 250mm fan on top (that’s the bowl looking thing with the Antec logo).  If you are feeling extra-funky, you can even enjoy the fact that the fan is multi-colored.

Ok, so admittedly, it sort of looks like a science experiment with K’NEX gone bad. More after the break.

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Because we all need all that extra stuff on our system when we bring it home from the store….right? Yeah. It seems as though Microsoft may actually be making a move in the right direction with this call. Their upcoming Windows 7 won’t include several of those built-in programs for email, movie making, and photo editing like they did include with Windows (*ahem*, memory hog) Vista.

In Vista, Microsoft had included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as a part of the OS; until they later decided to offer separate downloadable Live programs that just pretty much replaced those programs with versions that were able to connect to online services from Microsoft and others. As per CNET, “Last night, Microsoft announced it decided to totally remove those features from Windows 7 and only offer the service-connected Windows Live versions as an optional free download.“

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Sections: Communications, Accessories, Email / IM, Computers, Hardware, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Peripherals, Displays, Storage, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites

I’m sorry, but I just wonder, is this entire thing just someone’s idea of “Just how far can we take this and people will think we’re serious?“ I mean, the name itself. Who came up with it? You have got to be kidding me.

Okay. For those who aren’t aware…Cucku is a “Social Backup Service” that runs on Windows machines. It was available to select beta users since February of this year, and its 1.20 version just became available for all to download yesterday. You want to make all your personal files oh so safe? Well then, all you have to do according to Cucku (oh, that just makes me roll my eyes each time I type it), is back up all of your data to your friend’s computer. Oh, and in return, they back up all their work onto yours. You are “back-up buddies.“  Isn’t that special?

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Sections: Computers, Hardware, Laptops, Networking, Security, Software / Applications, Wireless, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites