Gordon: Supercomputer with SSD

The processing capacity of supercomputers have shown some really leaves us surprised, but even these high performance systems must yield to the hard drives and the sacrifice in speed represent, in exchange for a high storage density and a relatively low cost . But in the Supercomputer Center San Diego, have developed a different idea and that idea is named after Gordon. Gordon is the world's first supercomputer that uses massive amounts of solid state drives, thanks to which users can access their reading and writing speeds close to 200 gigabytes per second.

It is without doubt a vicious circle. Solid state disks have shown benefits in terms of speed and power consumption, but the main barrier to their widespread adoption is still the price. And the price drops, we need cheaper manufacturing methods ... but also an increase in demand. With the prospect of hard drives affected by floods in Thailand, the feeling that "this" is the time for the SSD can be detected almost everywhere. In lieu of a general change of platform, the installation of a SSD is becoming a logical choice to upgrade our systems. And if that happens on desktop computers and laptops, why can not pass between servers and supercomputers?

People Supercomputer Center San Diego recently announced that it has put online to Gordon, a supercomputer that is already ranked 48 of the known list of "Top 500". This is a monster of 16,384 cores, 64 terabytes of RAM, four petabytes of storage space, and what brings us here today, 300 terabytes of solid state storage, thanks to the installation of a total of 1.024 units of Intel 710 high performance and 300 GB each. This space will allow users to access databases up to ten times faster than they would if they were stored on hard drives.

Gordon (named by Flash Gordon) has faster read / write of 200 gigabytes per second. As expected, the cost of Gordon has been quite high, about $ 20 million to be precise, but more than a thousand SSDs inside, and a theoretical maximum of 280 Teraflops, it seems money well assigned. Michael Norman, director of the Center in San Diego, stated forcefully that "double the amount of information generated every year," and the current systems are already "overwhelmed." Personally, I hope the presence of the SSD from supercomputers to increase. Not only increase the performance of these systems, but also stimulate demand in the market. And we want SSD cheap, there's no doubt.

Men in Black 3 (Trailer)

If there is an Hollywood actor who is considered a true "guarantee the box office," that is Will Smith, so no surprise to find that almost ten years after its last installment, the series Men in Black is ready to return to the big screen. Agent J and Agent K must once again protect the Earth to their particular way, but this time there is a small twist "temporary" to be solved. It is Men in Black 3, and this is the trailer.

Although you can find one or two setbacks in his career, and often criticism has not been favorable, in general everything that depends on a Will Smith ends his adventure starring role in film far above the original budget. Technically it works since 2008, but we must not forget that it was the producer of the remake of Karate Kid, film that starred his son Jaden. His immediate projects place him as a producer of "This Means War", a tale of two CIA agents fighting for the same woman, but his return with all the letters to the card will be through one of the roles that originally catapulted to success. Ladies and Gentlemen, Agent J will return to the adventures with Agent K in Men In Black 3.


On the plot ... what we know. J Agent K Agent discovers that is not anywhere, and colleagues at the Agency reported as dead ... forty years ago. Apparently this is the work of bad guy named Yaz, since the death of Agent K can achieve the destruction of planet Earth. In an attempt to put things in order, Agent J must travel back in time, more precisely to 1969, to save both the younger version of K and Earth. As the trailer shows the mean time travel jump Chrysler Building, which if my memory goes up to 320 meters high.

The fact of creating a sequel nearly ten years after the last film may seem strange to some, but the truth is that Hollywood is little or no interest these "spaces" (no better example than Tron: Legacy), and probably are a way to tap into if necessary, be it comic books, sequels, or other special material. J Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and K, Rip Torn as Zed, Emma Thompson as Agent O, and the New Zealand comic Jemaine Clement as Yaz represent the main elements that will shape MIB 3, with the return of Barry Sonnenfeld to direction (he was the director of the two previous MIB) and Steven Spielberg production. The release date is agreed upon May 25, 2012.

MorpHex: Robot hexapod spherical

Those minds that are dedicated to robotics, whether it is a hobby or a complete job can shape both foreign designs as attractive to the eye, and that is exactly what generates the MorpHex when one observes for the first time. Hexapods are less common (and usually more complex) than the rest of his brothers robotic, but also make us think of a crab when he walks, the detail applied to the spherical form is outstanding. It all started in November 2010, when a Norwegian engineer named Kåre Halvorsen announced the start of a project called MorpHex. One of the first objectives was that the MorpHex should move like a hexapod, and should become a hexapod to a sphere, and vice versa. Eventually, this would enable the MorpHex bearing capacity for acquiring, accessing two different methods to get around. Since then, Halvorsen on their official website has specific details about the making of this robot. Although no specific plans, the amount of "visual information" on the robot is remarkable. In late June this year, appeared the first video on YouTube showing the MorpHex without its spherical shape. One would think that would require special parts to give the MorpHex a spherical shape, but Halvorsen chose a much simpler solution: It took a globe, and separated the sections according to their need. For a moment I thought I had used some form of "Death Star" to scale, but the globe was a perfect replacement.

To Halvorsen was a year with much less time than I imagined, so that the development of MorpHex had some white space, but recently released a new video pieces hexapod integrating its spherical shape. The precision of movement is not only formidable, but for a moment that will cross your mind an image of a crab.
As Halvorsen announces it in the two videos, the MorpHex is not complete, since its function has yet to get rolling, but if there is no technical shock, should be only a matter of time. Now, I can not think of a scaled version of the MorpHex, designed to explore complex terrain, or why not, on board a rocket on a scouting mission to Mars within a few years. According to what we have seen so far, the MorpHex is a one man operation (beyond some acknowledgments at the end of each video), which makes this even more fascinating spherical hexapod. Definitely expect more news on this robot.