Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/162190264?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, 17 November 2011
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Japan's K Machine Tops World Supercomputer List (NewsFactor)
Japan's K computer has set a record for high-performance computing, according to the new Top500 List released Monday by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Mannheim in Germany.
Jointly developed by Fujitsu and the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan, the K computer succeeded in performing 10.5 quadrillion floating-point operations per second (petaflops), which broke the prior record of 8.16 petaflops achieved last June by an earlier configuration of the same machine.
Named after the Japanese word for 10 quadrillion (pronounced "kei"), Japan's supercomputer currently leads the field because of the SPARC64 VIIIfx chips specifically developed by Fujitsu for petaflop-scale computing applications. Each processor within the K computer's massively interconnected system contains eight cores running at 2 gigahertz, together with 5 MB of shared memory and an embedded memory controller.
The world's most advanced supercomputer, which is four times more powerful than its nearest competitor, is expected to become fully operational in November 2012. In its final configuration, the K computer will integrate 864 equipment racks collectively housing 88,128 interconnected CPUs.
"We truly hope that the K computer's world-class performance will benefit and deliver value to both Japan and the entire world," said Fujitsu President Masami Yamamoto.
Wide Range of Applications
Among other things, scientists already are planning to use Japan's K computer to analyze the behavior of nano-materials. The results of their simulations are expected to aid in the development of next-generation semiconductor building blocks such as nano-wires and carbon nano-tubes featuring lower power consumption requirements.
What's more, the K computer will be able to simulate seismic wave propagation, helping scientists to more accurately predict the extent to which earthquake-impact zones may be subsequently impacted by tsunamis. Furthermore, the petaflop computational power of the new machine will be harnessed to create new architectural designs that make manmade structures more earthquake-resistant.
Other applications include simulations of atmospheric circulation, which may one day enable weather phenomena forecasts that have a significantly higher level of accuracy than do today's hit-and-miss weather reports.
Additionally, pharmaceutical companies will be able to model the requisite molecules for producing more effective drugs -- even as semiconductor companies use the new machine to study the energy conversion efficiencies of next-generation solar cell designs.
"We will continue to work tirelessly to deliver the K computer and its system software by June 2012, and enable it to be used by a large number of researchers throughout the world," Yamamoto said.
Blowing Away the Competition
Initiated in 1993, the Top500 Project ranks the performance of the world's top 500 computing systems in June and November each year, based on the high-Performance LINPACK (HPL) benchmark for distributed-memory computing machines. The project's goal is to accurately track and detect new trends in high-performance computing.
Though still incomplete, Japan's K computer has blown away the competition this year. For example, China's Tianhe-1A system led the pack in 2010 but the machine's performance of 2.57 petaflops per second was only good enough for a second-place ranking in the latest Top500 List.
The top performing supercomputers located in the United States included three Cray machines, SGI's Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center and IBM's Roadrunner system.
"This is the first time since we began publishing the list back in 1993 that the top 10 systems showed no turnover," said TOP500 Editor Erich Strohmaier.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111115/bs_nf/80992
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Designing A Business Card: 5 Things You Need To Know
While the information that goes on a business card may have changed over time, replacing fax numbers with Twitter handles, the card itself is still a critical part of a real-world networking strategy. You can't squander face-to-face opportunities to strengthen professional bonds. And as with your website or Facebook page, when you're meeting contacts in person, your business card is both the first thing they see and the impression you leave after your first meeting. A thoughtfully designed, compelling business card can help you make a real connection and bring more business in the door.
But you don't need to hire a professional designer or spend a fortune to get a business card that makes you memorable. Want to design a card that helps you make -- and keep -- valuable connections? Here are five things you need to know.
1. Dress for the occasion.
Image is everything -- and your business card is no exception. You need to make sure that like you and all the other vital elements of your business, it's dressed for success. According to ZoeTennesen, creative services manager and art director for Dallas-based PR firm HCK2 Partners, "You wouldn't go to a meeting at a Fortune 500 company in shorts and flip flops. Make your business card 'dresses appropriately' for the kind of customers you want to attract." Like it or not, a potential customer will form an opinion about who you are and what your company is based on specific visual attributes of your card: Paper thickness (which should always be 120 pound and higher), typography choice and color scheme. These days, we even see variations on size, shape and orientation.
"That's asking a lot from a 3.5" x 2" piece of cardstock, so it's important to use everything available to you -- the paper, the type, the feel, the shape -- to help tell your story," Tennesen adds. She recommends thinking beyond traditional shapes and types of business cards and using examples like these for inspiration.
2. Never use clip art.
Clip art is the number-one design element that can ruin a business card, according to Lolo Siderman, founder of Santa Monica, Calif.-based design company Gypsywing Media. "For the love of all things holy and sacred, never use clip art," she warns. "It looks cheap and diminishes the image of any company." In fact, you should only add graphics to your business card if you are 100 percent sure it will help reinforce your branding rather than confuse it. Even one little piece of bad clip art on your business card will make your business seem small, inexperienced and devoid of marketing savvy. To illustrate the "no clip art" rule, Tennesen says, consider these scenarios:
- What would you think if a fancy restaurant served on paper plates?
- What would you think if your hairstylist wore a baseball cap?
- What would you think if the car wash was located on a dirt road?
That's the kind of pain your contacts will feel when you use clip art. It doesn't help your card communicate anything and, in most cases, makes it worse. People will assume you take a "good enough" approach to business and will be less likely to choose to work with you.
3. Consider including a QR code.
A QR code is a matrix barcode that is readable by smartphones and can be a great way to make a connection between your real life and online marketing materials. You can use this code to create special, memorable features on your website and reward those you meet in person for reaching out to you. "A quick Google search for a QR Code Generator will turn up a lot of cheap or free options for creating and downloading a QR code," says Erik Wolf, marketing expert and founder of Atlanta-based online marketing firm Zero-G Creative. The reason I recommend this is because QRs make for great conversation starters and gives you an opportunity for a clever marketing moment if your code leads to a special landing page on your website." For example, the QR code on the back of Wolf's business card takes users to a special landing page on his site that reads, "We've met before, haven't we?" The BarCode News provides an easy-to-use, free QR generator that can be linked to your phone number, contact information, email address, a special URL, SMS or a simple line of text. Just make sure to test your QR code with as many smartphones as possible before you go to print.
4. Resist clutter.
Entrepreneurs trying to create compelling business cards that acknowledge all their many points of contact online can blur their overall message and actually confuse potential customers. The two most important pieces of information on an effective business card have remained the same for almost two decades: your phone number and email address. "The best business card I ever saw was while I was a student at Art Center," Tennesen says. "Our professor was constantly grinding us about simplifying, removing clutter and getting to the heart of the message we were trying to communicate. So many business cards over-communicate and end up making you look needy. His business card consisted of four simple elements: His name, his phone number, black text, white paper. And it was powerful. When is the last time you saw a card like that? It shouted, 'I'm not desperate, I don't beg for work, and I am exclusive.'" This very simple card might not work for everyone, and including elements like a personal cell phone number and company website address is often smart. However, Tennesen says when you're considering adding Twitter handles, Skype aliases, LinkedIn profile links and IM nicknames to a card, remember these are extras you can introduce to the relationship once it is solidified, but don't a relationship make.
5. Don't be cheap.
Everyone knows where to get 1,000 business cards online for 99 cents -- or even for free (if you don't mind sharing precious card real estate with the Vistaprint logo). And with the economy still shaky, you may find this a tempting cost to cut. But, if you don't want your card to get shoved into a wallet, a desk drawer or tossed into the recycling bin, you need it to stand out, and 99 cents won't be enough to cover the cost of true distinctiveness. As is true with any other component of your business, you need to invest time and money into producing a quality business card that has a chance of remaining on someone's desk, and better yet, a chance of making someone check out your website, send an email, pick up the phone or visit you in person. "I have never made a decision to work with someone based solely on a business card," Tennesen says. "But I have made the decision not to work with many people for the same reason. Invest some dollars upfront into creating the kind of image that will appeal to the kind of customers you want to attract. Partner with a designer or agency who understands your business and knows how to communicate your unique selling proposition through the print medium."
'; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/12/designing-a-business-card_n_997449.html
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Monday, 14 November 2011
Better Business Bureau lists AT&T as having lowest complaint ...
Here at TUAW, we still hear plenty of complaints about AT&T's service (many of them actually directed at AT&T, but sent to us for some reason). But the Better Business Bureau says we're actually in a good spot -- AT&T apparently has the lowest amount of complaints from major carriers coming through that agency out of all of the various cell phone service providers. Note that they are referring to major carriers: smaller regional carrier Metro PC actually had the lowest number, but of course they don't service nearly as many people.
Verizon was second best among the major carriers in the US, then Sprint, and T-Mobile brought up the rear, with 26,387 complaints over the last few years. There's good news, though -- data from last year shows that 95% of the complaints to the BBB about wireless issues were actually resolved. So apparently the squeaky wheel does get the grease.
Obviously, there are a lot of factors here -- just because a company does or doesn't get a lot of BBB complaints doesn't necessarily reflect 1:1 on its service. But clearly not many of the people supposedly disappointed with AT&T have gone off to the Better Business Bureau for help.
[via BGR]
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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/11/12/better-business-bureau-lists-atandt-as-lowest-complaint-rate-among/
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Sunday, 13 November 2011
End of an era: Berlusconi to resign
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi arrives at the Lower Chamber in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi is expected to resign Saturday after the Parliament's lower chamber passed a panel of austerity reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing Italy back from the brink of economic crisis. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi arrives at the Lower Chamber in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi is expected to resign Saturday after the Parliament's lower chamber passed a panel of austerity reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing Italy back from the brink of economic crisis. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, second from bottom, leaves at the end of a session of the Lower Chamber, in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. Premier Silvio Berlusconi is expected to resign Saturday after the parliament's lower chamber passes the reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing Italy back from the brink of economic crisis. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Former European commissioner and top choice to steer the country out of its debt woes at the head of a transitional government, Mario Monti, center, arrives at Palazzo Chigi government's office for a meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. Berlusconi is expected to resign Saturday after the parliament's lower chamber passes European-demanded reforms aimed to to steer the country out of its debt, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing Italy back from the brink of economic crisis. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Mario Monti, left, talks at the beginning of a voting session on economic reform measures demanded by the European Union, that should pave the way for Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi to leave office in a matter of days, at the Senate in Rome, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. The prospect of a transitional government headed by respected non-partisan economist Mario Monti calmed markets for a second day, with Italy's 10-year borrowing rate down a further 0.21 percentage point to 6.59 percent. Shares were buoyant too, with the Milan stock index was up 1.7 percent in early trading at 15,477. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Former European commissioner and top designated Italian Premier Mario Monti, center, arrives at Palazzo Chigi government's office for a meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011.Berlusconi is expected to resign Saturday after the parliament's lower chamber passes European-demanded reforms aimed to to steer the country out of its debt, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing Italy back from the brink of economic crisis. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
ROME (AP) ? Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi prepared to resign Saturday after parliament's lower chamber passed European-demanded reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing Italy back from the brink of economic crisis.
A chorus of Handel's "Alleluia," performed by a few dozen singers and classical musicians, rang out in front of the president's palace as many Italians rejoiced at the imminent end of Berlusconi's scandal-marred reign.
Respected former European commissioner Mario Monti remained the top choice to try to steer the country out of its debt woes as the head of a transitional government, but Berlusconi's allies remained split over whether to support him.
Their opposition probably won't scuttle President Giorgio Napolitano's plans to ask Monti to try to form an interim government once Berlusconi resigns, but it will likely make Monti's job more difficult.
Berlusconi's resignation was expected after the Chamber of Deputies, with a vote of 380-26 with two abstentions, approved economic reforms which include increasing the retirement age starting in 2026 but do nothing to open up Italy's inflexible labor market.
The Senate on Friday easily passed the measures and Napolitano signed the legislation Saturday, paving the way for Berlusconi to leave office as he promised to do after losing his parliamentary majority earlier in the week. He chaired his final Cabinet meeting Saturday evening, after which he was expected to head to Napolitano's palazzo to tender his resignation.
Berlusconi stood as lawmakers applauded him in the parliament chamber immediately after the vote. But outside his office and in front of government palazzos across town, hundreds of curiosity-seekers heckled him and his ministers, massing to witness the final hours of his government.
"Shame!" and "Get Out!" the crowds yelled, many toting "Bye Bye Silvio Party" posters as they marched through downtown Rome in a festive indication that for many Italians, like financial markets, the time had come for Berlusconi to go.
Berlusconi supporters were also out in force, but they were outnumbered.
Earlier in the day, Berlusconi lunched with Monti in a clear sign the political transition was already under way, news reports said.
While members of his coalition and the euroskeptic Northern League remained opposed to Monti's nomination, some lawmakers suggested they could support a Monti-led government for a few months to enact the additional EU-demanded reforms before elections are held in early 2012.
Napolitano appealed for lawmakers to put the good of the country ahead of short-term, local interests ? an indirect appeal to members of Berlusconi's party and the allied Northern League to work with the new government.
"All political forces must act with a sense of responsibility," he said.
It's an ignoble end for the 75-year-old billionaire media mogul, who came to power for the first time in 1994 using a soccer chant "Let's Go Italy" as the name of his political party and selling Italians on a dream of prosperity with his own personal story of transformation from cruise-ship crooner to Italy's richest man.
While he became Italy's longest-serving post-war premier, Berlusconi's three stints as premier were tainted by corruption trials and accusations that he used his political power to help his business interests.
His last term has been marred by sex scandals, "bunga bunga" parties and criminal charges he paid a 17-year-old girl to have sex ? accusations he denies.
Italy is under intense pressure to quickly put in place a new and effective government to replace him, one that can push through even more painful reforms and austerity measures to deal with its staggering debts, which stand at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or a huge 120 percent of economic output. Italy has to roll over a little more than euro300 billion ($410 billion) of its debts next year alone.
Markets battered Italy this past week amid uncertainty that Berlusconi would really leave and questions over whether Italy's notoriously paralyzed parliament could rally around a replacement. But Italy's borrowing rates pulled back after Napolitano made clear he intended to tap the politically neutral economist Monti to try to head an interim government to push the reforms through.
The yield on benchmark Italian 10-year bonds fell to 6.48 percent Friday, safely below the crisis level of 7 percent reached earlier this week.
Greece, Ireland and Portugal all required international bailouts after their own borrowing rates passed 7 percent. The Italian economy would not be so easy to save. It totals $2 trillion, twice as much as the other three countries combined.
An Italian default could tear apart the coalition of 17 countries that use the euro as a common currency and deal a strong blow to the economies of Europe and the United States, both trying to avoid recessions.
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said Saturday that Italy's political transition over the next few days should send a "clear sign of clarification and of credibility" that the country is now on the right path to get its finances back in order.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Lagarde had high praise for Monti, saying she had great esteem for the "quality" economist with whom she had long enjoyed a "extremely warm" and effective relationship.
The IMF has a key role to play over the next few months in overseeing Italy's efforts to pull itself back from a Greek-style economic disaster, monitoring how it implements reforms to rein in debt and spur growth, which is projected at a scant 0.6 percent this year and 0.3 percent next year.
Amid market turmoil last week, Berlusconi was forced to ask for IMF monitoring of Italy's finances, a humiliating prospect for the eurozone's third-largest economy and an embarrassment for the long-defiant Berlusconi.
The premier, however, received a warm sendoff from one of his closest pals, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called Berlusconi "one of the last Mohicans of European politics" who had brought political stability to Italy.
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Friday, 11 November 2011
Beauty Crush: Jessica Alba Sparkles in Glittery Gold Eye Makeup (omg!)
Gilded in gold!
After rocking a rather severe makeup look in NYC Tuesday, Jessica Alba got gussied up in glitter at the Armani Hotel opening in Milan, Italy on Thursday.
PHOTOS: See what Jessica, Shakira and more stars wore last night!
The brunette beauty, who wore an Armani Prive velvet top and floral-accented skirt, complemented her all-black ensemble with a shimmering gold makeup look: a winged effect with layers of bronze shadow and defined lashes.
PHOTOS: Celebrity beauty must-haves
Alba, 30, styled her hair into a romantic, center-parted chignon and teamed her look with a red-hot manicure.
PHOTOS: Jessica Alba's chic pregnancy style
Since giving birth to baby number 2, Haven, in August, Alba hasn't missed a red carpet event. Earlier this week, she hit up Glamour's Women of the Year Awards and the H&M for Versace star-studded bash, both of which were in NYC.
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Digidrench whets our appetite for water-based Arduino adventures (video)
Wondering what you get when you mix an Arduino kit with some food coloring and plenty of water? Well, the Digidrench team came up with the concept of developing a media controller that mimics the flow of water in and out of three separate containers. The pay-off? Seeing three of the team get coated in a brightly colored mess. An Arduino kit is connected to a sensor that gauges the amount of water in the tanks and transmits the watery action to a corresponding video slice. Take the water out, and the deluge reverses. Pour faster, and the test subjects get poured on faster. Pour slowly and, well, you get it. You can laugh at their cheerfully colored misery right after the break.
Continue reading Digidrench whets our appetite for water-based Arduino adventures (video)
Digidrench whets our appetite for water-based Arduino adventures (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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