Most Expensive Computer in the World
By May 2002, the 640 processor node supercomputer was benchmarked with Linpack as having 35.86 TFlop/s performance. This gave it the top spot on the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list until 2004 when IBM’s BlueGene/L supercomputer took its place using an architecture that cost less than half as much to implement. Each processor node in the Earth Simulator contains 8 vector processors running at 500MHz with 16GB of shared memory, and the total main memory in the machine is 10 terabytes. The operating system running on the supercomputer is NEC’s UNIX-based OS called “SUPER-UX” which is used on NEC’s SX Series of supercomputers.
This expensive computer is used for a wide variety of international projects, most of which are related to atmospheric, climate, and oceanographic simulation.
1. Kiko. A general purpose online calendar. Elegant interface and design. API coming soon.
2. Backbase’s RSS Reader. Only a demo, so you can’t add your own feeds. Still, very nice.
3. Backpack. To do list organizer and simple project management application. Includes email and mobile reminders.
4. Writely. Online word processor. A bit rough around the edges (you can’t save in MSF T Word format, for example) but still feels like a real application. Update: per Sam Schillace @ Writely, you can export in Word format (ed: sorry for missing this). Also, API and blog publishing features coming soon.
5. Amazon Zuggest. Francis Shanahan’s version of Google Suggest–but for Amazon.
6. TimeTracker. Personal time management tool.
7. Del.icio.us Director. Rich UI for managing your del.icio.us links.
8. Backbase’s Information Portal. A highly interactive aggregation page.
9. Protopage. Another twist on an information portal.
10. Periodic Table of the Elements. The next must-have for high school chemistry students?
