Apparently the Department of Defense believes that PS3s are a better value when it comes to supercomputers than IBM products specifically designed for the purpose. Granted recent price drops probably didn't hurt in justifying a 2,200 console order either. This isn't the first time that the DoD is using PS3 consoles for supercomputing. In fact, these 2,200 units are going to be added to an existing Linux cluster of 336 PS3s used by the United States Air Force. According to Justification Review Documents, the purchase is all about getting the best value out the DoD's budget: With respect to cell processors, a single 1U server configured with two 3.2GHz cell processors can cost up to $8K while two Sony PS3s cost approximately $600. Though a single 3.2 GHz cell processor can deliver over 200 GFLOPS, whereas the Sony PS3 configuration delivers approximately 150 GFLOPS, the approximately tenfold cost difference per GFLOP makes the Sony PS3 the only viable technology for HPC applications. I'm all for balancing cost and features, but isn't it just a bit curious that someone thought to save on upgrading the supercomputer just after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released?

More »

The mystery of the Alienware 'allpowerful' has been pierced a few days before E3—a brand new m17x stuffed with so much power it might just cause cancer: Dual 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards and a Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core CPU for starters. You can also stuff it with up to 8GB of DDR3-1333 RAM, 1TB HDD or 512GB SSD, Blu-ray and all important for gaming, an edge-to-edge 1920x1200 display. It has an Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated GPU, so you can boost our battery life from 15 seconds to 26.3 seconds when you need to go that extra mile. And ports, ports, ports—the thing is so beastly the USB ports are arranged vertically: 4 USB, eSATA/USB combo, DisplayPort (go Dell) and HDMI. And yes, it's completely blinged out—lights pour out of it like it just landed on earth after a long trip from a planet populated entirely by a evolved race of disco lights. It's heavy, too—almost 12 pounds—but despite being thicker than a 18-wheeler it's easily the best-looking machine Alienware has put out (at least once you turn off the lights). It starts at $1800, but don't expect to stay that way once you start tricking it out with heavy-duty firepower

More »

Build Your Own Barebone Systems, Very Good Site

More »

Computer & Electronic Online Store, nice products at cheap prices

More »

Computer & Electronic Online Store

More »

New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities

More »

Get on and get to know your game! Know when new BFBC games are coming out and what new news there is about them, b kool and have fun rats!

More »

In little over a month, Windows 7 will officially launch starting at $120 and $200 for their respective Upgrade and Full versions. If you're a college or university student, however, Microsoft has a much sweeter deal in store. Starting today through January 3 next year, anyone with a valid .edu email address can purchase the upgrade version of either Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for just $29.99. The operating system will be offered as a download through Digital River, a company which specializes in downloadable software, on October 22. Copies are restricted to one download per email address and you'll have to choose between the 32 OR 64-bit versions.

More »

Don't worry, folks -- Microsoft knows you really hate those subversive little devils making third-party Memory Units, what with their 2GB and 4GB offerings for the Xbox 360. In an effort to stamp out these Doris Dogooders from your Xbox Live Experience™, Microsoft's Major Nelson announced on his blog yesterday that "When Preview Program members start receiving the Xbox 360 system update next week, one of the changes is that unauthorized Memory Units will no longer work." In plain English, this means that any third-party Memory Unit you might have been using will be rendered useless. Mr. Hryb suggests moving any saves on said devices get moved to an authorized one, unless losing access to "stored profile or saves games" simply ain't no thang for you.

More »

A disgruntled PlayStation 3 owner in Florida has filed a class action lawsuit against Sony, claiming that a firmware update made live in early September caused PS3 units to "malfunction and actually damaged the hardware on many units." The suit claims Sony is charging $150 to repair PS3s with "sustained hardware damage" from the update. After some early reports of a problem with update 3.0, Sony issued a fix, but the Florida man claims Sony's update doesn't actually correct the problem. In fact, he says the "fix" actually caused further problems with the console's Blu-ray drive. The suit accuses SCEA of breach of implied warranty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and other counts. The suit is seeking restitution, unspecified monetary damages and legal fees. As of yet, Sony hasn't commented on the matter. Although I've read a few scattered posts on the internet about the issue, my PS3 is fine, and no one I know has had this happen to his or her system either -- G4 has a lot of PlayStation 3 owners, too. Still, there are scattered reports on the internet, and a guy in Florida is angry enough to sue, so maybe there is something to this.

More »

Microsoft finally adds the above features listed. Now personally, even if I did have an Xbox 360 Keyboard, I highly doubt I would be twittering, facebooking, jamming to Last.fm, etc. However, I do agree with the article that when it comes to looking at friends pictures on facebook. Nothing beats the Xbox 360's streamlined process of viewing pics.

More »

The trouble started with Uncharted and has now reportedly grown to encompass all manner of media fed into the PlayStation 3 disc drive. The comments section of PlayStiaton Blog's Firmware 3.01 announcement has been overwhelmed by user reports of disc drive errors since Firmware 3.00 and 3.01 were released; most commonly, read errors reportedly occur when running Blu-ray games or movies, but in some alleged cases plain old DVDs are not working either. Eurogamer has reached Sony for comment, and the console manufacturer has disavowed responsibility for the apparent drive failure, declaring it "not an issue with the firmware." In other words, corresponding repair costs are currently placed squarely on the shoulders of the affected consumers.

More »

After weeks of rumor and speculation, Apple has finally confirmed that they will be hosting a media event on September 9 in San Francisco. The invitation-only event will be hosted at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Theater and is expected to include the unveiling of several revisions to Apple's iPod series. While Apple's intent to refresh the iPod lineup has been more or less confirmed by the invitation's "It's only rock and roll, but we like it" graphic, which depicts a woman holding an iPod, there has also been fervent speculation that Apple will be unveiling their long anticipated tablet PC.

More »

The 360 Elite is going to be the new model for the Xbox 360, while at the same time dropping in price by about $100. This means that Microsoft is phasing out the Xbox 360 Pro, which means far fewer "Red Ring of Death" cases.

More »

Sony, Nintendo, and Apple are being sued by a company, claiming that the latter is using Wi-Fi technology that they have patented and demand reimbursement for damages, caused by Sony's PS3, Nintendo's Wii, and Apple's Iphone who used their Wi-Fi technology.

More »

Go Firefox go!

More »

A security flaw in the Iphones which Apple has yet to fix, stands to be exploited as two certain hackers head to Las Vegas to explain the flaw to fellow hackers. They claim that with a special text message, you can control the Iphone you are texting, both hardware and software, and even see their history. They also say you can control other Iphones from the one you have taken over; the cure? They say the only thing that can stop them is if you physically turn off the phone.

More »

This is Alienware's new m17x gaming laptop. To give you an idea of what's going to be inside it, you should know that it weighs 12 pounds, and costs an absolute minimum $1800. We say "absolute minimum" because there are hardware options for the thing that may prove too tempting to pass up on. Like, in addition to the dual 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards and Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core CPU, you can cram as much as 8GB of DDR3 RAM into its guts. You can also opt to have either a 1TB HDD or 512GB SSD for storage. And you can top all that off with a Blu-Ray drive, which should look rather nice on the machine's 1920x1200 display.

More »

Examiner has reported a brand new computer shipped out the door with factory-installed software designed to steal World of WarCraft and they presumably any other online game account information. In addition to a worm that spread through USB devices, a rootkit and password-stealing program were discovered hiding deep within the opened package of the tablet PC. The M&A Companion Touch, a mini-tablet PC designed for students, had been updated with the latest drivers at the factory prior to shipping out to retail. The USB device used for the updates was apparently the culprit, inadvertently spreading the evil programs to an unknown number of PCs before it was discovered. The purchaser of the new PC had luckily scanned it prior to connecting to the Internet, discovering and destroying the malware before it could do any real harm (other than to M&A’s reputation). The company has not yet commented on the situation. But we presume they are working on it.

More »