China Takes the SuperComputer
Reid Rosen
Friday Posts
10/28/2010
In a BBC report China has taken the top spot with the new super computer Tianhe- 1A. The computer is capable of 2.5 trillion calculations per second. To reach such a huge processing power the computer uses 7,000 graphic processors and 14,000 Intel chips. Tianhe-1A is 50% faster than any other rival computer. The closet competitor was America’s XT5 Jaguar in Oak Ridge national headquarters in Tennessee. The super computer is housed in more than 100 fridge sized cabinets and weighs more than 155 tons. The computer is now being used for weather and also by the National Offshore Drilling Corporation.
Its kind of a scary thought that China has beaten the US at its own game. The United States was responsible for the invention of the Computer and the Super Computer. China’s capabilities are such because of the capital they now have access too. A point I want to make about the article is how brief it is. No, quotes from anyone who works on the computer only some from the US man who saw it. I think this is any interesting part about journalism especially one that is global. Journalism stories that are truly ground breaking may more than likely not taking place in the US. Even more important is how News media’s are adjusting to meet the global need. This would be a subject that I would find interesting to discuss in class.
About Reid
Provide links to the story, Reid.
An interesting discussion. Is the US losing its lead in everything? As far as global news: when news media cut back on staff and resources, it is almost always in international news. Partly because maintaining offices outside the country is expensive, but also because local news is is seen as more important, especially to newspapers.