Thursday, June 19, 2008

Intel 'Harpertown' chip rules supercomputer list

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9971576-7.html

June 18, 2008 11:30 AM PDT

Intel 'Harpertown' chip rules supercomputer list

Posted by Brooke Crothers Post a comment

Intel Xeon processors--particularly the "Harpertown" variety--dominated the top 500 supercomputer list. But IBM's Power chips made a strong showing as usual at the very top of the list. AMD's Opteron processor landed in the No. 1 and No. 4 ranked systems.

Top 10 processors in Top500 supercomputer list

(Credit: Top500.org)

The Top500 List--updated twice a year--of supercomputers was released Wednesday. Intel's Xeon, AMD's Opteron, and IBM's Power chips vied for most of the spots in the list.

The most dominant chip was the Intel Xeon E54xx series "Harpertown" processor. Appearing in 116 systems for 23.2 percent of the total. The largest for any single processor model.

The Xeon 53xx series "Clovertown" processor was next, appearing in 92 systems for 18.4 percent of the total. Following Clovertown was the Xeon 51xx series "Woodcrest" processor with 18.2 percent of the total.

Harpertown and Clovertown are quad-core processors, Woodcrest is dual-core.

In the No. 4 slot was the AMD Opteron dual-core chip (8.4 percent), followed by the X54xx series of Intel Harpertown processors (7.8 percent), then by the PowerPC 440 (4.22 percent).

(Note: Combining the Intel Harpertown E54xx series and X54xx series boosts the total for this chip model to 31 percent.)

The IBM Power processors passed the AMD Opteron family and "are now (again) the second most common processor family with 68 systems (13.6 percent), up from 61 systems (12.2 percent) six months ago," Top500.org said.

AMD's strongest showing was in the top five supercomputers. Opteron processors played a major role in the No. 1 IBM Roadrunner system, which connects 6,562 dual-core AMD Opteron chips as well as 12,240 IBM Cell chips (on IBM Model QS22 blade servers).

See: IBM's Roadrunner breaks petaflop barrier, tops supercomputer list.

The No. 4 Sun Microsystems' SunBlade system uses over 62,000 cores running inside AMD Opteron quad-core processors running at 2.0GHz.

The No. 2 and No. 3 systems were based on IBM PowerPC 450 chips.

Other Top500 processor highlights:

A total of 375 systems (75 percent) are now using Intel processors. This is up from six months ago (354 systems, 70.8 percent) and represents the largest share for Intel chips in the Top500 ever.
56 systems (11 percent) are using AMD Opteron processors, down from 78 systems (15.6 percent) six months ago.
283 systems are using quad-core processor based systems.

Originally posted at Nanotech: The Circuits Blog

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Sxipper Automatically Fills in Web Forms [Featured Firefox Extension]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/313305926/sxipper-automatically-fills-in-web-forms

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Sxipper automates your web logins and form filling through a simple, attractive interface. Once installed, you can create different personas into Sxipper for quick form filling for site registrations, and Sxipper automatically works with Firefox's existing saved logins. The extension can either learn and build personas based on information you've already used in forms, or you can import other form and password data from other programs like Roboform or plain old vCards. Sxipper is free, works wherever Firefox does.

Sxipper [Firefox Add-ons via Nethackz]

XB Browser Provides Anonymous Web Browsing [Featured Windows Download]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/313366173/xb-browser-provides-anonymous-web-browsing

Windows only: Freeware application xB Browser is a portable web browser that provides anonymous web surfing at startup. xB Browser anonymizes traffic either through the free Tor network or through its distributor XeroBank's networks (the second comes with a price). Born from the ashes of previously mentioned and abandoned TorPark, xB Browser is really just Firefox with anonymous browsing baked in from the get-go. xB Browser is free, Windows only, though Mac and Linux versions are planned for August 08.

xB Browser [XeroBank via Download Squad]

Set Firefox 3 to Launch Gmail for mailto Links

Add Gmail as application handler
In today's earlier list of five extensions you won't need in Firefox 3, we said you won't need any special toolbars, third-party apps, Greasemonkey scripts, or extensions to get Firefox to use webapps to open certain types of links. This means that when you click on an email address that uses the standard mailto: email protocol, Firefox 3 itself can launch Gmail instead of a desktop app. By default, the Firefox RC 1 only comes with Yahoo Mail as a possible mailto: link handler, which leaves Gmail users out in the cold—unless you know how to set it up by hand. Here's how to configure Firefox 3 to use Gmail as your default mailto: application handler.

Ready to set up Gmail? Roll up those sleeves.

Open Gmail in Firefox.
In the tab where Gmail is loaded, copy and paste the following snippet of JavaScript into your address bar:
javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","GMail")

If you are a Google Apps user, use this code instead, but replace example.com with your domain name:
javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/a/example.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","GMail")
Firefox 3 will ask permission to add Gmail as default mailto handler. Click the Add Application button, as shown.

Update, 6/18/08: Thanks to a great tip from a reader Andrew, the instructions above have been shortened considerably. Thanks, Andrew!

Now, if you click a mailto: link—try the tips link on Lifehacker's sidebar—Firefox 3 will ask which application you want to use. Choose Gmail, and select "Remember my choice for mailto links" to set the preference permanently.

**Updated 5/21** If this trick doesn't work for you, go into about:config and make sure that network.protocol-handler.external.mailto is set to its default value true.

***Updated 5/21*** To remove the Gmail handler, in Firefox's Tools menu, choose Options. (Mac users, go to the Preferences dialog.) In the Applications tab, search for mailto. From the drop-down of mailto handlers, choose Applications Details, as shown. Here you can select a webapp handler and Remove it using the button.

Firefox 3's new ability to register webapps as link handlers has lots of potential usage, for everything from fax and telephone numbers to IM buddy name links. Setting up your mailto handler is just the beginning. Read more about Firefox 3 web protocol handler possibilities. Thanks, readme!

Dumpr Applies Photo Effects Online [Image Editing]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/314686028/dumpr-applies-photo-effects-online

Web-based photo editor Dumpr adds quick effects to photos like the Lifehacker Rubik's Cube included here, created in under 10 seconds. Upload photos to Dumpr from your computer, or grab them from Flickr or any photo URL. The real timesaver Dumpr provides is the quick link panel beside each picture it renders, which lets you quickly inject your edited photos into Facebook, Blogger, Wordpress, and more. If you're looking for a more robust online editor to crop, resize, and apply filters, check out previously posted Wiredness.