ExpandMyMind Posted April 1, 2013 #1 Share Posted April 1, 2013 A US supercomputer called Roadrunner has been switched off by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The machine was the first to operate at "petaflop pace" - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second - when it launched in 2008. It has been used to model viruses and distant parts of the universe, as well as in nuclear weapons research. It remains one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, but has been replaced by something even faster. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21993132 In 10-20 years, we'll have these in our phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+and-then Posted April 1, 2013 #2 Share Posted April 1, 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-21993132 In 10-20 years, we'll have these in our phones. But we'll still love poetry and smile when children laugh. Humans can be amazingly adaptable but they never really change at the core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted April 1, 2013 #3 Share Posted April 1, 2013 So Petaflop was supposed to be a complimentary term, was it? No wonder it never took off with such a discouraging name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashotep Posted April 1, 2013 #4 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Why stop using it if its so fast. Sounds like a waste of money to just dismantle it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquatus1 Posted April 1, 2013 #5 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Um...geez, guys? It's one thing to be reluctant to follow a link to an article, but come on, the answer's right in the provided clip. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted April 1, 2013 #6 Share Posted April 1, 2013 I think "Petaflop" sounds rather like one of the many less than successful initiatives from everyone's favourite ANimal Welfare organisation, like trying to re-brand fish as "Sea kittens" and so on. :-/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpandMyMind Posted April 2, 2013 Author #7 Share Posted April 2, 2013 I think "Petaflop" sounds rather like one of the many less than successful initiatives from everyone's favourite ANimal Welfare organisation, like trying to re-brand fish as "Sea kittens" and so on. :-/ A 'petaflop' is a unit of measurement. From the quoted text of the article: 'first to operate at "petaflop pace" - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second'. The name of the computer was 'Roadrunner'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted April 2, 2013 #8 Share Posted April 2, 2013 A 'petaflop' is a unit of measurement. From the quoted text of the article: 'first to operate at "petaflop pace" - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second'. The name of the computer was 'Roadrunner'. it was a tongue in cheek comment and was not intended as a serious remark. Anyway, what idiot invented such a stupid word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted April 2, 2013 #9 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Words like that come from mixing Greek prefixes with English roots. Stick to one language when inventing words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted April 2, 2013 #10 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Since when (going off on a linguistic tangent) has 'flop' been a unit of time? Is this one of those amusing words that the Scientific fraternity have come up with to show that they're actually really crazy guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted April 2, 2013 #11 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Well it is somewhat better described as a flop than as a unit of time. Once they would say so many petaflops per second, but that got lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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