Supercomputer doubles own record

The Blue Gene/L supercomputer has broken its own record to achieve more than double the number of calculations it can do a second, reports the BBC. It reached 280.6 teraflops - 280.6 trillion calculations a second - the equivalent of each person in the world with a handheld calculator taking decades to do the same calculations Blue Gene is now able to do every second.

The IBM machine, unveiled by Linton F Brooks from the National Nuclear Security Administration at the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last Friday, officially became the most powerful computer on the planet in June.

The completed Blue Gene/L joins another supercomputing team-mate, called ASC Purple, to get to work on safeguarding the US`s nuclear stockpile. Purple can do 100 teraflops while it carries out simulations of nuclear weapons performance.

Samsung Electronics, Korea`s biggest digital products maker, aims to duplicate its dominance in memory chips for MP3 players by creating a digital media player application like iTunes of Apple Computer, reports The Korean Times.

"We are now in talks with our partners to debut a service program like iTunes of Apple. Our number one priority is to help customers use our products with ease," says Samsung president Choi Gee-sung, who is in charge of the firm`s digital media division.

"Our items show healthy performances in China and Southeast Asian countries where iTunes services are not provided."

In a surprise move, Microsoft says it will create its new MSN Book Search service by working with the Open Content Alliance, a group founded to digitise and index books and other media.

The group`s founding members include Yahoo, the competitor from which Microsoft is trying to untie other parts of its Internet search business, reports Seattle PI.

Microsoft`s move might seem odd, but some in the technology industry see it as an example of the lengths to which Microsoft will go in its rivalry with Google.