Episode 091

 GLENN'S SHOWNOTES

Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008
Set a Guinness World Record
Enjoy a Better Web

 

Sounds like a good deal, right? All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours – it’s that easy. We're not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.

By the way, the official date for the launch of Firefox 3 will be posted here soon – so check back! Join our community and this effort by pledging today.

link on front of web page

Government unveils world's fastest computer – CNN.com

a $100 million machine that for the first time has performed 1,000 trillion calculations per second in a sustained exercise.

An IBM engineer inspects the world's fastest computer in the company's Poughkeepsie, New York, plant.

The technology breakthrough was accomplished by engineers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the IBM Corp. on a computer to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work, including simulating nuclear explosions.

The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which itself is three times faster than any of the world's other supercomputers, according to IBM.

"The computer is a speed demon. It will allow us to solve tremendous problems," said Thomas D'Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons research and maintains the warhead stockpile.

To put the computer's speed in perspective, if every one of the 6 billion people on earth used a hand-held computer and worked 24 hours a day it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

The interconnecting system occupies 6,000 square feet with 57 miles of fiber optics and weighs 500,000 pounds. Although made from commercial parts, the computer consists of 6,948 dual-core computer chips and 12,960 cell engines, and it has 80 terabytes of memory.

The cost: $100 million.

Turek said the computer in a two-hour test on May 25 achieved a "petaflop" speed of sustained performance, something no other computer had ever done. It did so again in several real applications involving classified nuclear weapons work this past weekend.

iTWire – 3G iPhone 2.0 launches! Really disappointing or really cool?
3G iPhone 2.0 launches!

What’s in is GPS, 3G for much faster browsing of the web and downloading, thinner edges, flush headphone jack, half price, more battery life despite 3G, will be available in 70 countries, tons of new software through the App Store, black and white colours, 3.5-inch screen, 2 megapixel camera, 8GB or 16GB. The back is entirely plastic now

The 8GB iPhone will cost US $199, the 16GB iPhone will cost US $299 – and Jobs says the prices will be capped around the world to match the US pricing, which is awesome! So, the iPhone now gets much cheaper and much more affordable, which is totally incredible, and certainly makes up for the missing features.

Battery Talk time is up to 5 hours on 3G, up to 10 hours on 2G. Standby time is up to 300 hours. Internet use: up to 5 hours on 3G, up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi. Video playback: Up to 7 hours, audio playback: Up to 24 hours

Apple's Australian retail debut – Technology – BrisbaneTimes
Apple's Australian retail debut

 the new $15m Sydney Apple Store – the company's first in the southern hemisphere

the store would open for business at 5pm on Thursday, June 19. a free T-shirt if they happen to be among the first 2500 customers through the door.

The new Apple Store will occupy three-floors of a newly-refurbished building that stands on the corner of King and George Streets in the Sydney CDB.

Two smaller Apple Stores – one in Melbourne's Chadstone Shopping Centre and one in the northern Sydney suburb of Chatswood, are currently under construction

Google trials new Gmail features – Office Software
Google trials new Gmail features

users have been given a selection of 13 new features in a "labs" tab in the Gmail settings page, said Keith Coleman, a Gmail product manager.

"The idea is you can do whatever you want, get it out to tens of millions of people, and get feedback," Coleman said. And popular features will be incorporated into Gmail proper.

Among the new features that are possible:

• A quick-link tool that lets people bookmark specific Gmail messages.
• Superstars, which lets people select custom stars to label mail.
• The "email addict" tool that lets people lock themselves out of their email account for 15 minutes.
• A fixed-width font option to view a message within a font whose characters are the same width — handy for some formatting challenges.

StumbleUpon Demo – American auto dealer offers free handguns | The Register
American auto dealer offers free handguns

 

Max Motors is aware of America's crime problem. And it wants to be part of the solution. With this in mind, the Butler, Missouri auto dealership is offering a free handgun to anyone in the market for a new car or truck.

As reported by the BBC, Max Motors recently launched a "Guns and Gas" promotion. If you purchase any vehicle before May 31, you can choose between between two free gifts: a $250 gas card or a $250 handgun.

"Everybody has a right to protect themselves," store manager Walter Moore told us. "So we're giving them guns."

Sales have quadrupled since the launch of Guns and Gas, and according to Moore, this has little do to with the gas. "90 per cent of all buyers are going for the gun," he said. "Out of about 45 people, just two went for gas. And one of them said she had plenty of guns at home."

Buyers are given a certificate for a free handgun of their choice. But Max Motors recommends the Kel-Tec .380. Speaking with The BBC, owner Mark Muller described it as "a nice little handgun that fits in your pocket".

Muller also said that his Guns and Gas promotion was inspired by recent comments from US presidential candidate Barack Obama: "We did it because of Barack Obama," Muller explained. "He said 'All those people in the Midwest, you've got to have compassion for them because they're clinging to their guns and their Bibles.' I found that quite offensive. We all go to church on Sunday, and we all carry guns." ®