Not really true. It has one 256 bit FP unit which can do AVX instructions, or it can be used as two 128 bit FP units.

There seems to be lots of confusion about the bulldozer architecture. Its real limitations are that it shares the L1 instruction cache, L2 cache, and decoder between (essentially) two cores, and that it has not-so-hot branch prediction (compared to Intel) combined with a longer pipeline resulting in lower IPC compared to Phenom. The FP performance has remained pretty much the same, except it can do FMAC and AVX now.

If you haven't watched the anime Planetes, you should. One of the main topics is what you're talking about. It's one of the best hard science fictions I've seen/read.

FTFY

I deal with this type of malware for a living. Once you know what it does it's quite quick to clean up a system.

Fist off, it's foolish and counterproductive to try to remove malware by using the OS that's infected. Boot to a live CD (like BartPE so you can mount the registry) and at the very least disable it from startup. From there feel free to boot to the OS and repair the damage.

The start menu is indeed moved to the user's Temp folder. In detail:
smtemp\1 is the public start menu
smtemp\2 is the user's start menu
smtemp\3 is the public desktop (I think, I've only seen this folder once)
smtemp\4 is the user's desktop
It also disables the listing of recently used programs in the start menu and un-pins everything. It's easy to turn that back on.

The following is a terrible idea:
attrib -h /S /D C:\*.*
as it will unhide everything on the computer.

It's quite easy to instead just select all the profiles under \Users\, go to properties, uncheck hidden, and apply to all sub objects. Afterwards, go into each profile and rehide only the top folder of AppData and all of the files in the root of the profile (things like ntuser.dat). In XP there are a number of other folders under the profile that are hidden by default. Reference a known good computer to see which ones.

It may also set some group policies to disable the desktop, the task manager, and disable changing the wallpaper. Delete these.

The particular malware that does this does not alter .exe associations, but if you need to fix those, there is a far more reliable free tool from Kaspersky called AVZ. The option is under File -> System Recovery. (Tip: you can rename avz.exe to something like avz.com so you can run it. Or manually fix the association for .exe and let the tool fix the rest.)

Another spot to look out for is IFEO debugger entries. Look under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Inside you will find keys of image names (like iexplore.exe). Under each key you may see a string value called Debugger. It's data will be set to the path of the malware that's infected the computer. If such a key exists, the 'debugger' will be launched whenever you try to execute the specified image.

That about sums it up for all of the 'modern' 'viruses'. Quite pathetic. The only reason these things work is because people are tricked into letting them through UAC. The new Mac infections function nearly identically. They require that the user enter their root password for them to install, and all they do is put themselves in the Mac's startup locations, so they're even easier to remove.

i.e. aluminium oxide, a.k.a. sapphire/ruby, fyi.

He didn't even fgsfds right...

And your dog will die :(

You are indeed correct. I was more trying to point out that the implementation of each problem is going to be different, as one problem requires the consideration of a few more details than the other. And while it may be fairly trivial to use the solution of one problem to solve the other—as you describe—in the silicon world, it may not be so for their bacteria-computer. It could be a big headache to set up a bacteria-solver for a problem of much greater complexity, with the intention of interpreting the result and converting it into the solution of a different problem. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether it's even possible to set up their computer in such a fashion (they only used 3 nodes with the computation taking place in two bits of information: glowing red and glowing green).

TFA oversimplifies by claiming that finding a Hamiltonian path solves the traveling salesman problem of finding the shortest path. The traveling salesman problem deals with variable edge lengths instead of just finite/infinte, and therefore requires a bit more complex implementation to solve (although they are both still NP-complete).

I would be more impressed if they found the shortest path on an undirected graph with variable length edges.

If they had a Project Natal demo on display I'd sure go check it out.

But that won't be a problem, because then this will happen. People will be able to interact socially in meatspace and cyberspace at the same time.

Not necessarily. The term "waldo" is generally restricted to anthropomorphic robots which are controlled by the same part of a human they imitate, such as a robotic hand being controlled by a sensing glove worn by a human. It can also be used to refer to a control mechanism that is a direct extension of an existing control mechanism that is meant to interface with a human, such as recreating a set of full-size controls for a car, and remotely linking them to an actual car.

Here, let me google that for you.

In all seriousness though, I agree it's a pretty horrible "feature". Here's a more concise guide that fixes just what you're talking about: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-fix-annoying-folder-view-type-problem-in-windows-vista/