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Discovery of a "Flat" Atom Hailed as Quantum Computing Breakthrough 205

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the breakthroughs-by-mistake dept.
msw writes to tell us that nanoelectronics researchers have discovered a new molecule that could act as a state-manipulable atom due to its unique shape and properties. "Imagine a tiny arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms. An electric current is applied. Something strange arises on the surface -- an exotic molecule. On one end is the spherical submerged arsenic atom; on the other end is an 'artificial' flat atom, seemingly 2D, created as an artifact. The pair form an exotic molecule, which has a shared electron, which can be manipulated to be at either end, or in an intermediate quantum state."
Programming

Using AI With GCC to Speed Up Mobile Design 173

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the leave-it-to-the-machines dept.
Atlasite writes "The WSJ is reporting on a EU project called Milepost aimed at integrating AI inside GCC. The team partners, which include include IBM, the University of Edinburgh and the French research institute, INRIA, announced their preliminary results at the recent GCC Summit, being able to increase the performance of GCC by 10% in just one month's work. GCC Summit paper is provided [PDF]."
Power

Are SSDs Really More Power Efficient? 222

Posted by CmdrTaco from the how-will-i-green-up-now dept.
Bakasama writes "Tom's Hardware compared the power performance of several available SSD cards with a Rotating HDD that was chosen specifically for its poor power efficiency. The results seem to fly in the face of current wisdom. 'Flash-based solid state drives (SSDs) are considered to be the future of performance hard drives, and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. We are no exception, as we have been publishing many articles on flash-based SSDs during the last few months, emphasizing the performance gains and the potential power savings brought by flash memory. And there is nothing wrong with this, since SLC flash SSDs easily outperform conventional hard drives today (SLC = single level cell). However, we have discovered that the power savings aren't there: in fact, battery runtimes actually decrease if you use a flash SSD.'"
Earth

Supplies of Rare Earth Elements Exhausted By 2017 958

Posted by kdawson from the they-don't-call-them-rare-for-nothing dept.
tomhudson writes "While we bemoan the current oil crisis, I ran across an editorial that led me to research a more immediate threat. Ramped-up production of flat-panel displays means the material to make them will be 'extinct' by 2017. This goes for other electronics as well. Quoting: 'The element gallium is in very short supply and the world may well run out of it in just a few years. Indium is threatened too, says Armin Reller, a materials chemist at Germany's University of Augsburg. He estimates that our planet's stock of indium will last no more than another decade. All the hafnium will be gone by 2017 also, and another twenty years will see the extinction of zinc. Even copper is an endangered item, since worldwide demand for it is likely to exceed available supplies by the end of the present century.' More links at the journal entry."
Announcements

Submission + - Bizarre self-destructing palm tree found

Submitted by
Smivs
Smivs writes: "A giant self-destructing palm tree has been discovered in Madagascar, that is so big it can be seen on Google Earth. The palm is 20m (60ft) high with leaves 5m (16ft) long, the tallest tree of its type in the country, but for most of its life — around 100 years — it appears fairly unremarkable apart from its size. However, when it flowers, it puts so much energy into an impressive flower-spike, that it eventually collapses and dies. Dr John Dransfield, who announced the tree in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, is baffled as to how the it came to be in the country. It bears a resemblance to a species of palm found in regions of Asia; 6,000km away.It is thought that the palm has gone through a remarkable evolution since Madagascar split with India some 80m years ago."
Power

Journal Journal: NanoSolar

Journal by davidsyes

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/21981/

http://blog.nanosolar.com/

http://www.sunpowercorp.com/Smarter-Solar.aspx

Comment This does not surprise me. (Score 2, Interesting) 437

by plushpuffin (#21227741) Attached to: Datacenter Robbed for the Fourth Time in Two Years
The company I work for used to be a client of theirs, and like many others here, eventually got fed up with their constant downtime. When we canceled our service and they shipped the servers back, all four rackmount servers had the rack-screw-tabs bent because they shipped them with no padding whatsoever. They were just rattling around inside the cardboard boxes during shipment.

A former employee of CI Host contacted us after we quit their service and told us this little gem:

That time early this year when their entire Chicago datacenter was down for two days? They forgot to pay their power bill.

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