{"id":39202,"date":"2013-06-21T20:22:41","date_gmt":"2013-06-22T00:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=39202"},"modified":"2013-06-21T20:22:41","modified_gmt":"2013-06-22T00:22:41","slug":"money-weekends-technology-futurewatch-22-june-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/06\/21\/money-weekends-technology-futurewatch-22-june-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Money Weekend\u2019s Technology FutureWatch 22 June 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a> <\/p>\n

TECHNOLOGY: The Usain Bolt of Supercomputers<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

We all are more than likely to have a computer. If you’re reading this, if it’s not on a computer it’s on a tablet or mobile device of some sort.<\/p>\n

As you’re familiar with a home PC it’s more than likely you’re familiar with the speed of your machine. If it’s older it will be a bit slower than new machines. <\/p>\n

As an example, a new modern day PC will have something like 4 GB of Random Access Memory (RAM), and maybe a Computer Processing Unit<\/strong> (CPU) of about 2–3GHz. You might have heard of one as IBM’s Quad-Core processor.<\/p>\n

Within that CPU will be maybe two to four ‘cores’ which are actually CPU’s themselves just bundled together into one. And then in addition to all this you have a graphics accelerator, a GPU which helps handles things like video and rendering.<\/p>\n

Now you’ve got a grasp of what a typical PC has in terms of grunt, and you have a rough gauge as to the speed and performance of such machines. <\/p>\n

If we mentioned Titan, Watson, Sequoia or Tianhe you certainly wouldn’t think of them as famous names. But in the world of computing, those names are the rockstars of hardware. By that we mean those are the names of some of the world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputers.<\/p>\n

And twice a year, every year, these supercomputers race each other to see how fast they go. It’s like the 100m Olympic Final and IBM is like the Jamaican team. And it looks like Sequoia is Usain Bolt. According to Graph500.org<\/em> the Sequoia smashes the competition…for now.<\/p>\n

\"IBM
Source: digitaltrends.com<\/a> <\/p>\n

But competition and bragging rights aside, just how fast are these computers really?<\/p>\n

Well to get a scale for how powerful and fast these supercomputers are, your PC has at best probably four ‘cores’ as we mentioned earlier. The Sequoia (an IBM BlueGene\/Q model) has 1,048,576 ‘cores’. <\/p>\n

The purpose of supercomputers is to help scientists and researchers do mind-bogglingly hard calculations. Also, they push the boundaries of possibility when it comes to modern day computing. Moving forward, better and faster supercomputers will overtake these existing ones. But as history has shown us the supercomputers of today are your home PC in 5–10 years.<\/p>\n

What this means is that the speed of computers is still moving at a breakneck pace. And it’s continuing to filter down into our lives. As this happens it means your day to day lives adapt to the ability of computers to assist in enhancing your life.<\/p>\n

It’s all part of the Integrated Technology <\/strong>trend we’ve been writing about. As companies like IBM continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in computing, we all benefit in the long run. <\/p>\n

HEALTH: 7400 Slices of Brain, 1000 Super Computer Hours<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

While on the subject of supercomputers, they’ve been useful in the latest advancement in mapping the human brain. We’ve spoken previously about the US BRAIN Project<\/a>. Recently a team from the Jülich Research Centre in Germany has completed research to compliment that study. They’ve sliced and diced a deceased woman’s brain to 3D model it on a supercomputer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As reported by New Scientist<\/em>, Dr. Katrin Amuntus and her team ‘embedded a 65-year old woman’s brain in wax, sliced it into more than 7400 sections each 20 micrometres thick – one-fifth of the width of a human hair – and made digital images of the slices, also at a resolution of 20 micrometres.<\/em>’ <\/p>\n

What they next did was use these digital images to recreate a 3D model of the woman’s brain on a supercomputer. This was a very challenging task that an ordinary computer wouldn’t be capable of.<\/p>\n

Using a supercomputer it took the team over 1000 hours to recreate the brain model. In other words it took the supercomputer 41 days to do it…that’s a lot of processing!<\/p>\n

This 3D model of the brain is the most detailed model ever created. It’s a great step forward in helping other brain-related projects like BRAIN reach their final end point. That end point being able to understand the workings of the human brain. <\/p>\n

As we’ve said before, next to the Human Genome Project it’s possibly one of the most significant projects in the history of mankind.<\/p>\n

It’s an ambitious goal, but with little steps forward like the work of Dr. Amuntus, it’s certainly an achievable goal in the not too distant future to understand the most complex and most powerful machine on earth, the human brain.<\/p>\n

ENERGY: Dance your Phone Back to Full Charge<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

We don’t know about you, but one of the most frustrating problems we have is how to keep our mobile phone charged during the day. Current phones seem to do a very good job of depleting battery life in about half a day. It’s likely because of the always-running apps we have on them.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, big phone companies like Vodafone don’t like phones dying of battery. It means fewer calls, messages, downloads…and fewer dollars for them. So it’s in the interest of a big Telco to keep phones powered and alive.<\/p>\n

Thankfully Vodafone has been beavering away at a solution to this problem. And they’ve combined this with their strong marketing presence at the many festivals held across the UK during ‘festival season’.<\/p>\n

Vodafone in conjunction with Professor Stephen Beeby from the Electronics and Computer Science Department of the University of Southampton have created ‘Power Pockets<\/strong>‘. <\/p>\n

As Vodafone have outlined the tech through their company blog, <\/p>\n

\n

‘(Stephen’s) research has <\/em>culminated in thermoelectric material that’s so small it can be stitched into a pair of shorts or, in the case of the Recharge, a sleeping bag. But how does it work?<\/em>’ <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Professor Beeby explains, <\/p>\n

\n

‘Basically, we’re printing down pairs of what are called ‘thermocouples’. You print lots of those down and connect them up to make a thermoelectric module. One side of that is cold and the other is hot, and when you get a flow of heat through it you can create a voltage and a current. Voltage and current together equals electrical power.<\/em>’ <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now that’s all good and well, but what do Power Pockets and Festivals have to do with each other. Well Vodafone has put their Power Pockets in sleeping bags, and ‘short-shorts’. Or as Vodafone are calling them, Power Shorts and the Recharge Sleeping Bag. <\/p>\n

\"power
Source: blog.vodafone.co.uk <\/strong> <\/p>\n

Using the thermoelectric modules, simply dance the day away in the power shorts, and you’ll have enough charge for about 4 hours of usage. Tuck in to the sleeping bag over night and you get about 11 hours of standby time. <\/p>\n

That’s pretty impressive. And particularly handy when you’re short (excuse the pun) of power points at a festival.<\/p>\n

Sam Volkering<\/a>
\nTechnology Analyst<\/strong>
\nJoin me on Google+<\/strong><\/U><\/a><\/p>\n

From the Archives…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t Make Investing a Chore… Invest in an Innovative Business<\/a>
\n14-06-2013 – Kris Sayce <\/p>\n

The Technology Revolution Begins in Four Days…<\/a>
\n13-06-2013 – Kris Sayce <\/p>\n

Zero G for the Australian Dollar is a Shot in the Arm for Miners<\/a>
\n12-06-2013 – Dr Alex Cowie <\/p>\n

There’s More to Technology Than Facebook and Spying<\/a>
\n11-06-2013 – Sam Volkering <\/p>\n

Four Great Australian Technological Achievements<\/a>
\n 10-06-2013 – Sam Volkering <\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MoneyMorning.com.au TECHNOLOGY: The Usain Bolt of Supercomputers We all are more than likely to have a computer. If you’re reading this, if it’s not on a computer it’s on a tablet or mobile device of some sort. As you’re familiar with a home PC it’s more than likely you’re familiar with the speed of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Money Weekend\u2019s Technology FutureWatch 22 June 2013”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}