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Nvidia's graphics brawn powers supercomputing brains

Nvidia, trying to move its graphics chips into the supercomputing market, has found a niche helping engineers build brain-like systems called neural networks.

For years, the company has advocated the idea of offloading processing tasks from general-purposes central processing units (CPUs) to its own graphics processing units (GPUs). That approach has won over some researchers and companies involved with neural networks, which reproduce some of the electrical behavior of real-world nerve cells inside a computer.

Neurons in the real world work by sending electrical signals around the brain, but much of the actual functioning of the brain remains a mystery. … Read more

Obama: NSA spying doesn't mean 'abandoning freedom'

News about the National Security Agency's classified surveillance programs has been abundant the past few days, and to top it off, President Obama is now giving a 45-minute interview about the issue with Charlie Rose on Monday evening.

Buzzfeed published a partial transcript of the interview before tonight's airing of the show. While Obama goes over the topics of the two NSA spying programs with more detail, it appears he's reiterating much of the same when it comes to the White House's stance on the programs and document leaks. Essentially, it did nothing wrong.

"What … Read more

Top 5 vacation gadgets

Ah, vacation. For someone as consumed with technology as I am, the concept of "getting away from it all" almost certainly includes getting away from my gadgets.

That said, I've also had enough vacations to know that there are times when having the right technology can really iron out the wrinkles of the less-than-thrilling parts of your trip, and make the best parts all the more memorable.

So here's my take on five must-have technologies to bring with you on vacation, along with a healthy dose of moderation.

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Chinese supercomputer tops the charts -- two years early

Performing more than 33 quadrillion calculations per second, a new Chinese supercomputer called Tianhe-2 arrived two years earlier than expected to claim the top spot in a list of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world.

The Top500 list, updated twice a year at the International Supercomputing Conference, measures performance for mammoth systems typically used for jobs like modeling nuclear weapons explosions and forecasting global climate changes. And the Chinese machine, at the National University of Defense Technology, is more mammoth than most.

The Tianhe-2 has 32,000 Xeon processors boosted by 48,000 Xeon Phi accelerator processors for … Read more

Tesla Model S and the Top 5 electric cars: CNET (On Cars, Episode 20)

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We round up and update a bunch of favorites this episode, including a look at the Tesla Model S that, since we first saw it in fall 2012, has gone on to become about the most celebrated car in the world.

We have also updated our Top 5 Electric Cars list with two cars getting bumped by new entrants in the market; six months from now we'll do it again as more solid EVs are in the wings. It's … Read more

Best Samsung Galaxy S4 cases

Editors' note: This post was updated June 14, 2013, with six new products, including cases from PureGear, Skech, and Spigen SGP.

iPhone owners have always had a variety of cases and covers to choose from, but the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 are among the few ultrapopular Android smartphones that have spurred cottage industries of cases and covers.

In boiling down the best of what's currently out there, I tried to provide a good mix of well-designed, affordable cases with more-expensive models that offer some unique attributes.

One thing to watch for when buying cases these days is that … Read more

ICANN to shift around top-level execs

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is shifting around some key executives, the organization said in a blog posted Thursday.

Starting July 1, Akram Atallah, currently chief operating officer, will transition to a new role as president of the Generic Domains Division. Focusing on generic domain operations, the new division is considered necessary as ICANN's new gTLD (generic top-level domain) program will take on much greater responsibility moving forward, according to ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehade.

ICANN's new gTLD program will expand the types of Internet extensions that are available -- such as .com, .… Read more

Honda builds 130 mph fire-spitting lawn mower

British TV series "Top Gear" is known for building some pretty outlandish automotive creations. The latest in that lineage is a Honda FH2620 mower. That doesn't sound very exciting until you learn just how heavily modified it is, from the tires to the engine.

"Top Gear" called in Honda racing group Team Dynamics to help turn the lawn mower into a lawn monster. The steering rack is from a Morris Minor. It got a fresh set of racing wheels and tires. They managed to stuff a VTR 1000cc motorcycle engine into the thing. The theoretical top speed is 130 mph.… Read more

Top 5 features Apple needs in iOS 7

With Apple's WWDC right around the corner, it's time to put together our wish list of features and fixes we want in the company's next mobile operating-system update, iOS 7.

For some ideas, I consulted the excellent lists already published by my colleagues Zack Whittaker from ZDNet and Luke Westaway of CNET UK. The actual ranking is rather arbitrary, so have fun complaining about that one -- though with a hot-button topic like this, I think it will be the least of your concerns.

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Top 5 Windows 8 tablets

If you've been waiting to buy a Windows 8 tablet until the options and prices reached a competitive level, then wait not longer. Windows 8 tablets and hybrid laptops have finally hit a sweet spot, and there are models now that cover everyone from the casual Web jockey to the full-on PC gamer.

So check out the above video and head over to CNET's list of Windows tablets and hybrids for more information.

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