Congratulations to the entire data sorting crew over in computer science. They broke a world record when they broke a 60-second-sort terabyte barrier. They also tied another world record at the Sort Benchmark competition. And now their hard work is getting the attention of the inquisitive eyeballs on Slashdot.
“Sorting is also an interesting proxy for a whole bunch of other data processing problems. Generally, sorting is a great way to measure how fast you can read a lot of data off a set of disks, do some basic processing on it, shuffle it around a network and write it to another set of disks,” explained Rasmussen. “Sorting puts a lot of stress on the entire input/output subsystem, from the hard drives and the networking hardware to the operating system and application software.”
For anyone following along, this is the follow up to the 10,318 seconds post.
General Atomics will get nearly $2 million to work with the University of California San Diego to develop a battery big enough to store power for utilities, in which chemicals would flow through cells as power is needed.
What can you do in 10,318 seconds? How many records can you sort in that time? (And we're not talking about flipping through used CDs in that cool music store you don't visit as often as you'd like to.)
John Kooker (third from left) ended the presentation of the winning project with a demonstration of his iPad-based interface on the new HIPerSpace installation in Jacobs Hall (fka EBU1). More photos here."My favorite part of doing the project is getting hands-on experience with this incredible new visualization technology," enthused Kooker, "Being able to contribute to that significantly in one quarter was really fun. Also, being able to play with brand new technology, the iPad, was just a thrill."
Kooker's interface ("OptiActor") supports the majority of existing HIPerSpace/OptiPortal applications (primarily visualization apps, including image and video viewers, maps and weather and scientific data visualizations). It has true multitouch and accelerometer-based interaction.
"You have multitouch in your hands, you can paint with your fingers, throw images around, and pinch to zoom, while watching the wall. It's really fun," explained Kooker. It also supports mouse and keyboard emulation, which enables use with older applications that do not support multitouch.
Photo caption: Yu Mike Chi, an electrical engineering PhD student at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, demonstrates sensors how his sensors that do not not directly touch his skin pick up his heart beat.
The students collaborated with the Hillcrest Business Association to research how to transform the urban element into a pedestrian-friendly area. They applied their findings to a Hillcrest alley between Fourth and Fifth avenues near Robinson Avenue by covering graffiti-stained walls with art and bougainvillea.
That’s not all.
Students also proposed replacing the concrete road with permeable pavement, which soaks up stagnant water. During a recent exhibition, they set up a coffee shop for passers-by. They also strung lights from fire escape to fire escape.
My inspiration for this project was the much loved San Diego beach. I wanted to do an outdoor scene with some water, sand and a geometrically simple but visually sophisticated beach ball.
Federal stimulus money helped UCSD receive a record $1 billion in the past year for research, triggering a boom that’s expected to create more jobs and deepen scientists’ understanding of everything from sickle cell anemia to ocean currents.
