Blacklight

SGI's old-school supercomputer now revved up

These days, the Top500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers is dominated by cluster designs assembled from many independent computing nodes. But there's still a place in the world for an earlier approach, as evidenced by a new machine called Blacklight at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.

Blacklight is a mammoth $2.8 million shared-memory machine built by SGI for the center. The system comes in two halves, each with 16 terabytes of shared memory. Either half would be the largest such amount of memory so far built, PSC said, and with a bit more programming effort, the … Read more

preGAME 21: Deathspank, Limbo, & Blacklight: Tango Down

With the summer gaming drought in full effect, we figured it was a perfect time to dive into the world of digital-downloadable games. On today's episode, we'll demo three download-only titles: Deathspank, Limbo, and Blacklight: Tango Down.

With a game drought also comes a news drought, but we were happy to hear about this morning's announcement of an official release date and price for Microsoft Kinect. The body motion-sensing attachment will ship November 3 for $150.

While we had a fairly good idea of how much Kinect would cost, we were happy to see the unveiling of … Read more

BlackLight Power claims novel energy source

BlackLight Power, a company that claims to draw energy from a disputed form of hydrogen, said on Thursday that it has licensed its technology to a customer.

New Jersey-based BlackLight Power said a subsidiary of a small New Mexico utility, Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, has licensed its technology and the rights to buy its heat-generating equipment.

The company's claims have caused controversy because they challenge long-held notions in physics. It's an example of how the surge in interest in energy technology has revived older technologies, like solar thermal, and inspired scientists to develop disruptive technologies.

It's not … Read more