Google, the largest search engine in the world, revealed on the 29th of November they managed to move and sort 1 petabyte of data (1024 terabytes) to over 48,000 hard drives in just 6 hours and 2 minutes. Breaking it down, that’s 1 terabyte of data (1024 gigabytes) in 68 seconds, crushing the previous record of 1 terabyte across 910 computers in 209 seconds.

So with so much data being moved, so quickly, there is always a chance of something not going right and in this case, Google  was on the ball. They have triple redundancy, keeping the possibility open that something could happen, fortunately, nothing did. Though you may ask, with triple redundancy, would’ve this slowed things down? Not really, since storing may not be part of the sorting algorithm that was recorded (and storing the data could have still been ongoing after the sort had been completed). Though this is purely speculation as we’re unsure of Google’s full play.

Though all this was a milestone for the technology world, demonstrating how effective our technology is becoming and how quick things can be moved with the right hardware and knowledge. Google did push the boundaries for various reasons with the main one being to help further our knowledge to create better systems to make things like these seem small in the future.

Written based on: http://www.web-app.net/?Google_Breaks_Speed_Record_Sorting_1PB_Data_In_6_hours_%2F&action=viewnews&id=43

Project Black is a close community which discusses several topics including, Applications, Games, Movies, TV Shows and more. I stumbled across Project Black early 2006, signed up and became apart of the ever growing community. Project Black is structured around “warez” however, it doesn’t host any files on its server, simply posting links to external hosts, making it perfectly legal.

Late 2007 Project Black had over 1,500 members and was expanding rapidly, though they seem to have a few licensing troubles and had to shut their website down. I wasn’t able to access the community in months until they finally released their new look recently, hence my writing about it.

Project Black has always been a safe and clean website, never any malicious software trying to get into your computer. Being an experienced webmaster, I’ve seen thousands of websites that use various tactics to gain access to one’s computer but very few warez sites like Project Black have I seen posses such a clean record.

Knowing the administrator personally, I’ve spoken with him on numerous occasions and have since partnered with Project Black. I believe Project Black is an interest to everyone who resides on the Internet, especially on a regular basis like myself. If you have a similar website (i.e. Warez Forum) you can request to partner with Project Black by heading to their Warez Resources page and following the details.

If you have any questions about Project Black, what to do or anything else related, you can contact me or email Project Black: contact AT projectblack DOT org

The link for Project Black will always be visible under my “Sites of Interest” column on the right hand side. Visit Project Black to find out more.

How do you believe the first computer was thought up? Mind you, I’m talking about back in 1954 when people were still set heavily in the industrial age, thinking what can be made into a machine. I actually stumbled across a photo when I was studying back in TAFE for my certification IV in information technology. I now have remembered this remarkable picture and have found it on the internet, just like finding Britney Spears topless, you can find anything if you looked.

If you squint as I do, I have made it easier for viewing below:

“Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admits that the computer will require not yet invested technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.”

In 50 years? They have that right though I didn’t think they expected computers to get as small as the new ASUS Eee PC, or did they?

Weighing in just under 1kg, you can take this laptop anywhere you go and I mean anywhere. Have you noticed when you sit next to someone on the train or bus, you take your laptop out and they give you an evil look? With the ASUS Eee PC, you need not to worry. With it being practically 95% smaller then any generic laptop, you actually feel more comfortable typing on it - strange? I thought so. With our general society saying, “Bigger is Better”, in this case I’m afraid it completely kills that phrase.

So if anyone asks you, “When was the first computer built?” you can safely say you wouldn’t like to know due to they will most likely laugh and think it’s a joke. Inconsiderate people with no respect for technology history - argh!