Computer giant IBM continues to dominate the list - which is compiled twice a year - with a total of 232 out of the top 500 supercomputers.

Its Blue Gene/L supercomputer - used to ensure the US nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe and reliable - comes out at number one.

The Indian system - known as EKA - made it into fourth place.

The world's fastest supercomputer - BlueGene/L - has been significantly upgraded in the last six months.

It can now deliver a sustained performance of 478 trillion calculations per second (478 teraflops), nearly three times faster than any other machine on the list.

India enters supercomputing race

CHOICE IS GOOD. And the more choices, the better.

This simple American credo lines the shelves of grocery stores with 162 varieties of breakfast cereal, turns ordering a cup of coffee at Starbucks into an Olympic challenge, makes selecting a phone company an enterprise requiring a business degree and supplies dating services with an endless stream of hopeful customers.

It also underlies the way many economists think about human behavior. Human beings, according to traditional economic theory, are rational creatures who, faced with a choice, weigh the costs and benefits of each option and pick the one they prefer. And the more options people are given, the theory goes, the more satisfied they will be.

Yet in an article published last month in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, two social psychologists dispute this view, arguing that at some point, multiplying the number of alternatives people are given becomes counter productive.

In a series of studies, Dr. Sheena S. Iyengar, an assistant professor at Columbia's business school, and Dr. Mark R. Lepper, chairman of Stanford's psychology department, have demonstrated that providing too many options— particularly when the differences between them are small — can make people feel overwhelmed and overloaded, and as a result, less likely to buy or pursue any of the options available.

Choice is good.... Amd the more the better...

Good news for companies looking to refurbish and resell their dust-collecting PCs -- as of Friday, Microsoft has broadened its refurbishing rules in order to give outfits with heaps of not-quite-antiquated computers a way of offloading them with genuine copies of Windows XP. More specifically, Redmond will now be offering up a license for refurbishers "that is only available through the MAR program," and PCs that get equipped with Windows XP Home for Refurbished PCs or Windows XP Professional for Refurbished PCs will need to have a Certificate of Authenticity, too. Essentially, Microsoft is attempting to make the lives of those looking to deliver preinstalled Windows XP licenses on refurbed rigs a bit easier, but of course, there's a pretty rigid list of requirements that you'll have to meet before the MAR welcomes you in.

Microsoft offers up new Windows XP license for refurbished PCs

The Eye-Fi WiFi Secure Digital flash memory card is probably the coolest device to come out this year. What does it do? Well, it does just what it sounds like it does. The Eye-Fi allows you to take pictures with a camera that supports SD cards and then wirelessly transfer them to your computer or upload them directly to your favorite photo sharing site without connecting any cables or even popping the SD card into a reader. What’s even better is that it also comes with 2GB of storage on-board.

While 2 gigs is starting to look a little paltry compared to the higher capacity cards more and more cameras are beginning to support these days, most folks can take quite a few pictures on two gigs without running out of space. On top of that, the ease in which you can then dump the pictures onto your PC (or Mac!) really makes this card an incredible device. What is very frustrating is the incredible potential this little guy sports that is simply not being exploited.

They will get with it... As someone else stated they are probably getting some kind of support for the sites that they support...

Makes me want to get one to see how thus little card might be hacked if not already....

Eye-Fi WiFi SD Card Represents Limitless Potential…but…

A Los Angeles security professional has admitted to infecting more than a quarter million computers with malicious software and installing spyware that was used to steal personal data and serve victims with online advertisements.

John Kenneth Schiefer, 26, variously known online as "acid" and "acidstorm," agreed to plead guilty to at least four felony charges of fraud and wiretapping, charges punishable by $1.75 million in fines and nearly 60 years in prison.

Investigators say Schiefer and two minors -- identified in the complaint only by their online screen names "pr1me" and "dynamic" -- broke into about 250,000 PCs. On at least 137,000 of those infected systems, Schiefer and his cohorts installed programs that allowed them to control the machines remotely. The malicious "bot" programs also allowed the attackers to steal any user names and passwords that victims had saved in Internet Explorer.

FUD or Fact?

Security Pro Admits to Hijacking PCs for Profit

A confidential e-mail tip line set up to report Justice Department abuses to the House Judiciary Committee has ended up exposing as many as 150 would-be whistleblowers following a mishandled bulk e-mail, according to reports on an online watchdog group's Web site.

In a post to Talking Point Memo's TPMmuckraker.com, blogger Paul Kiel cites a government e-mail sent Oct. 26 in which a list of submission recipients was shown in the public "To:" field instead of the hidden "BCC:" field used to hide the list which gets the e-mail message.

"One disgruntled recipient replied to the entire list of whistleblowers angrily complaining about the snafu; two others forwarded the committee email to TPMmuckraker with similar complaints," wrote Kiel.

The e-mail addresses were gathered from a government Web site with a section set up specifically to find "concrete and specific actions taken or statements made by management-level officials of the Department" that led to the controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys, ultimately leading to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Critics have said the firings appeared to be politically motivated, and some of the prosecutors who were dismissed in a Dec. 7, 2006, purge said they felt pressure by Republican lawmakers to investigate more Democrats in the months leading up to elections.

The whistleblower report form warned users to avoid using Justice Department e-mail addresses "in order to prevent such unfortunate retaliatory actions," but the personal e-mails used instead may also identify some individuals.

"Compounding the mistake, the committee later sent out a second e-mail attempting to recall the original e-mail; it, too, included all recipients in the 'to:' field, according to a recipient of the (e-mails)," reports Kiel.

According to the report, none of the tips submitted so far have been read by Judiciary Committee members, and before opening up for review, submitters were to be given a chance to withdraw their tips from the record by Oct. 30 before new governmental review processes were put in place.

dumb ...

Justice Department Government Aid Exposes Tipsters In Justice Investigation

Great song! Glad to see them back...

Eagles - How Long

- A Halloween party where a Department of Homeland Security worker won praise for a costume of darkened skin and prison garb may stall Senate confirmation of the party's host for a second time.

Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called the man's costume "offensive."

Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said Wednesday that she has placed a temporary "hold" on Julie Myers' nomination for the job of assistant homeland security secretary for immigration and customs enforcement until Myers answers questions about the party, including why photographs of her with the costumed employee were destroyed after questions were raised.

"As the leader of that organization, she should have immediately recognized the problem and asked that person to leave," said McCaskill, who has raised previous concerns about Myers' nomination. "And what really happened was, she judged the costume as one that should get a prize and be recognized and she had her photograph taken with the person in the costume -- and only later came back and apologized and said it was a problem."

President Bush used a 2006 recess appointment to put Myers in office after Senate concerns about her inexperience stalled her confirmation. He nominated her again for the job in January.

Myers, 38, was part of a three-judge panel that originally praised the costume -- which featured dreadlocks, black-and-white prison garb and a skin "bronzer" -- for its originality.

She later apologized for what she said were a few "inappropriate and offensive" costumes after other employees complained. The employee who wore the costume has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an inquiry.

ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told CNN Wednesday the photos were deleted because the costume was offensive and because officials feared the images would end up being used on ICE publications and Web sites.

Costume leads to 'hold' on Myers' Senate confirmation...

U.S. safety officials have recalled about 4.2 million Chinese-made Aqua Dots bead toys that contain a chemical that has caused some children to vomit and become comatose after swallowing them.

Bindeez, which were named Australia's toy of the year, contain a chemical that converts into a "date rape" drug.

Scientists have found the popular toy's coating contains a chemical that, once metabolized, converts into the toxic "date rape" drug GHB, or gamma-hydroxy butyrate, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson told CNN.

"GHB is this drug that in low doses actually causes euphoria," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent. "In higher doses, it can cause people to go into a coma. It can cause seizures. It can cause something known as hypotonia, where all your muscles just become very flaccid.

"And it can cause people to become amnestic, meaning they forget everything that's about to happen to them, which is why it became a date-rape drug," Gupta said.

Toy contaminated with 'date rape' drug pulled - CNN.com

What's the number one issue to voters right now?

James Carville made the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" famous during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run.

"It's the economy, stupid" -- a phrase Clinton advisor James Carville made famous during President Clinton's successful 1992 presidential race.

It's possible that the top issue in next year's election will not be Iraq or terrorism.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation's poll conducted November 2-4, the economy now tops the list of the issues voters now rate as most important in their vote for president, with 82 percent of those surveyed saying it was extremely or very important. That's just ahead of the war in Iraq, which 80 percent said was an extremely or very important factor in how they will decide to vote.

Could it be 'the economy, stupid' again?