I was in the other room today and I heard a IBM spokesperson, on a commercial I think, say something about an earth-shaking new developement. It sounded like “pedo-something”, but by the the time I hustled to the tv the commercial was over.
I know that’s not a lot to go on, but does anyone know what he was talking about? It was definitely some kind of breakthrough.
Peace,
mangeorge
The only “new” memory type that involves IBM that I’m aware of is racetrack memory, developed early last year. Perhaps a consumer device is nearing release.
Off the top of my head, “pedo” sounds an awful lot like “peta”, as in petabyte, or about 1000 GB. Perhaps that’s what the spokesperson said?
Perhaps petaflop?
“JUELICH, GERMANY and STUTTGART, GERMANY - 10 Feb 2009: The German research center Forschungszentrum Juelich has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) to develop the first supercomputer in Europe capable of one Petaflop, or one thousand trillion operations per second. IBM will partner with Juelich-based Gauss Centre for Supercomputing to install the new IBM Blue Gene/P System in the first half of this year.”
Jesus. Now that’s what I call a supercomputer.
That is indescribably disturbing for some reason.
It is a petaflop. The commercial is for IBM, and it runs during Sunday morning news shows (I was it on This Week). This is probably the spot you saw:
Maybe Millipede
1000GB is a TB (terabyte). 1000TB is a petabyte. We have a couple of backup tape silos, each with multiple petabytes of storage, where I work. Each one costs about as much as a very nice house.
I have a nit to pick with that commercial. It should be petaflops, not petaflop. Flops is an acronym for FLoating point Operations Per Second, so the S is required even in the singular.
This is so far from normal English morphology it was a lost cause from the very beginning.
One Petaflops… Two Petaflopses? Thirty-six petaflopsies?
I think letting them neologize the singular of flops to “flop” is probably okay. In the grand scheme of terms that are not technically correct it’s about seventy-three items down the list from “data is actually a plural”. Of course if the ad is meant to portray how technically astute they are, then they may fail on those grounds. That’s a different problem (like the ad where the staff teach the CEO to say “infrastructure” correctly before he makes a speech - image is important).
Would that equal a Peta Rabbit?
Unnnnnnnnnnngggggggh
Oops. Of course you’re right. Ever think one thing, and yet have your fingers type another?
That’s it! this is the first time I saw the whole thing.
I’m not sure I like that. Maybe after I know more. I actually got a little shivver. That guy at the beginning seemed so happy. :eek:
Thanks, guys.
…bear?
The video just got pulled!
What’s up with that?
Perhaps it petaflopped?