A law requiring computer manufacturers to include a program called Green Dam on every PC was "delayed" just hours before it was due to come into effect. Green Dam filters the internet and blocks access both to pornography and to politically sensitive content. Researchers also discovered that it is capable of sending reports about an individual's web use back to the authorities. China retreated in the face of angry and sustained criticism not only from internet users but also from computer manufacturers and trade bodies. In addition, a US company called Solid Oak has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Green Dam, charging them with having stolen the software that makes up the program. "China will delay the mandatory installation of the software on new computers," said Xinhua, the government newswire. "The pre-installation was delayed as some computer producers said such massive installation demanded extra time," it added. There was no statement on how long the delay would last, and some observers speculated that the government will not make Green Dam compulsory. ( www.telegraph.co.uk )

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The developers of a new supercomputer, dubbed Jaguar, claim that it is the most powerful machine built to do scientific researches on climate change, supernovas, as well as the composition of water. The supercomputer was installed at the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS), part of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee. Jaguar can reach an operating performance of 1.64 petaflops, which means that every second the machine is able to carry out over a million billion mathematical operations.

While most desktop computers have one, two or a maximum of four cores, the Jaguar supercomputer can boast 181,000 processing cores. A supercomputer that is more powerful than Jaguar belongs to the US Nuclear Security Administration, having an operating performance of 1.7-petaflops. It's called Roadrunner and it can be found at the Los Alamos National Laboratory located in New Mexico. The Jaguar supercomputer was for the first time unveiled in 2008. It took several months to test its performance before directors at Oak Ridge decided to task the machine with its first research projects. The first 21 projects are dedicated to problems linked with the environment. Three projects feature climate models. One of these models reproduces the global atmosphere down to grids of 14km instead of the more common 55 or 100km squares. As for other projects on the environment, they will model flames inside diesel engines, which will help in cutting fuel consumption and creation of biofuels from waste plant material.

Other issues for the supercomputer will include the study of 3-dimensional structures of SN 1987A, the closest exploding star in almost 400 years and the precise arrangement of molecules in liquid water, which, despite the fact that is very important for life, still remains a mystery.

"This is a very programmable platform with a boatload of memory - three times the amount of memory relative to the next closest system - and is turning out to be very stable and reliable," says Douglas Kothe, director of the NCCS. According to the National Center for Computational Sciences, after July the Jaguar supercomputer will begin working on climate issues. It will be offered to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for one or several months. ( www.infoniac.com )

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The problem appears to particularly affect the white handsets of Apple’s new turbocharged device, which is twice as fast as its predecessor, the iPhone 3G, and boasts an improved camera and the ability to record video. Dozens of users have reported overheating issues, with some iPhone owners unable to pick up the device because the handset gets so hot to the touch. Owners of the white iPhone 3GS say the casing turns pink with the heat. Some users have said the device has been too hot to put to their ear while making a phone call, and others have said they were worried it could explode. The overheating seems to occur when owners are using the iPhone’s mapping software, which uses the handset’s built-in GPS technology to pinpoint their location and provide directions.

On Apple’s support forums, iPhone owners have been complaining about the problems. “My iPhone 3GS back get somewhat warm when playing a few mins of games. Is this normal?,” asks one user, Dreamcast DC. “I am having the same issue,” reports Ron Lift. “I am definitely experiencing issues with the iPhone running warm and quick battery life lost,” writes Tom Goldstein in another discussion thread. “The phone seems to warm up almost immediately if I am doing anything that pulls data over the network. It doesn’t get burning hot, but very noticeably warm.”

“I was on a call for 20 minutes and it was so uncomfortably hot I had to put it on speaker,” reports Alan Ziegler. Several other users have also complained that the iPhone 3GS, which is supposed to boast a longer battery life than the iPhone 3G, in fact loses its charge quicker than its predecessor. Some gadget experts believe faulty batteries could be the cause of overheating and poor battery life. “My guess is there’s going to be a whole lot of batteries affected because these [iPhones] are from very large production runs,” said Aaron Vronko of Rapid Repair, which fixes iPods and iPhones. ( www.telegraph.co.uk )

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