Mercury Computer Systems – New-generation MultiCore Plus SDK provide

1U Dual Cell-Based System 2 and new-generation MultiCore Plus SDK provide dramatic performance and productivity gains for wafer and mask inspection, beam writers, EDA, computational lithography, aerospace and defense, and more

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 26 / / – Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY), a leading provider of high-performance computing solutions for HPC and embedded computing markets, announced its Dual Cell-Based System 2 and new-generation MultiCore Plus(TM) SDK (Software Development Kit), at the SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium in San Jose, California.

As the first of its kind, the Mercury 1U Dual Cell-Based System 2 (DCBS-2) employs two Cell Broadband Engine(TM) (BE) processors to boost applications that demand a low acoustic signature in combination with the added density of the 1U form factor. With key signal processing algorithms mapped onto the system, the DCBS-2 dramatically increases the performance Read more

GDC: LucasArts prioritizing PS3 dev, unleashing Force

In recent months, the PlayStation 3 versions of many multiplatform games have been released after their Xbox 360 counterparts–or canceled outright. Others, like Grand Theft Auto IV, have seen both versions delayed because, having optimized the game first on the 360, the developers encountered difficulties with the PS3 edition.

This week at the 2008 Game Developers Conference, a major studio laid bare the pitfalls of cross-platform development on the current crop of consoles–and talked about how it plans to deal with it in the future. In an expansive and informative lecture, Haden Blackman, project lead for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, discussed which platform the company’s “built from scratch” development team began work on in 2005.

“Multiplatform development was one of our biggest challenges,” he told the jam-packed hall in the basement of the Moscone Center. After George Lucas famously urged the studio to “go build that game” upon seeing the first test reels from TFU, they began work straight away on Xbox 360 dev kits in late summer 2005–because that was all the studio had.
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NASA names new space shuttle program manager

John Shannon, chairman of NASA’s Mission Management Team and the man responsible for the conduct of space shuttle missions, was named manager of the shuttle program today, replacing N. Wayne Hale, a veteran ascent-entry flight director who helped steer NASA’s recovery from the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Shannon, a former flight director known for his self-assured, no-nonsense management style, takes over at a critical time for NASA as the agency attempts to finish construction of the international space station and fly a final 12 shuttle missions before retiring the winged orbiters in 2010.

“John Shannon is completely ready to take the reins in NASA’s most critical program,” Hale said in a NASA statement. “His leadership skills are well established, and the shuttle program will do well under his care.”
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NASA sought to stop astronaut meltdowns

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA e-mails released Wednesday indicate the space agency was looking for ways to prevent astronaut meltdowns just three months before one-time shuttle flier Lisa Nowak was arrested in a scandalous love triangle.

The e-mails from late last year show that space program employees interviewed the former colleagues and the “common-law wife” of ex-astronaut Charles Brady Jr. after he committed suicide in July 2006. It seemed to be an effort to find behavioral clues that could be a tip-off in future cases.

Brady, who had flown in space once 10 years earlier, was a Navy captain and flight surgeon who left NASA in 2002.

The e-mails, which included no medical details and were heavily blacked out, were obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. Read more

10 Steps for Restoring Relationship Satisfaction

1. Connect with the Spring and your life force. Feel the new and fresh energy from the winds and rains; it’s so cleansing and presents an opportunity to begin again. Take a deep breath and an inner look at where you are and feel what you no longer need in your personal life–what no longer serves who you want to be. This is the season to plan your new year, for the new you. Evaluate your relationships. Love and enthusiasm are key words for Spring, as are new beginnings. We are naturally creative beings, and this applies to our minds and attitudes, as well as our relationships. Do we need a relationship to not be starved for touch and connection, often confusing us into believing we are “in love” with another just to meet our basic human needs. There are other ways to find the nurturing and love that we all need – from self, animals, friends, family, massage, and Nature (nurture).

2. Commit to your life, your relationships, and your home. It takes work and play to keep a meaningful relationship successful. Be aware of your cycles and biorhythms. This is a fascinating Read more

Tips for Healthy Relationships

Nine Tips on Healthy Relationships

1. Make your love relationships a high priority in your life.

2. Work on yourself. Grow and evolve to be able to give and receive energy and love. These things are learned. If you do not have the psychological tools for this, it’s worth the investment for counseling and classes.

3. Communicate your feelings clearly. If you disagree, learn how to ‘fair fight.’ Listen and respond rather than react. Explore your feelings and then answer.

4. Do not say things out of anger (attempting to hurt your loved one emotionally) when you feel vulnerable or victimized. That can continue the hurtful feelings and cause a separation. Aren’t we always looking for healing and unity? Read more

Nine Tips on The Nature of Healing

10 Tips on The Nature of Healing

1. What is healing? Let’s look at that in contrast to what is disease, or dis-ease. Illness is a lack of harmony with Nature and with our true selves, a dis-integration between mind-body-emotion-spirit. We become out-of-sync so to speak when one of our levels, usually the mind, is superseding or over-riding our heart and soul’s path. Healing involves the allowing and supporting of our different and multiple components to come back into alignment. Illness and disease is conflict and represents the ways we block our growth and development. For example, we block our growth with fear, doubt, worry, etc. and illness represents these blocks. Healing is the resolution of conflict and progressing along our evolutionary path. Many teachers suggest that our primary purpose on Earth is to grow and learn—to evolve.

2. Relationships are important to all of us, and so they should be. Yet, this is where most conflict Read more

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