Fujitsu, sweaty palmed from the construction of the K supercomputer, swore the colossal machine would manage a speed of ten petaflops by the year 2012. The effort has paid off handsomely: the hangar-sized machine has a top speed of 10.51. If you wanted to duplicate that setup at home, you'd only need 864 racks, 88,128 processors and enough cash in your back pocket to front an annual electricity bill of $10 million a year. The company will be spilling all at November's SC11 conference in Seattle, where the K will cement its position as the fastest computer in the world. One last thing -- we have a hunch that this machine can just about play Crysis.

The original RI-MAN may have had the whole human-carrying thing down while still managing to be somewhat soft and cuddly, but it looks like the robot-makers behind it have decided to go one step further with their new model, which has been given a complete bear makeover (sans teeth and claws, thankfully). Now dubbed RIBA (or "Robot for Interactive Body Assistance"), the new bot is still intended to more or less act as a robot nurse, and can reportedly lift patients up to 135 lbs out of bed or a wheelchair, while also making use of a full range of tactile sensors and some special "soft skin" material to ensure the short journey is as comfortable as possible. Did we mention there's a video? Of course there is. Head on past the break to check it out.

[Via Pink Tentacle]