New Ventures of Established Outfits

choi

(1) Brian Caulfield, Nvidia Builds a Dream Machine; Give Steve Scott 18 Zeroes and a lot of electricity and he can  change the world. Forbes, Feb 27, 2012.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/201 ... -dream-machine.html
(supercomputer)

Quote:

"Nvidia chips are also prized by the supercomputer community because they can handle six to eight times more operations per unit of energy than an Intel chip. Lash together thousands of them and you get a power-sipping supercomputer.

"Supercomputers are a little more than a third of the $8.6 billion market for ­high-performance computers, ­according to IDC, but they are a ­fast-growing and highly profitable slice that confers great p.r. to hardware makers.

"Three of the world's five fastest super­computers use Nvidia's processors.

Note:
(a) quintillion (n; Latin QUINTus + English -illion (as in million))
www.m-w.com

Why "quintus"? See names of large numbers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers
(table)
(b) exa-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exa-
(10 18)
(c) Cray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray
(founded in 1972 by computer designer Seymour Cray; Headquarters  Seattle)

(2) Nick Wingfield, Thinking Outside the Redbox; Movie renter's parent plans new ventures in self-service. New York Times, Feb 18, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/1 ... redbox-success.html
(a coffee vending machine that "grinds a batch of beans and dribbles out a $1 cup of fresh coffee")

Quote:

"Until Redbox took off, [parent] Coinstar was known for its namesake coin-counting kiosks, more than 20,000 of which are now installed inside grocery and other retail chains. The company was founded just over two decades ago by Jens Molbak, who as a Stanford University graduate student realized there wasn’t an easy way to spend the spare change piled up in a jar on top of his dresser. Coinstar converts change into cash or store vouchers, earning a transaction fee in the process.

"Coinstar joined with Starbucks on the [coffee] kiosks, which are labeled with the company’s Seattle’s Best Coffee brand.