On August 3, two people and a super computer broke the world record for large computation of Pi. They reached 5 trillion digits.

Alexander Yee and Shigeru Kondo set out to break the worlds record for the largest amount of digits computed for Pi. The computer holding “roughly 22 TB [terabytes] of disk was needed to perform the computation,” According to their estimation. “Another 3.8 TB of disk [space] was needed to store the compressed output of the decimal and hexadecimal digits.

From May 4, 2020 until August 3, 2010 (90 days) the computer ran the computation. They verified the set of numbers two separate times over a total of 130 hours.

The final result computed Pi to five trillion digits, with the final set of numbers as “9484283852.” The final number being 2 of course.

Why did they do it?

“Because it’s Pi… and because we can!” said Yee. “After Fabrice Bellard’s announcement of 2.7 trillion digits on a “relatively cheap” desktop, it was pretty clear that the limit of personal computing was a lot higher.”

Computer Specs in Computation

The Rig

[5 Trillion Digits of Pi]

Shot from the UAV helio and damn is it sweet.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 may not be out till March 2010, but we’ve got the first look and it is pretty.

Everything that was wrong about Battlefield Bad Company 2 seems to have been repair in the newest installment from DICE. Battlefield games are honestly one of our favorites, so this may just be a bit biased, and keep in mind that it’s still in beta testing. From the beta test we can inform you that there will be a much better form of destructibility, which DICE calls destruction 2.0. Rather than an entire wall just blowing up it now fragments and acts more realistic. Entire buildings can be destroyed by blowing out it’s infrastructure and you can even create improvise gun holes will a drill.

The next biggest upgrade to the game comes with fully customizable kits. You start with each of your basic weapons and every time you upgrade a kit, all classes get that same weapon. Clearly the assault and media class won’t get specialized guns like a sniper riffle, but you can mix and match them. Additionally, for each gun you choose under a class, you can choose the specific add ons.

Personal upgrades and add ons:

You can now upgrade your character will items that improve accuracy, damage, defense and additional weapons. Each sunsetting you set under a class will remember the personal upgrades you choose, which makes this a great improvement.

Goodbye old school artillery:

Remember that ridiculous large gun that you had to sit in to fire artillery at the enemy, only to get team killed? Well from what it seems, it’s finally gone. It has been replaced with a mobile computer that controls a small UAV helicopter (can be seen in the various screen shots), which can fire a missile that will pretty much take out anything. Every 40 seconds or so you can fire another missile, but the UAV helicopter is pretty weak, as one shot with a sniper rifle will take it down.

Graphics:

The details in the graphics have clearly been upgraded, which is always nice. It also doesn’t seem to slow down game performance of any kind.

Audio:

Where is the new remixed Battlefield theme? For shame DICE/EA! The sound in the game has also been upgraded. If you are camping in an area it’s not hard to hear those above you running around.

Kit improvements:

Guns are now more powerful, although are generally the same as the first Bad Company game. The medic now has paddles so if your teammates suck, you can do a bit more than just throwing health packs. Health packs themselves are now thrown down and heal all those who sit around it. Your health is no longer a static thing, as they took a card out of the Halo series and placed health regeneration into the game.

More to come as it’s discovered. Follow the various battlefield and Playstation names on Twitter, as you two can get your hands on the closed beta access. For those without a PS3 you can get it on your PC in the upcoming months and at the begging for 2010 it will be downloadable on the Xbox 360.

That’s right people you heard right. Click the following link and it will bring you to the first 15 minutes of the sequel to Boondock Saints!

Ok kids if you haven’t already tried to click the link this is clearly a Rick Roll. Sorry but I had to make an example to show a co-worker of mine