NEC has thrown down the world's most powerful supercomputer, called the SX-9, which is intended for pioneering scientific research. The beast of a machine can pull out an astonishing 839 trillion floating point operations / second (839 teraflops). The computing giant will go on display in Reno, Nevada, later this month. Why Nevada?

So it can be easily transported to Area 51 to help with extraterrestrial communication efforts. OK, we lied about that, but we do love a good conspiracy theory. Did you hear the one about the Freemasons wanting Steve Jobs to design an exclusive iPod with subtle Freemason markings? Apparently, the FCC label on your iPod is an acronym for "Freemasons Capturing Consumers." Shocking. Be less gullible. [Akihabara]

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