In 1994 the public began to notice a flaw. Flaws are not uncommon in complicated integrated circuits, and most of them go unnoticed by the user, however, the Pentium flaw was very different. The nature of the flaw was in the floating point math subsection of the Pentium microprocessor, it caused incorrect answers when preforming double-precision arithmetic. In October of 1994 a man named Thomas Nicely, a mathematics professor at Lynchburg collage in Virginia was the first to notice this flaw. He found that the results of some of his calculations were incorrect.
Pentium Flaw This flaw is called the floating-point unit flaw (FPU) in the Pentium microprocessor. This flaw was first found in June of 1994 by Professor Thomas Nicely. He was the man responsible for writing the code for the processor, but on June 13th, 1994. Professor Thomas Nicely noticed some inconsistencies in the calculations shortly after adding a Pentium system to his group of computers, but was unable to eliminate other possible factors (such as programming errors, motherboard chipsets, etc.) until October 19, 1994.
He got correct results from running the same program on a computer with the 486 CPU, and finally tracked the problem to the Pentium itself. Intel immediately halted shipment on Pentium based computers and announced that “Common spreadsheet program, recalculating for fifteen minutes per day, could produce Pentium-related errors as often as once every 24 days.” Intel’s initial policy when the problem was first publically announced was to replace the chips for only customers who could explain their need for high accuracy in complex calculations. After a great public out-cry and Intel becoming the butt of many jokes, Intel finally announced a free replacement Pentium for any customer who asked for one. But this did not occur until late December of 1994. I do not feel that Intel’s initial response to the issue was handled correctly.
Attorneys for the family against the machine manufacturer (AECL) The Therac-25 design eliminated many of the hardware safety features that been built into previous designs, assuming the software was functioning correctly and eliminated the need for safety features. Prior machines had been known to have software issues that would frequently shut down the machine. No overdoses were given because the hardware intervened. These features were eliminated in the Therac-25, an obvious example of poor judgment on the part of the manufacturer. The manufacturer of the machine responded irresponsibly in investigating incidents and in failing to make changes immediately after the very first incident.
* Previous problem mainly caused as Trimco was not given sufficient lead time to respond to Navistar’s demands. * Incorrect Specifications (90/1571 – 5.73) * Caused due to incorrect specs received from Trimco or * Inability to respond to last minute changes sent by Trimco * Incorrectly sent parts (147/1571 – 9.35) * Caused Navistar to reorder parts and wait for them * Missing parts that were “robbed” for other interiors (85/1571 – 5.4%) * Management was ok if parts from kits in stock were used to complete products on the line as long as the stock could be replenished in
"Yes, Google is hampering our ability to recall information." (Betsy Sparrow, Columbia University) The study also found that Google improves certain kinds of memory, like methods for retrieving information. Sparrow's findings aren't the whole story, though. As scientists have stressed since the dawn of web, the effects of Internet usage on cognition are pretty complicated. Search engines are rerouting our memory.
He records his research and as of a result the data that he collected didn’t make any sense. For years he didn’t know what went wrong with the experiment conducted. Out of nowhere the answer came to him, they were looking for the wrong Pepsi but what they should have been looking for is the perfect Pepsi’s. He would go and set up a meeting with Pepsi, then tell them what his revelation was. These people would quickly dismiss him because of how crazy it sounds.
In 1980, Ford stopped the production of their Pinto car. Ford engineers were aware of the tank safety problem before the car production. However, they did not stop or change the design. Did they make the righteous ethical decision? Obviously, they caused many injuries and deaths.
Some of the security weaknesses noted in the case study includes the fact that Sony was using an older version of software (Apache Web Server) which had known security issues. This impaired the security of their firewall, allowing hackers to get in. As for control weaknesses, there were obviously not the appropriate policies or organizational procedures in place, since Sony did not know what information was stolen from their servers, the fact that it took days for Sony to inform their customers of the breach immediately shows a lack of training of their management and staff and also Sony’s delay in shutting down all of their servers at the point when they learned of the attack. If the proper policies and organizational procedures were in place, perhaps it would not have been as dramatic for Sony. 2.
The Job and Career as a Computer Technician Henry Smith Everest University, Orlando South The Job and Career as a Computer Technician I remember when I got my first computer and had to take it to a computer technician to have it looked at. I had no clue what was wrong and no idea if it was fixable. It had viruses in it, lagged and also rebooted over and over never getting to the start screen. It was around 2005 or 2006 when I wanted to know how I could fix it myself and started paying attention to Dell technicians when I called them. I figured it was cheaper for me to learn how to repair my own system than having someone else do what I could do myself, and this is why I wanted to become a computer technician.