Geek Weekly: Our top weird tech stories for 1 September 2015

Technology Decisions’ weekly wrap of IT fails, latest tech, new must-have gadgets, ‘computer says no’ moments and more.

Are you smarter than a supercomputer? Researchers have developed a new methodology for quantifying the speed of computers, called traversed edges per second (TEPS), which shows how quickly information moves around inside a computer system. The IBM Sequoia supercomputer holds the current record, with a TEPS score of 2.3 x 1013. How does the human brain do in comparison? One estimate puts it at 30 times better. But not for long. Newer supercomputers will surpass us within a decade or so.

IT project needs to go back to school. A NSW Education Department project to introduce a Learning Management and Business Reform computer system is driving users to tears and forcing school principals to pay bills using their own credit cards, following numerous failures. As reported by the Daily Telegraph, principals are not impressed with the multihundred-million-dollar system. Said one, “If this were a racehorse, it would be put down. The message we keep getting is have faith. Sorry, I have lost mine.” Another said, “We are not solving problems by spending 12 hours at work each day, ringing the not-helpful desk and waiting 5 days to get a call back.”

Bank blunder #1. More than a quarter of a million Britons missed out on getting their salaries just before a long weekend when something went drastically wrong with HSBC’s computer systems. As you can imagine, a lot of people weren’t happy. “HSBC. None of my staff have been paid. Cannot get through to them on the phone. Absolute shambles of a bank! Extremely poor performance,” wrote on person on Twitter. Ouch. A similar problem at the Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this year led to the bank being fined £56 million by regulators.

Bank blunder #2. A “failed software upgrade by one of its suppliers” has caused major problems at the Bank of New York Mellon, which has affected the prices reported by many mutual funds and exchange traded funds. The software upgrade, supplied by SunGard, didn’t work and forced the bank to recalculate official figures.

Why does this keep happening? Another airline booking blunder, this time with Air Canada accidentally advertising a package of 10 flights for CA$800 instead of $8000. The error was quickly spotted and fixed, but the airline said it will honour any bookings made.

Time to quit your factory job. A developmental Hitachi robot with two arms is showing the way of the future (in case we couldn’t already see it). Watch how it goes with picking products from warehouse shelves: