Furby Cluster Computing

[Michael]

All I have to say is wow....

When Linux was first ported to the Furby platform, it suffered from significant stability and performance problems, which gave the Furby an unfortunate reputation as being unsuitable for enterprise-level computing. The conversion of the IRS and NASA computing facilities to Furby-based platforms towards the end of 1999 was seen by many as premature and may have contributed to the problems experienced by those departments during 2000 which did nothing to improve the Furby's image in corporate America. To be fair, however, it should be noted that Furbys placed in IRS telephone support positions received no more complaints than their human counterparts and studies showed that they provided a comparable level of accuracy in their answers to taxpayer questions.

Surprisingly, the Furby CPU can be overclocked significantly, with a corresponding boost in computing power. The biggest problem, however, is that of cooling, because for some reason the units are covered with an insulating fuzzy layer that encourages the buildup of heat rather than enhancing cooling like a standard aluminum heat sink would have. This particularly ill-considered and impractical design decision was probably something that the marketing department came up with, perhaps because of something related to the name "Furby."

http://www.trygve.com/furbeowulf.html

Definitely an interesting article to read.