Ultimately, says Dr Dean, the big question is this: now that processing power has become so cheap, how can lots of processors be made to work together efficiently, either within a single machine, within a cluster, or across the Internet?

ECONOMIST: REPORT: COMPUTING: Big Blue��s big bet | The

Suddenly, in the middle of all this, the Farrellys cut to a gruesome close-up of the actual mutilation, which is so unexpected and so cheap, I couldn't decide how I felt about it as a joke.

CNN: Review: 'There's Something About Mary,' and it's disgusting

So you rank all companies, thousands of companies based on how cheap they are based on their earnings yield.

FORBES

Genetic tests are now so cheap that Mr Goldin can draw us a map of how his own ancestors moved from east Africa 31, 000 years ago, across Arabia and through Central Asia before swinging back into northern Europe.

ECONOMIST: Migration

Although he confesses to being a "coding novice, " Langevin taught himself how to use Arduino -- a very cheap and increasingly popular microcontroller -- so that he could get his prosthetic hand to move.

CNN: Print your own life-size robot for under $1,000

Evidence of how these entities have performed is muddy because so much of their environment is distorted: for example, given cheap enough money and strong enough protection for their franchise, even corporate sluggards can show good profits and return on equity.

ECONOMIST: Privatisation in China