On paper, 80-cores sounds impressive, but when the software isn't doing anything imaginative with them it's actually rather disappointing: during a demonstration, Intel could only manage to get 1 Teraflop out of the chip, a figure which many medium- to high-end graphics cards are easily capable of.

ENGADGET: Intel demonstrates 80-core processor

Mr Aznar has stated that he intends to be the man who puts an end to Spain's medium-nation status.

ECONOMIST: But the prime minister sees light ahead

Smith's customers are U.S. manufacturers doing small and medium-size production runs, either for their own end products or as contract suppliers to other U.S. manufacturing firms.

FORBES: The Jobs Gambit

According to a 2009 study by consumer media research firm Borrell Associates, nearly 60% of small and medium-size businesses that deploy search-marketing budgets through resellers end up canceling their account within a year.

FORBES: Technology

By indicating that short-term rates will stay low until the end of 2014, the Fed is also having an effect on medium-term bond yields.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

John Regan is a medium-size builder in the Washington DC area who has just completed a high-end condominium project in the upscale suburb of McLean, Virginia.

BBC: Housing meltdown hits US economy

From the end of World War II through the 1970s most of America's small and medium-size cities did very well.

FORBES: Read Steve's Book

The payroll-tax cut has only been extended for two months, ensuring that the rest of the year will be punctuated with fiscal skirmishes, even as nothing is done to deal with America's medium-term fiscal mess, or to smooth the huge tax hikes and spending cuts that loom at the end of 2012 under current law.

ECONOMIST: The world economy