Just because your computer is idling doesn't mean it isn't busy…

PCs, Social Media, The Internet — By Dave on August 7, 2009 11:12 am

Sometimes, I really love technology.  It seems that Intel has designed an application to be incorporated into Facebook accounts that will allow the supercomputing giant to “borrow” your computers’ thinking ability while you’re not using it.

It is a process known as “distributed computing”, where small calculations are made by individual PCs around the world and the results are then fed back to one supercomputer at Intel’s headquarters.  Right now, the “spare” computing power is being split between one of three projects: ClimatePrediction.net, designed to work on the problem of the Earth’s ever-changing climate – Rosetta@Home, a project devoted to working on a cure for cancer among other medical problems – and Africa@Home, dedicated to trying to create strategies to contain or end malaria outbreaks in Africa.

It’s a pretty impressive use of “wasted” computer time – there are an unbelievable number of computers left idling for hours on end across the world (and usually in dorm rooms…), these are computing cycles that can now be turned back into something worthwhile.

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