the power of distributed networks
Originally published at Jason's Fresh Produce. You can comment here or there.
Already searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence and cracking codes, the newest use for distributed processing has arrived-detecting and warning of tsunamis!
This free software monitors vibrations in the (very delicate, very sensitive) hard disks of computers. Communicating with a distributed network, the software can determine if the vibrartion is widespread enough and powerful enough to represent an earthquake. If it is an earthquake, the system can warn ever connected user of a possible impending tsunami, since tsunamis travel only about one fifth the speed of earthquakes.
I read yesterday that we now have about 4 billion transistors (simple 1/0 switches) for every human being on the planet. Every day the potential of distributed processing gets greater and greater. We need to write more distributed processing code!