DeQuincey - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Wow, 25% scalability! Amazing! (Score 1) 166

by DeQuincey on Saturday February 17, 2007 @02:35AM (#18048618) Attached to: Grid Computes 420 Years Worth of Data in 4 Months

You're glossing over some important points.

1) I'm pretty sure that the servers have to send the same job out to multiple clients. That is, you can't assume that it's sufficient to have only one computer return a result for one job. There's the possibility that the result is incorrect or never returned.

2) The point of grid computing is to reduce both the cost and time required to do the computation. The entire endeavor would be more efficient if you had full control over the entire grid, i.e. a huge cluster. The entire endeavor would also be more expensive. (Last I heard, Sun is having a hard time finding customers for it's grid computing service. It might just be that $1/CPU-hour is too expensive.)

3) Distributed computing of this sort depends on unused CPU cycles. You can't expect 100% CPU utilization out of all 5,000 machines that took part in the project.

So, what you comparing this to arrive at your cynical conclusion?
Did you consider the difference in cost?

Submission + - Grid computes 420 years worth of data in 4 months

Submitted by Da Massive on Thursday February 15, 2007 @10:15PM

Da Massive writes: A worldowide grid computing project has analysed a possible malaria cure faster than ever before: 4 months instead of 420 years. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;44613 6154;fp;16;fpid;1

Robotic Deer to Fight Illegal Hunting 325

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday December 26, 2006 @05:22AM from the low-tech-honey-pot dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "If you were a law enforcement official searching for hunters who don't follow the rules, what would be a good gift for you? In 'Robot Deer Captures Poachers,' Brian Bull, reporting from Mosinee, Wisconsin, writes that you can buy robotic decoys for deer, elks, moose and even bears. These life-like creatures are made of animal hides or skins attached to polyurethane foam bodies and equipped with remotely controlled motors allowing the head and tail to move. After you pay about $2,000 for such a robo-deer, you put it on a side road. All you have to do is wait for an illegal hunter trying to shoot the fake deer and fine him. Many officers have reported collecting well over $30,000 in fines with a single robot. Not a bad deal."

George Orwell Was Right — Security Cameras Get an Upgrade 499

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday December 26, 2006 @01:34AM from the big-brother-would-be-proud dept.

Jamie stopped to mention that Bloomberg is reporting on a recent addition of speakers to public security cameras in Middlesbrough, England. From the article: "`People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,' said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight outside bars."

Microsoft Deems Emotiflags Patent-Worthy 157

Posted by Zonk on Saturday December 16, 2006 @02:03AM from the cute-little-guys-hey-those-are-smilies dept.

theodp writes "Microsoft said you could count on them to improve patent quality. For an example of how they're raising the bar on innovation, check out this just-published patent application for Emotiflags, which Microsoft explains solves the problem of indicating an emotion associated with an email message. At the risk of infringing on the patent, this one Makes Me Mad!"

HP's Windows Bundle Trouble 697

Posted by Zonk on Friday December 15, 2006 @08:21PM from the i'm-sorry-please-enter-your-option-again dept.

narramissic writes "A French consumer group has filed 3 lawsuits against HP, saying the company's practice of selling consumer PCs with Windows pre-installed violates a French law that 'prohibits linking the functionality of a product to another product' — not to mention that consumers wind up paying for an unwanted OS. For its part, HP contends that it is not in violation of the law because the OS is integral to the PC. 'The PC without an OS is not a product because it doesn't work,' said Alain Spitzmuller, legal affairs director for HP France. 'We believe the market is for products that work.'"

Novell/Microsoft Deal Punishment for SCO? 148

Posted by Zonk on Friday December 15, 2006 @05:56PM from the stranger-things-have-happened dept.

An anonymous reader tipped us off to an article on the Information World site looking at the Novell/Microsoft deal from a new angle. Article author Tom Yager is of the opinion that the deal is Microsoft's punishment for throwing in with SCO. The very public announcement was made, in his opinion, as a stopgap measure against a future lawsuit on Novell's part. From the article: "Novell has exhibited the patience and cunning of a trap door spider. It waited for SCO to taunt from too short a distance. Then Novell would spring, feed a little (saving plenty for later), inject some stupidity serum, and let SCO stride off still cocksure enough to make another run at the nest. That cycle is bleeding SCO, which was the last to notice its own terminal anemia. When it became clear that SCO wouldn't prevail, Microsoft expected only to face close partner IBM. Microsoft did not brace for Novell, an adversary with a decades-long score to settle with Redmond. Through discovery, Microsoft's correspondence with SCO is, or soon will be in, Novell's hands, and it's a safe bet that it will contain more than demand for a license fee and a copy of a certified check."

The Video Game Generation Grows Up 131

Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday December 15, 2006 @05:17PM

MarchingAnts writes "The Gaming Generation: Once A Gamer, Always A Gamer has interviews with Gabe from Penny Arcade, best-selling science-fiction author John Scalzi, veteran games journalist and founder of gamerdad.com Andrew Bub, futurologist Dr. Michael Zey, and sociologist Dr. Steve Jones commenting on the phenomena of how video gamers are coping with balancing their hobby with marriages, careers, and how video games might affect families in the future. 'Mike Krahulik, better known to his legions of fans as Gabe, one-half of the team behind the gaming webcomic Penny Arcade, says that time is the biggest challenge in blending gaming and parenthood. "You just don't have as much time for gaming," he says, "when you're getting up every 30 minutes to change diapers and get thrown up"'"

One in 25 Search Results Risky 69

Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday December 15, 2006 @04:34PM from the i-only-needed-one-anyway dept.

Ant writes "According to Ars Technica, security researcher Ben Edelman revisited his May 2006 report on the relative risk of search engine results. In the original report, Edelman found that 5 percent of the results provided by search engines were marked as either "red" or "yellow" by SiteAdvisor, indicating that they presented some risk to the user. Now, Edelman says that his new study has shown that only 4.4 percent of such sites are risky, representing a drop of 12 percent since May... ... The study found that not only can regular links found by search engines be dangerous, the sponsored links that appear in prominent positions in the results pages can also be harmful. In fact, in the May study, sponsored links were more than twice as likely to be linked to malware than non-sponsored links (8.5 vs. 3.1 percent)."

Amazon Collapses Under Weight of 1,000 Xboxes 162

Posted by Zonk on Friday November 24, 2006 @11:52PM from the everyone-is-falling-down dept.

theodp writes "Is there such a thing as a BusinessWeek Cover Jinx? Amazon was bitten by the success of its 1,000 Xboxes for $100 promotion, which brought the entire site to its knees for about 15 minutes on Thanksgiving Day. Singing the too-much-traffic blues on Black Friday were Wal-Mart and Disney."

Slashdot Top Deals