Idle CPUs

“Not many people turn their computers off every time they leave their desk. People attend meetings, grab a quick lunch, or talk on the phone while their computer sits idle. Many people even leave their computers on all night. Harnessing these ‘idle cycles’ can result in massive computing power, especially when done on a large scale…”. I know many people who do this and their computers end up crashing or overheating. Not a very smart thing to do, especially when investing over $500-$1,000 for something you expect to last for a long time. I admit I’m not all that innocent either, but for the most part I turn my computer off every night when I’m done with it.

Computers are like houses, but in machine form. You need to keep them clean, tidy and up to date. Also keeping in mind you don’t want unwanted guests visiting (such as in-laws) or in a computer’s case, viruses and spyware. Leaving computers on all of the time makes them vulnerable to viruses and also takes up A LOT of memory. This doesn’t allow the cache, IP address, or most functions on your computer to refresh. It basically becomes a clogged artery, everything builds up and it eventually fails, or in a computer’s case you get ‘crashing’.

Just because you’re not doing anything with your computer, doesn’t mean your computer stops thinking. The screen saver actually takes up more memory than it saves; it ‘steals’ cycles, making your computer slower than usual.

Typically, a standard PC sits idle most of the time. Surfing the Web, checking e-mail, and using Word and Excel does not exert much pressure on a Pentium II processor that can handle 200 million instructions per second. Most of the time, the processor sits idle, waiting for something to do. A group of enthusiasts created a website called Distributed.net. It’s a non-profit organization of computer hobbyists. This website uses idle cycles of everyday PCs to create a supercomputer more powerful than Pixar’s animation in films such as Toy Story and a Bug’s Life.

Distributed.net plans to take the unused cycles of everyday computers that are connected to the Internet and create a globally distributed supercomputer. Such a system can be used to work on complex projects that require massive amounts of parallel computing power without the need for a lot of communication bandwidth. In the past, such projects needed to book time on supercomputers to run their processes, which is an expensive proposition. Today, projects can farm parcels of work out to PCs, Macs and Unix boxes that would otherwise be idle. Anyone with a connection to the Internet can download a special client from Distributed.net that runs in the background of his or her computer.

The only issue with Distributed.net and other clients is how to persuade home users and companies to run a client application on their computers. Enthusiasts who created Distributed.net need to make donating idle CPU cycles a worthwhile cause. One solution that a lot of people would go for is to pay users for their idle CPU cycles. Computers cost money every minute they’re not used, so if the owners of companies are compensated (as well as home users), then it will inspire people to participate in the donating cycles process. Giving idle cycles in return for money it an easy way to make a quick buck. Who doesn’t like money, especially if all you have to do is run a client on your computer? The client won’t affect any processes on your computer and it will run like normal.

Believe it or not, you can also donate your idle cycles to science. Having many cycles clustered together creates supercomputers, which have been built mainly for protein research. “The research centers on proteins that have been determined to be a possible target for e.g. cancer therapy. Through a process called "virtual screening", special analysis software will identify molecules that interact with these proteins and will determine which of the molecular candidates has a high likelihood of being developed into a drug. The process is similar to finding the right key to open a special lock by looking at millions upon millions of molecular "keys". If we know the structures of proteins responsible for diabetes, for example, and whether their activity needs to be increased or decreased, we can search for small molecules that either activate or inhibit the protein.

Problems and solutions have been identified. Leaving your computer 24/7 causes problems in the long run, donating your idle CPU cycles gives you money and helps out a good cause by benefiting science and making research cheaper to find cures for diseases. It also gives them the technology to closely look at molecules.

Make sure to turn off your computer when you’re done with it, unless you’re going to be away from it for a short period of time. I know from experience it’s more convenient to leave it on and come back to it, but if you aren’t donating cycles or doing anything remotely productive with your computer, it’s best to let it rest. After all, like humans, machines also need some time off.

Websites:

http://www.distributed.net

http://www.hyper.net/dc-howto.html

http://www.networkworld.com/news/1999/0301idlecycles.html

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/editorials/article/1259/

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/

My Freeware Experience

I didn't know about all of the software available besides freeware. I knew of shareware, but didn't know the exact definition of it before reading the article. I also wasn't aware of what open source software was until I did the blog on FireFox (which is an open source program, which is why it's being improved so much by each update) . Reading pages 158 and 159 in the book were also helpful in learning about the differences between Commercial, Freeware, Shareware, Open Source, and Public Domain softwares.

I have never experienced Tucows.com until doing this blog report, I always go to Download.com. On Tucow's front page they don't have many of their popular programs listed like Download.com does. I think it's kind of funny the first thing I saw was a program for an online spell checker. I know a lot of people might need that, but it's not something someone like myself will automatically be looking for.

It's also so much easier to find user reviews and the most popular programs on Download.com because they put them right on the front page. Although Tucows does seem to be more organized, Download.com has a very "busy" website; especially their front page. This is a biased report because I always use Download.com, but I'm not totally counting out Tucows!

I have a lot of experience with freeware. It includes Spyware Doctor, Spybot Search & Destroy, SoulSeek (music downloading program) and many other software I have worked with and downloaded over the years.

My favorite, of course, is the free music downloading software. I was thinking about downloading Limewire again on my computer (I had it once before but it wasn't working). It's #5 right now on the most popular downloads of the week on Download.com. I haven't downloaded it yet because the school blocks most downloading programs because of viruses and it slows the connection, and the other reason also deals not wanting viruses on my computer (basically the same reason as above). When people download music now, they are getting more viruses than actual music and computers are expensive...I didn't want to risk getting a virus on my computer. I already had to wipe out my hard drive three times this semester alone. The user reviews on LimeWire are very helpful. Download.com offers Pro's and Cons to downloading the program. After reading the reviews on LimeWire, the pro's basically say it's very fast and it comes up with a ton of search results. The cons say viruses are still related to this program even if you don't download music, viruses are connected with the software.

Although it's part of the assignment, I am choosing not to re-download LimeWire. Now with the threat of more viruses being attached to it...I don't want to risk my computer being messed up by it.

Software Vending Machines

This technology allows consumers to pick what software they need from a computer and then they get a ticket which is taken to the cashier to burn the software they chose. After the software CD is burned, the cashier puts the CD in it's correct packaging along with warranty details and instructions.

The advantages of this technology are one, it saves shelf space for other things (no bulky packaging), it allows consumers a myriad of options and to test out the software before buying it, the stores get automatic upgrades for the software when they burn the CD, and it's supposedly more secure to buy on this system than on the regular system.

The disadvantages are it takes longer to process, it's more expensive, and refunds may not be possible. Also security isn't always guaranteed in any new product or technology.

I wouldn't invest in this company, I don't believe it will solve any problems, it may just make things worse. They showed the general managers of CompUSA stores doing the technological presentation, but general managers aren't always around to serve customers. Customers usually have to deal with regular employees, so these employees have to be trained properly on how to work the technology (sometimes that doesn't always happen). This technology will also create longer lines at the kiosk. People are impatient and wouldn't want to wait to buy their software. In the regular packages (although they're not environmentally friendly and takes up space) it's already there and ready to go.

When I searched on this topic, the only sites that came up were buying software from the internet. I think buying software in a package off the shelf from a store or from the internet are the most popular thing to do nowadays. It will take a long while for people to get used to going into a store and standing at a computer trying to decide what they're looking for and what they want.

In the video they mentioned ATM machines and how people were paranoid about using them at first. ATM machines are totally different than a computer software vending machine. There are so many software products out there, people would be frustrated if they don't know exactly what to look for. ATM machines take two minutes or less to process whatever transaction a person wants. The software vending machines aren't a good solution.

Mozilla Firefox

vs.
Internet Explorer

I haven't used Internet Explorer for about two years now. Ever since I switched to Mozilla, I haven't looked back. In the updated version of Mozilla there are many new helpful options and features to make browsing easier. To name a few new features: Multiple Tab Browsing (which I personally love), Clear Private Data (which I also love), Live Bookmarking (bookmarks are updated from information on the web), Automatic Updates, and Themes (you can put your own background or skin on Mozilla). Another thing I really love about Mozilla is I have the option of deleting my downloads after I download them. I don't have to go searching on my computer for a download log, something pops up right away and I can click "Clean Up".

Mozilla is constantly being updated, but Internet Explorer limits their growth and development. They are the slowest browser to come up with new versions. All of the new browsers mentioned in the articles are way ahead of Internet Explorer in terms of security and privacy measures and other technological updates. IE only comes out with updates every year and those updates are only made available available in certain service packages. People who use older versions of Windows are left with a slow, insecure browser. Mozilla provides secure browsing, there aren't any security breaches...and if there are they make sure to update and patch their browser right away. Internet Explorer is still filled with security issues and is easy to hack into. I completely agree with the articles when it comes to IE, it's poorly updated and doesn't offer users anything to help it develop like Firefox does.

When I used IE, sometimes the pages I was trying to get to wouldn't even load. The browser is very slow and inefficient and it leaves a ton of cookies and tracking cookies on my computer. It still does even when I don't use it, which I don't understand...maybe because I use AOL which is an interface to IE. The version of Firefox that I'm using is 1.5...I downloaded this version last week. The version of IE that I have is 6.0. I have the service Pack 2 for Windows XP, but since I've been using Firefox I didn't even bother updating to IE 7.0.

Usually when I want to go to more than one website, I open another window in the browser...which is why I'm so glad for tabbed browsing. So now when I type in a website when I already have one up, a different frame opens in the browser so I don't have to open another window. This makes browsing a lot faster and easier. When I first download Mozilla I got some pop ups, but now they aren't a problem. They patched up the new version really well. I also have pop-up blocking for my AOL browser (which doesn't really work), but it's well known that AOL's browser sucks anyway.

The only thing I don't like about Mozilla is in the Options panel, I don't think they should have changed the format from vertical to horizontal. That window just reminds me so much of Internet Explorer and for someone who doesn't know what they're doing, it can be confusing. I don't understand what SSL and TLS stand for in the Security Panel (another thing I don't like, these should be explained.)

It's obvious that Internet Explorer has gone down in popularity, they can't compete with Firefox. I've never used a fast browser before and I was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded Firefox about how quick it was in response time. Internet Explorer dies a lot or times out. I've never heard of the other browsers mentioned in the articles: Opera 8, Safari, and Deepnet, but I'm definitely going to keep Firefox. In my opinion, there is no better browser available. I have no reason to switch.

Inside My System

Intel Celeron
M processor 350
1.30 GHz
480 MB of RAM

These confusing numbers and words mean:

My microprocessor is in Gigahertz which means the pace for executing instructions is a billion cycles per second. So my microprocessor clock operates at 1.30 billion cycles per second. Apparently Celeron processors aren't as powerful as Pentiums, but they're good for running software and will save $100-$300 on the price of a computer.

RAM-(random access memory) is a temporary holding area for data, application program instructions and the operating system. With RAM you can purchase more for your computer, I usually just call it memory...but it's a pain to install. So, I have 480 Megabytes of RAM. The typical number for RAM is 256 MB and the best is 512 MB, I'm in the middle.

In the book it says my computer is a popular "low-cost" computer, but my computer wasn't cheap...maybe because it's a laptop. In my opinion, computers aren't cheap in general, but I love my computer. It's a Compaq and from my experience with computers Compaqs/Hewlett Packards are the best.