Sign up for [email protected] and search for spinning stars called pulsars using the new BOINC app.
Android smartphone users will soon have a chance to participate in important scientific research every time they charge their phones.
Using a new app created by researchers at UC Berkeley, users will be able to donate a phone’s idle computing power to crunch numbers for projects that could lead to breakthroughs ranging from novel medical therapies to the discovery of new stars.
The app was created by a Berkeley project called BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing), which is known for its computer software that supports more than 50 volunteer computing projects around the world. BOINC software allows projects to tap unused processing power donated by computer owners around the world to analyze data or run simulations that would normally require cost-prohibitive supercomputers.
The new Android app, also called BOINC, will be available Monday, July 22, from the Google Play Store and works on Android versions 2.3 or later. The app currently supports several popular computing projects, including [email protected], which searches radio telescope data for spinning stars called pulsars, and [email protected], which searches for more effective AIDS therapies as part of IBM’s World Community Grid. Android, owned by Google Inc., is the operating system used by two-thirds of all smartphones today.
“There are about a billion Android devices right now, and their total computing power exceeds that of the largest conventional supercomputers,” said BOINC creator David Anderson, a research scientist at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. “Mobile devices are the wave of the future in many ways, including the raw computing power they can provide to solve computationally difficult problems.”
Creation of the app was funded by the Max Planck Institute, which runs [email protected]; Google Inc.; and the National Science Foundation, which has supported BOINC since 2002. IBM assisted in the design of the user interface and organized beta testing of the app.
“Our main goals are to make it easy for scientists to use BOINC to create volunteer computing projects to further their research, and to make it easier for volunteers to participate,” Anderson said.
The Latest Bing News on:
Idle smartphones to work for science
- Tesla slips as report says the EV maker will idle Model 3 line at its Fremont factory for two weekson February 26, 2021 at 12:43 am
Shares of Tesla slipped as much as 4% on Thursday after a report said the EV maker will idle the Model 3 line ... are used in everything from cell phones to fighter jets, and rising demand caused ...
- The Post-Coronavirus Workplace: What The ‘New Normal’ May Look Likeon February 17, 2021 at 10:08 am
A great example of this is employees using their personal devices for work, such as a laptop or smartphone. Some of you may recall the time when many employers were terrified of this idea because ...
- We're staring at screens more during COVID. How might that affect our eyes?on February 16, 2021 at 10:46 am
“I currently spend most of the day on my computer,” said Leone, a sophomore computer science major at Stony ... In the 2000s, smartphones and tablets joined in, creating an increase in screen ...
- Automakers idle more plants as chip shortage worsens; Samsung warns of spread to cellphone productionon January 29, 2021 at 9:16 pm
Ford said Thursday it would temporarily idle two of three shifts ... as millions of people were forced to work and shop from home, buying new smartphones, computers, web cameras and other digital ...
- Ford, Samsung warn of impact from semiconductor chip shortageon January 29, 2021 at 3:20 pm
Ford said Thursday it would temporarily idle two of three shifts at its Chicago ... electronics industry surged as millions of people were forced to work and shop from home, buying new smartphones, ...
- Forget cables! Xiaomi announces new long-range wireless charger lets you power multiple devices from some 10 FEET awayon January 29, 2021 at 11:30 am
The system works with phones, smartwatches ... Today everyone has a lot of idle chargers, which is both a burden to you and on the environment,' Lei said, asking, 'Is there a better solution ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Idle smartphones to work for science
The Latest Bing News on:
Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
- Cybersecurity 202: The Networkon February 23, 2021 at 4:00 pm
The Network is a group ... i2Coalition and co-founder of Open-i Advisors Inc. Dawson went from 16 years as an executive at Web hosting provider ServInt to help co-found the i2Coalition to ensure that ...
- BP joins IBM Quantum Network to support emission goalson February 19, 2021 at 12:25 pm
To help it reach these objective, BP has joined IBM’s Quantum Network ... and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory joined the community. At the time, ExxonMobil said quantum computing offered ...
- How the open source Ray project delivers "the infinite laptop" for distributed computingon February 17, 2021 at 12:19 pm
There's something about Berkeley ... network concept , Distributed register technology , Block chain text and computer connection with blue background. 3D Rendering Today, that long history of ...
- Data centre water consumptionon February 15, 2021 at 2:26 am
The information communication technology sector will experience huge growth over the coming years, with 29.3 billion devices expected online by 2030, up from 18.4 billion in 2018.
- Superfacility Model Brings COVID Research into Real Timeon February 9, 2021 at 7:47 am
Among the collaborators are scientists working at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing ... speed computer network connecting U.S. Department of Energy scientists and their collaborators ...
- Exascale Computing Project Podcast Discusses Code Development for Earthquake Simulations on Auroraon February 9, 2021 at 6:07 am
This first episode focuses on preparing an earthquake risk assessment application for exascale computing and features Houjun Tang of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ... a region and how it ...
- Xiaomi Mi 11 release date, price and features of the new Xiaomi phoneon February 7, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Intriguingly, the Mi 11 has been officially certified by BOINC (the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing), a volunteer computing scheme by which you can temporarily 'donate' the ...
- Databricks opens major engineering centre in Toronto – why that’s a big deal for Canadaon February 2, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Brian: Why select Canada to open ... Cloud computing enables the rapid delivery of software as a service and compute resources on demand. This can create massive cost savings for IT infrastructure ...
- Green HPC Podcast Episode 6: Green technologies of the futureon July 4, 2017 at 2:55 pm
Horst Simon is Associate Laboratory Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ... list of the world’s most powerful computing systems. Steve Cumings leads an HP team focused on data center ...
- New App Crunches Scientific Data While You Sleepon February 27, 2014 at 8:47 pm
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a middleware system that allows volunteers to donate their computer’s processing power when they aren’t at their desk.
