The concept of harnessing the power of computer idle time to solve mathematical problems isn’t new. Big problems that would usually require an inordinate amount of time to solve are broken up into tiny chunks and distributed across hundreds or thousands of computers, each of which will solve that tiny subset and send it back to be combined back to unlock the riddle.
And now you can do it on your smartphone.
For a while I have been using BOINC and contributing processing power to help find a cure for AIDS. There are several projects to choose from, including ones related to Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer, other medical projects, as well as ones on astronomy and finding pulsars and even extraterrestrial life. You can also download an app for your desktop if you want to contribute even more power.
HTC has also launched an app, called HTC Power to Give, which functions in an almost identical manner, but appears to be more user friendly than the BOINC app.
In the end the app you use does not matter as much, given that the projects are supported through both. Both apps allow you to specify how much power you’re willing to give and when to give it, so that you control battery drain. Best practice is to have the phone plugged in at night and let it do the work.
It’s great to see that smartphones have become powerful enough to handle such computations, and with smartphone penetration on the rise, it only makes sense to include them as a platform to help solve these problems.
