IBM weaves PC web to fight AIDS
IBM has made it possible for home computers to help fight AIDS.
Last month, the company began its second World Community Grid project, which lets researchers run scientific computations on people’s home computers when they’re not in use. The latest project, “FightAIDS@Home,” will test hundreds of thousands of molecules, to find the candidates that can impede the spread of the AIDS virus.
Individuals can go to worldcommunitygrid.org and download the IBM software that runs when a PC is idle. A screensaver shows a simulation of a protein strand. The program does not affect other applications running on a home computer.
Using thousands of computers around the world helps form a tremendous amount of combined processing power, said Viktors Berstis, chief architect for the community grid. The last community project helped researchers understand which proteins play a role in the disease process of the body. The project consumed 20,000 years of computer time, he said.
The AIDS project began in November. There are 200,000 registered users of the grid. Berstis said the safety of computers and data is critically important. If one piece of malicious data gets into the system, the entire project could be ruined, so the grid is protected from hackers.
Photo-print prices turn on a dime
To attract customers during the holiday shopping season, online photo retailers have escalated their print-price war to an all-time low.
Last year at this time, most 4-by-6 prints were available for 29 cents apiece, sometimes 19 cents. This year: Try a dime.
“Even at 10 cents, we’re profitable,” says Keith Swan, CEO of startup Dimeprints.com. He says higher volume and lower costs for raw goods let him pass savings to consumers.
Search for “digital prints” online, and you’ll see many websites pop up with offers that seem too good to be true: 9 cents a print at Clarkcolor.com and PEphoto.com, but read the fine print. Many sites offer the rates as sign-up specials, good for only a certain number of prints, before they bump up to the regular rate.
Also, check the shipping cost. Once that’s factored in, costs aren’t as low as they sound.
