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News You Could Do Without

by Joseph Weisenthal




SETI@Home Finds New Calling As Laptop Lojack

from the just-what-they-were-looking-for dept

The well-known SETI@home project has turned up goose eggs in its search for extraterrestrial life, and there's been talk about the project shutting down. One volunteer is fortunate that the project kept going, since it helped him find a stolen laptop. After his wife's laptop was taken out of their home, he realized it might still be communicating with the SETI@home servers. After confirming that the computer was still searching for alien life forms, the police were able to take its IP address to a local ISP and determine who was using the laptop. The computer was then returned to its owner, marking what is probably the first time that SETI@home has made a significant find. So if you're looking for a cheap way to help secure your laptop, perhaps it's worth signing up to volunteer for the project, and if you're a thief, you might want to pay more attention to that weird screen saver that keeps popping up.

17 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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  1. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:18pm

    Lightbulb Logo

    by Just an idea

    Not really about the article... just noticed the light buld on the left of the screen and wondered if you should switch it to a CFL to help the environment.

    Just a thought.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:23pm

    No Way

    by Paul

    Go the extra mile and get an LED bulb. It may cost more to render now but the graphic will last you way longer in the long run.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:25pm
    by Greg

    "The computer was then returned to its owner, marking what is probably the first time that SETI@home has made a significant find"

    Ice Burn

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:37pm
    by Just an idea

    Paul is right, I put CFLs in my house because it was cheaper to use the sockets I already had. Apparently this light bulb doesn't need a socket to burn - go with the LEDs.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:43pm
    by Witty Nickname

    Do LEDs have dimming ability? Might be something to think about if you redesign the image. CFLs can't be dimmed if the idea isn't that great.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:51pm

    way off topic

    by yossi

    i find that cfl actually burn out WAY b4 the advertized 10000 hours. it just dosent happen. they thing we wonk notice because its 'a long time', but i noticed.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  7. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 1:53pm

    last post

    by yossi

    man i really have to spell check :(

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  8. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 2:05pm

    Excuse the on-topic post!

    by deirdre

    People can also run rosetta@home, which actually does turn up useful information on a daily basis.

    We now return you to that.. .confederate light bulb thing, already in progress.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  9. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 2:14pm

    More Power

    by Mr. Nukem

    CFL, lousy. LED, weak. What you need to do is go all the way and use a sustained thermonuclear reaction.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  10. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 2:16pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    Unintelligent life detected. Yay! Intelligent life... not so much. Boo!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  11. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 2:42pm

    Re: More Power

    by Anonymous Coward

    Have you seen the Philips/Lumileds Luxeon LED??? Bright, but still a bit expensive.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  12. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 3:21pm

    Re: last post

    by Nismoto

    man i really have to spell check :(

    Try Firefox v2 ;-)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  13. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 3:21pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    Too many off topic posts - take them elsewhere. Blogs are cheap.

    seti@home finally finding something - very funny

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  14. Feb 22nd, 2007 @ 10:21pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    this thread was pwned by a lightbulb lol

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  15. Oct 30th, 2007 @ 8:26pm

    Intelligent Life.

    by ty ellis

    Even on earth, we have yet to find Intelligent Life.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  16. Jan 23rd, 2009 @ 12:48am

    extra earthling

    Atleast we could find an extra earthling as they are also special people who steal.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  17. Sep 17th, 2009 @ 2:06pm

    hmm...

    returned to the owner part really got me thinking :P

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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