Computing spread across MANY phones while on charge

[Circlotron]

Last night I heard about Dreamlab, a phone app that runs only when the phone is charging, typically overnight. Is used for cancer research and similar. The idea is that the computing task is spread across perhaps millions of otherwise idle phones. Kind of like SETI and Folding at home.

I like this idea. Does anyone know of a list of similar things? I don't know what to call it so I could search for it myself.

[retiredfeline]

Crowdsourced distributed computing.

I had a phone participating in the past, but the phone failed permanently.

[SiliconWizard]

I don't like that.

[eti]

Nope. They can pay for their own hardware and CPU cycles.

[NiHaoMike]

I used to do cryptocurrency mining with a cluster of cheap smartphones. In "the good old days" (2015), a cluster of 4 cheap smartphones would make $100/month mining Perk.

[Gyro]

Nope. They can pay for their own hardware and CPU cycles.

Maybe they can't afford it! You're talking huge compute power. Research, particularly medical (unless the drugs companies can see a fast buck) is always poorly funded.

SETI had the same problem.

[MikeK]

Maybe they can't afford it! You're talking huge compute power. Research, particularly medical (unless the drugs companies can see a fast buck) is always poorly funded.

Maybe they can, but they'd rather someone else pay for it.

Years ago, the large non-profit hospital/health care provider/insurer in my area created a stir by making a large donation to some organization.  The many underpaid workers complained, "Hey, how about donating that money this way!...We haven't seen a pay raise in years!"  In the hubbub it was found out that the non-profit also had a private jet.  The donation wound up getting rescinded.

There are thieves and fraudsters in all organizations.  And con men and women have figured out that government/public dollars are an easy mark.  If something is lacking funding, then petition the government for more funds.  And, hopefully, the government will do proper oversight to hold the recipient accountable.  That's how it's supposed to work.

[tooki]

Last night I heard about Dreamlab, a phone app that runs only when the phone is charging, typically overnight. Is used for cancer research and similar. The idea is that the computing task is spread across perhaps millions of otherwise idle phones. Kind of like SETI and Folding at home.

I like this idea. Does anyone know of a list of similar things? I don't know what to call it so I could search for it myself.

This made sense back when SETI@home was big, because most computers back then didn’t use any power-saving modes at all, so running SETI really was just making use of energy that would otherwise be going to waste.

Nowadays, with the aggressive power saving our computing devices have, having them run such background tasks means actively adding to energy usage. No thanks. (It’s not about individual cost, but rather the aggregate energy use of such things done widely.)

Similarly, this is why I run ad blockers: some ads use your “spare” computing power to mine bitcoins and stuff, meaning your battery life is reduced, lap is heated more, etc. so some prick can make money without asking you. No thanks.

Edit: indivisible -> individual. Autocorrect got me!

[Circlotron]

  (It’s not about indivisible cost, but rather the aggregate energy use of such things done widely.)

That’s a good point.
I’ve got a USB ammeter. What I’ll do next is see how much current is flowing into the phone at end of charge in the morning both with and without the app running and report back here. Then maybe someone with the relevant skillz can tell us how that compares with the energy usage of a supercomputer doing the same job.

[retiredfeline]

I used an old phone to wring the last bit of use out of it. The CPU is fairly efficient; if you look at the phone's tally of energy usage usually most of it is accounted for by the screen. So my consumption is nothing compared to all those Tik Tok screen staring addicts walking along barely avoiding colliding into other people. 

[Stray Electron]

I used to do cryptocurrency mining with a cluster of cheap smartphones. In "the good old days" (2015), a cluster of 4 cheap smartphones would make $100/month mining Perk.

    Yeap, I DOUBT that the people controlling this are actually using it for cancer research. IMO They're most likely using it for crypto mining or simply for SPAMMING people.

  Computer power is CHEAP any more. There is no valid reason for anyone that is doing any VALID research to be running it off of a cluster or cell phones or other people's computer  except for purposes of fraud!

[Circlotron]

I’ve got a USB ammeter. What I’ll do next is see how much current is flowing into the phone at end of charge in the morning both with and without the app running and report back here. Then maybe someone with the relevant skillz can tell us how that compares with the energy usage of a supercomputer doing the same job.

Okay, I tried it on my tablet. A Samsung Galaxy Tab A (8.0" 2019).

When fully charged and the app not running it takes a pulse of maybe 30mA every minute or so. Bit hard to tell with a digital meter that updated infrequently.

With the app running it takes a steady 15mA, so at 5.25v that's about 79mW. Not a lot.

So... the question is, how much work per watt (actually per Joule) is it performing compared to a supercomputer?