SETI@Home Finds New Calling As Laptop Lojack

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

Thu, Feb 22nd 2007 12:10pm — Joseph Weisenthal

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.

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17 Comments

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Just an idea, 22 Feb 2007 @ 1:18pm

Lightbulb Logo
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.
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Paul, 22 Feb 2007 @ 1:23pm

No Way
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.
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Greg, 22 Feb 2007 @ 1:25pm

"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
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Just an idea, 22 Feb 2007 @ 1:37pm

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

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.
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yossi, 22 Feb 2007 @ 1:51pm

way off topic
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.
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yossi, 22 Feb 2007 @ 1:53pm

last post
man i really have to spell check :(
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deirdre, 22 Feb 2007 @ 2:05pm

Excuse the on-topic post!
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.
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Mr. Nukem, 22 Feb 2007 @ 2:14pm

More Power
CFL, lousy. LED, weak. What you need to do is go all the way and use a sustained thermonuclear reaction.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2007 @ 2:16pm

Unintelligent life detected. Yay! Intelligent life... not so much. Boo!
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2007 @ 2:42pm

Re: More Power
Have you seen the Philips/Lumileds Luxeon LED??? Bright, but still a bit expensive.
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Nismoto, 22 Feb 2007 @ 3:21pm

Re: last post
man i really have to spell check :(
Try Firefox v2 ;-)
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2007 @ 3:21pm

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

seti@home finally finding something - very funny
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2007 @ 10:21pm

this thread was pwned by a lightbulb lol
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ty ellis, 30 Oct 2007 @ 8:26pm

Intelligent Life.
Even on earth, we have yet to find Intelligent Life.
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David@Used Laptops, 23 Jan 2009 @ 12:48am

extra earthling
Atleast we could find an extra earthling as they are also special people who steal.
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Cheap computers Canada, 17 Sep 2009 @ 2:06pm

hmm...
returned to the owner part really got me thinking :P
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