Sony updates PS3 protein-probe program
Folding@Home tweaked for firmware 2.10
Sony has rolled out the latest version of the Stanford University-created Folding@Home protein analysis utility for the PlayStation 3.
Folding@Home distributes the task of analysing how protein molecules fold and unfold across millions of connected computers, including the PS3. It's hoped that the analysis will reveal how these processes can lead to diseases like Cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
The new PS3 Folding@Home client, version 1.3, can now play music off the console's hard drive while it's screensaver-like front-end busily polishes off peptides. Tracks feature automatically within categories, including Recommended, Energetic, Calm, Dramatic, Upbeat or Electronic. Users can browse through categories and tracks by utilising simple hotkeys or via the PS3's Music menu.
Folding@Home can now automatically turn a PS3 off after a specified amount of time up to 23 hours and 50 minutes, or after the completion of a current work unit. Sony also said the code has been tweaked to handle more complex protein simulations.
Version 1.3 requires PS3 firmware 2.10, which Sony posted yesterday. It can be downloaded direct to the PS3 from the console's Network menu.
Related Reviews
• Logic3 SoundStation3 PS3 speakers
Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery
COMMENTS
@Steven Hewitt
"Guess the reason the 360 doesn't do it is because the gamers are too busy playing the 100's of games out for it, watching HD video's from download and streaming their media from their PC's..."
Please don't pretend to speak for anyone but yourself: Don't tar us all with the same brush.
I like to think I do my share of helping humanity: I'm not a selfish, 'me,me,me' kiddie gamer, as you seem to advocate.
@Tony Chandler
To repeat a point I made in a comment on another article recently. If you do some brief research at Metacritic you'll find that Wii and PS3 have a roughly equivalent number of games. You'll find PS3 has more games with reviews of 75 or better, than Wii, and more games with a review of 50 or better, than Wii. In addition, the drop off of review scores for Wii games is actually appreciably sharper when compared to PS3.
It matters not though, because when a Wii title gets good reviews, it gets great reviews. Wii has more titles with scores of 90 or more than PS3 does.
The point being that it's wrong to suggest that the Wii has somehow had a better year for games than PS3, or vice versa. That particular concept started with the DS/PSP flame wars of a couple of years ago. Though after the first year or so PSP and DS have been essentially neck and neck on games. Stepping outside that for a moment, I am encourages that a game console maker other than Nintendo has managed to carve out a market of more than 25 million users for a hand held gaming device. For a long time it looked like Nintendo would have no competition. Now that they definitely do have competition, better products are the result. Everybody wins.
re: Steven Hewittt
I'm surprised to hear that you are selling your PS3 now, isn't this about the worst time in the history of the universe to do it?
The price has just dropped, the really good games are just starting to come out (after a slow first year common to all consoles*) and the future looks pretty good for the PS3. You'll lose a lot of money and a perfectly good BluRay player.
Just my two cents worth.
*Except the Wii, but hey, there's an exception to every rule
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Cloud based data management
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
