I came across an article that shows that Sony's PS3 is not just a toy for amusement it can actually be used for good things and bad things. Some hackers proved that connecting 200 PS3s into a network, called a "cluster", and using them to work on the same problem: cracking SSL (secure sockets layer) certificates and generating "a rogue Certification Authority (CA), a breakthrough that allows the forging of certificates that are fully trusted by all modern Web browsers." The idea is called "distributing computing". This means that each computer in the network works on a pieces of a problem. It's like solving a complex equation with more than one person on it at the same time. A single PS3 by itself is powerful. One PS3 console is capable of running billions of calculations in a second. That is why it so great at doing video games. If one console can do that imagine what 200 can do. You ineffect have a super computer that outpaces the CRAY computers of 1980s. Like any technology, it is not good or bad. It depends on how you use it. I have found lots of atricles about how to do it. For example, PS3 clusters are used in scientific research like cruching data for NASA over the Internet. I think I will do that when I get my PS3 (of course when I'm not playing with it).
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