Sony PS3 Folding@home V1.2 Update
Sony has announced a new update for the Folding@home application on the Playstation 3 console. This is a continuing effort to aid the Stanford University distributed computing project to solve human diseases using a protein folding computer simulation.
In five months time, more than 536,000 PS3 owners download the Folding@home application to take advantage of the ultra-fast processing power of the console. PS3 users have contributed over 600 teraflops of data, and are well on their way to helping the Folding@home project reach a milestone petaflop of data.
Updated features and functionalities that are part of this latest application update (v1.2) include:
- Support for Remote Play for PSP — Now Folding@home can be remotely operated through PSP utilizing the Remote Play feature of the PS3 system. With this feature, PS3 users are able to view on their PSP the exact same Folding@home information that is viewable on their PS3, complete with the map of the world and the protein that their particular system is simulating.
- More Support for Additional Protein Simulations — Additional computation cores are now supported allowing Folding@home for PS3 to support a wider range of protein-folding simulations which further enhances the science needed to be performed to research diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
- Screensaver Mode — A screensaver mode can now be activated via the Settings menu in the Folding@home application, allowing PS3 users to consume slightly less power and to increase performance of protein-folding simulations.
- Link to Project Description — A link has been added to the Information menu in the Folding@home application allowing users to quickly obtain additional information about the specific research project they are currently contributing to.
- Protein Visualization Enhancements — All visualization modes have been enhanced with improved shading, highlighting and focus effects, including: “Tapioca” displays the protein as a smooth surface with improved shading and depth; “Caviar” displays the protein as a smooth surface with defined edges; “Licorice” displays only the protein’s bonds and “Backbone” which emphasizes specific sections of the protein that are of the most scientific interest to researchers.
- Advanced Participation Mode — Advanced participation mode allows Stanford University to send simulations of varying computational lengths to PS3 users. Because the simulations in this mode can take significantly longer, Advanced Mode is only recommended for contributors who run Folding@home for at least eight hours per day.
“We take a lot of pride in the fact that more than half a million PS3 users worldwide have dedicated a portion of their machine’s capabilities towards helping Stanford University and their Folding@home team research many of the diseases that inflict our society today,” said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of SCEA. “It is one thing for us to provide the technology to make this possible; it is quite another to have gamers from all over the world proactively sign up for this program to make a difference in our global community. We couldn’t be more pleased with the results we have seen to date in this collaborative effort.”
PS3 users can update the Folding@home application by restarting the program. New Folding@home users can join the program by simply clicking on the Folding@home icon within the Network menu of the XrossMediaBar. To learn more about the distributed computer project, visit the Folding@home website.
August 21, 2007 at 8:45 pm | Playstation, Software |
