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Old smartphones repurposed into low-cost computing platforms

By PulseAugur Editorial · [2 sources] ·

Researchers from the University of California San Diego, in collaboration with Google, have developed a method to repurpose old smartphones into functional computing platforms. By stripping down devices like Pixel phones to their motherboards and installing a Linux distribution, they created low-cost data centers. These clusters of 25-50 phones can match the single-core performance of a dual-socket server CPU, offering a cost-effective solution for educational institutions and smaller entities. AI

IMPACT Offers a significantly cheaper alternative for compute infrastructure, potentially enabling more widespread access to computing resources for educational and smaller-scale projects.

RANK_REASON Research paper detailing a novel method for repurposing old hardware.

Read on Tom's Hardware →

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 2 sources. How we write summaries →

Old smartphones repurposed into low-cost computing platforms

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Research paper detailing a novel method for repurposing old hardware.
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2 independent sources
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infra, other
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104 days old
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COVERAGE [2]

  1. Tom's Hardware TIER_1 English(EN) · Jowi Morales ·

    Researchers recycle old phones and cluster them into ‘computing platforms’ — says processors on modern smartphones deliver higher single-core performance than comparable multicore servers

    A team of researchers from UC San Diego found that 'old' smartphones from 2023 could be combined to build a server capable of running apps locally, instead of relying on cloud servers located on a distant site.

  2. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] ·

    Researchers recycle old phones and cluster them into ‘computing platforms’ — says processors on modern smartphones … A team of researchers from UC San Diego fou

    Researchers recycle old phones and cluster them into ‘computing platforms’ — says processors on modern smartphones … A team of researchers from UC San Diego found that 'old' smartphones from 2023 could be combined to build a server capable of running apps locally, instead of rely…

    LINKS tomshardware.com/…/researchers-recycle-ol…

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