A few weeks ago word got out that the U.S. Air Force had purchased 2,200 PS3s to throw into a supercomputing cluster. The cell-powered PS3s are to be used for research in “urban surveillance,” what that is.
No, this isn’t the first time the PS3 has been used unusually. Folding@home has used the PS3 to help research protein folding.
Immigration officials also use the PS3 to help crack encrypted hard drives that are suspected to contain child pornography.
You already know why these organizations are using the PS3: it’s tremendously powerful, especially when you take into account it only costs $300 a pop. So you buy a few of them, string ’em together, and there you go.