As more and more scientific research in, for example, astronomy and biology uses computers more and more intensely, computer calculating time has become scarce. Of course, the calculating power has come a long way from when mental calculating still outran the best computer, but running thousands of simulations of how a certain drug molecule docks with HIV proteases  within a limited timeframe is still outside the realm of even the best supercomputers. And this is where the consumer steps in.

Millions of people have computers connected to the internet nowadays. You start yours up in the morning (at least I do), check your email, maybe work a few hours on Word, check out some websites, etc. Then, after dinner, you might really get into it and play a MMORPG  for some hours, before shutting down the computer. Computer use? Like what they say about your brain: about 10%. The only time your computer is actually working hard is when playing that demanding online game. Now how about using the remaining 90% for the good of humanity? And this is where the World Community Grid (WCG) by IBM steps in.

The WCG offered volunteers the possibility to (in)directly aid in scientific research by ‘lending’ some of their computer’s calculating space to research projects. All you do is download a programme that will run in the background, uses processor cycles that are currently not being used. It runs a simulation, packs up the data afterwards and sends it back. Next simulation. Since its start, the WCG has used thousands of years of calculating space, saying that they’ve done “the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of years of research in less than a decade” (1). The projects the WCG runs range from looking for HIV medicines to improving the efficiency of solar cells to the search for low-costs water filtering systems.

Continue reading Like a Thousand Ants Working as One →

We are in the Netherlands and thus, we benefit from fast (well sometimes), ‘cheap’ and mostly ‘RELIABLE’ (‘rofl’) public transportation… So what else would you need? Well, that’s were Snappcar comes in. Snappcar.nl is an online platform which facilitates car renting of personal vehicles to individuals that live in the Netherlands and own a European car driver’s license. Basically Snappcar provides the option for people that rarely use their personal car to not just let it rust in the rain outside but actually make some money out of it while assuring the car is started from time to time. Similarly, Snappcar provides a very attractive opportunity for people that are in need of a car for a specific time period.

The platform presents a classic example of buyer-seller interaction in which the sellers are the individuals that put their cars up for rent and the buyers are the people that use the platform for finding a personal way of transportation. Each group has its own individual motivation to participate. Therefore, although it is obvious that sellers use the platform to earn money, they also understand that their property does not serve its purpose if it’s not used (thus being worthless), so we can safely assume that their motivation is also the desire to share spare resources. Buyers on the other hand, are people that are in search of a method of transportation for a fixed period of time that is cheap, reliable and convenient. In their case, when it comes to motivation, although the idea of being part of a community might play a small role, their principal motivating factor is constituted by the cheaper price the system offers compared to traditional car rental agencies. Moreover, in situations in which the buyer is in need of transportation for long distances or destinations that are not mainstream, the system might prove cheaper even when compared to public transportation. Both types of users are also attracted to the system because it provides a secure environment where cars are fully insured, 24/7 road assistance is provided and participants’ identities and credentials are verified in advance.

Continue reading Smart Social Driving →

Traditionally, a bank is a financial institution that deals with lending and depositing money and exchanging currency. But that is overrated. A relatively newer concept is that of a time bank, where people exchange time. Some might say time is priceless, but it seems a new type of economy is appearing where time has been assigned a value.

Although the digital world made time banks popular, the concept is actually quite old. Its history can be traced back to the 1820s, when an American anarchist created the Cincinnati Time Store. There, time spent during a specific activity could be translated into material goods, usually corn, meat or gold [1]. Nowadays, time banking works a bit differently: time is exchanged directly between people doing different types of activities. Thus, digital platforms where people auction (sell and buy) time have developed all over the world, Romania included. Continue reading How many hours does this cost? →