No word on the SETI@Home project yet, but participants in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search have discovered the largest prime number yet, which is so large that it would take about 1500 pages just to print it out. Participants in the program volunteered the use of “spare cycles” on their computers to search for numbers, and after several years Michael Shafer of Michigan State University finally found it. Of course, it’s really nothing that he did personally, but everyone who participated deserves some credit for helping out. Check out the full story at Salon (subscription required).
Hardware Beyond the Hype