I watched the A16Z talk - Mobile changes everything. With today's phones having 4 and 8 core cpus, I was wondering if it's viable to have a server setup of mobile phones in the style of Amazon . Or maybe tablet's like the ipad. How would these compare to an Amazon micro compute unit? Is anyone working on this already.
Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
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Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#2This is a very good idea, I tried it some time ago but was too early. There are people working on this privately. You do mean phones connected in a data center don't you?
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#3This is a very good idea, I tried it some time ago but was too early. There are people working on this privately. You do mean phones connected in a data center don't you?
Yes. I do mean that. What struck me from the talk was the cpu in the iphone 6 was about 25x more powerful than the pentium 100 in 1995.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#4> How would these compare to an Amazon micro compute unit
Poorly.
Do you mean a Beowulf cluster of mobile phones? It seems like it would be woefully inefficient to say the least.
- each node in the cluster has an expensive screen attached to it, which would presumably be permanently disabled to reduce cooling/power costs. This is a waste of money. Same goes for bluetooth, accelerometers and anything else that is not directly contributing to the cluster. The cost of the screen etc. could have purchased more processors instead.
- temperature management would be incredibly inefficient. How would you cool a rack of 1000 phones/tablets? Server chassis are designed with this in mind. Phones/tablets are not.
It's an interesting idea to think about, but nobody is going to produce a cluster powered by iPhone 6s which is capable of competing (financially or computationally) with a cluster powered by servers designed for this purpose.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#5Sorry, I don't get it. Why use mobile phones when you can just use servers that don't have redundant features such as screens, cameras and sensors?
Are you suggesting that the economy of scale has reached a point where the smartphone would be more cost-effective even with those features?
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#6> How would these compare to an Amazon micro compute unit Poorly. Do you mean a Beowulf cluster of mobile phones? It seems like it would be woefully inefficient to say the least. - each node in the cluster has an expensive screen attached to it, which would presumably be permanently disabled to reduce cooling/power costs. This is a waste of money. Same goes for bluetooth, accelerometers and anything else that is not…
Someone did put together a Beowulf cluster of Raspberry Pi units [1].
[1]http://www.zdnet.com/article/build-your-own-supercomputer-ou...
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#7> How would these compare to an Amazon micro compute unit Poorly. Do you mean a Beowulf cluster of mobile phones? It seems like it would be woefully inefficient to say the least. - each node in the cluster has an expensive screen attached to it, which would presumably be permanently disabled to reduce cooling/power costs. This is a waste of money. Same goes for bluetooth, accelerometers and anything else that is not…
I thought this would be pointed out. Yes, one could knock out the battery, screen and sensors. Maybe even android - and just leave the bare linux in there. You would probably reach a raspberry pi as the sibling comment has pointed out.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#8Sorry, I don't get it. Why use mobile phones when you can just use servers that don't have redundant features such as screens, cameras and sensors? Are you suggesting that the economy of scale has reached a point where the smartphone would be more cost-effective even with those features?
I was thinking of how the Intel cpu brought the computer into the normal household. What could bring Amazon into the household of a normal person today? What if someone decided to create a server mobile unit - no screen, no cameras, no sensors. Just a unit that can be plugged into a specially designed rack in your house/apartment.
This is a futuristic idea - think of the 80s and the 8086 has just come out, but one day you're going to challenge the mainframes. How do we make a household capable of being an Amazon
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#9Sorry, I don't get it. Why use mobile phones when you can just use servers that don't have redundant features such as screens, cameras and sensors? Are you suggesting that the economy of scale has reached a point where the smartphone would be more cost-effective even with those features?
I was thinking of how the Intel cpu brought the computer into the normal household. What could bring Amazon into the household of a normal person today? What if someone decided to create a server mobile unit - no screen, no cameras, no sensors. Just a unit that can be plugged into a specially designed rack in your house/apartment. This is a futuristic idea - think of the 80s and the 8086 has just come out, but one da…
I don't mean to shit on your idea, and I do find it interesting. :-) I'm curious how a household might benefit from having its own server farm. I guess decentralization could be one benefit. Can you think of others?
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone doing a mobile phones server farm in the style of Amazon?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was thinking of how the Intel cpu brought the computer into the normal household. What could bring Amazon into the household of a normal person today? What if someone decided to create a server mobile unit - no screen, no cameras, no sensors. Just a unit that can be plugged into a specially designed rack in your house/apartment. This is a futuristic idea - think of the 80s and the 8086 has just come out, but one da…
I don't mean to shit on your idea, and I do find it interesting. :-) I'm curious how a household might benefit from having its own server farm. I guess decentralization could be one benefit. Can you think of others?
I could answer you with reasons. But in the 1980s, one would also ask - why should we enable a household to own a mainframe. But look at what we do with computers today. You could have a really smart kernel hacker/programmer running his own amazon like business. Not based out of the US and not susceptible to NSA snooping - (but his own country's intelligence agency could snoop - that's another matter altogether)