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Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

pluraprocessing.com

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Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#31

Post by LogicHoleFlaw »

jmatt wrote: post #29
westside1506 wrote: post #2

Hey guys, we just launched our private beta for Plura. I submitted our game page as the HN link, but www.pluraprocessing.com has more general information. Take a look and tell me what you think. We've been paying our alpha affiliates for months now and are ready to take on a much larger pool of affiliates in our beta. "Affiliates" are the people that put Plura on their site, browser game, or other content (even downl…

It seems like there is potential for a much bigger market than games. Streaming video and audio... fantasy sport applets, etc. Is plura just starting with games since they provide what I suspect are ideal conditions (already using CPU and running long enough to for Plura to actually do some work).

There is a big search in the gaming industry for new sources of revenue. Development costs are skyrocketing but income is not. Retail and subscription are the big two, with online advertisements growing in popularity. If harnessing players' compute time enables a gaming service provider to offer a better product at a lower price, this could be a win for the gamer, the game company, and the ultimate computing consumer.

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#32

Post by wmf »

danielh wrote: post #18
cliffy wrote: post #8

Are there ample warnings to, or explicit agreement with the user that his/her CPU time is going to be used by non-game functions? This seems suspiciously like theft of services. When I run any process I expect it to restrict all its actions to servicing direct functions related to that process. Plura is expressly unrelated to ANY process/game it is bundled with. I would personally be annoyed/angry that a program I wa…

I can see your point, but wouldn't be any ad-driven website/game be considered theft of service? A ton of flash ads might have a bigger impact on your system performance (and on your wallet, if your ISP charges by traffic)

At least ads are visible. A zero-pixel Java applet seems like it's over the line IMO.

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#33

Post by westside1506 »

jmatt wrote: post #29
westside1506 wrote: post #2

Hey guys, we just launched our private beta for Plura. I submitted our game page as the HN link, but www.pluraprocessing.com has more general information. Take a look and tell me what you think. We've been paying our alpha affiliates for months now and are ready to take on a much larger pool of affiliates in our beta. "Affiliates" are the people that put Plura on their site, browser game, or other content (even downl…

It seems like there is potential for a much bigger market than games. Streaming video and audio... fantasy sport applets, etc. Is plura just starting with games since they provide what I suspect are ideal conditions (already using CPU and running long enough to for Plura to actually do some work).

Yes, we are definitely interested in other sites too. Our main page is pretty generic, but we decided to do a special pitch to game developers for exactly the reasons you state.

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#34

Post by westside1506 »

johnrob wrote: post #28

Is it possible to use a "purchased" CPU to make internet (http) requests?

Yes and no. We have created a signed applet capability in the Plura infrastructure, but we have not pushed this out yet. In the future, if an affiliate chooses, he can request work units for a signed applet that would allow them to make http requests. We will probably pay more to affiliates that do this and will certainly require user opt-in. Our normal applet is unsigned and cannot make http requests due to the java sandbox.

We have one company (80legs.com) that is developing a web crawling solution using Plura. We are using a different model to acquire the nodes for this.

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#35

Post by ced »

Monthly payment = $2.60 times # avg. simultaneous users times CPU %

It sounds dishonest to summarize this as 2.60$ per user per month. It is 2.60$ per user, if that particurlar user plays non-stop for 30 days straight, assuming 100% CPU

In other words, you get 1 cent per 3 hours of play time. To get 100$ per month, you need 10000 users, playing one hour every week or so. (hopefully, my math and interpretation is correct)

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#37

Post by westside1506 »

ced wrote: post #35

Monthly payment = $2.60 times # avg. simultaneous users times CPU % It sounds dishonest to summarize this as 2.60$ per user per month. It is 2.60$ per user, if that particurlar user plays non-stop for 30 days straight, assuming 100% CPU In other words, you get 1 cent per 3 hours of play time. To get 100$ per month, you need 10000 users, playing one hour every week or so. (hopefully, my math and interpretation is corr…

We put it in terms of average simultaneous users because that's the way a lot of affiliates think. They say, we have an average of N people playing the game at any given time.

For websites and other affiliate types, we say we pay $15/MWU (million work units) where a work unit is 15 seconds on an average node (the system-wide Plura average node performance).

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#38

Post by westside1506 »

dpapathanasiou wrote: post #36

I'm curious about where the money is coming from, i.e., what kinds of computational problems are you solving for your clients, and what kinds of clients have hired you?

Here's an example: http://pluraprocessing.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/example-appl...

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#39

Post by westside1506 »

shaunxcode wrote: post #23

This is an awesome idea. I have actually been working on a game that I have been looking for a platform/revenue model for - this is perfect!

Great! Fill out the form on the website and we'll get you signed up in the private beta.

Re: Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

#40

Post by westside1506 »

rrhyne wrote: post #22

Would this work in a JS+HTML AIR app? The Plura for websites iframe code seems like it would work if you got the AIR sandbox requirements right. Also, what is the average CPU percentage your developers run on their clients systems?

No, we tried to do this, but we can't run Plura in Adobe AIR. AIR uses Webkit for its browser, but Adobe has removed support for browser plugins, including Java.
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