Latest news with #IEEEPervasiveComputing
Mint
30-06-2025
- Science
- Mint
You can turn your broken phone into a working computer centre for cheap; scientists show how
That old iPhone sitting in your junk drawer could actually be working right now. Turns out, it could even help scientists track dolphins or make your city's buses run on time. You probably upgrade your phone every couple of years. Most of us do the same thing, which means there are billions of phones just sitting around. Meanwhile, we're building data centers that consume massive amounts of energy to handle our digital needs. Some researchers in Estonia looked at this situation and had a realisation: what if we could turn those old phones into tiny workhorses that actually help run our digital world? The process is simple. They take an old smartphone, remove the battery for safety, plug it into external power, pop it into a 3D-printed case, and you've got yourself a mini data center for about eight dollars. Link several of these together, and you have a network that can process data just like those energy-hungry server farms. It's already working. They've got clusters of old phones sitting underwater, automatically spotting and tracking marine life - no human divers needed. The same setup could work at your local bus stop, counting passengers and helping the city optimise schedules. This approach tackles two problems at once. We're drowning in electronic waste (over a billion new phones made every year), and we need more computing power that doesn't wreck the planet. The best thing you can do is use your current phone as long as possible. But when it's truly time to move on, this kind of innovation gives that device a second life doing something useful, instead of leaking chemicals in a landfill. Think about the scale here. Every year, we toss out phones that have more computing power than the computers that sent humans to the moon. These devices contain rare earth metals that companies spend fortunes mining and processing. When we throw them away, we're literally throwing away resources while simultaneously destroying the environment to mine new ones for the next generation of devices. Traditional data centres are expensive beasts. They cost millions to build, require constant cooling, and consume enough electricity to power small cities. By comparison, a network of repurposed smartphones uses a fraction of that energy and costs almost nothing to set up. The researchers are just getting started, but they're already talking about powering smart cities and conservation projects with networks of recycled phones. Schools could use them for research projects. Farmers could monitor crops. Environmental groups could track pollution levels in real time. Your old smartphone might not just be clutter - it could be part of our sustainable digital future. The technology that once connected you to the world could keep working long after you've moved on, helping solve problems we haven't even thought of yet. The research was conducted by the University of Tartu's Institute of Computer Science and has been published in IEEE Pervasive Computing.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How your old phone could become a ‘tiny data centre' helping researchers to track marine life
Old phones could have a new chapter as tiny data centres, a new line of research has found. Each year, more than 1.2 billion smartphones are produced globally. Despite the expense to consumers and the environmental toll of producing them, our devices have an increasingly short lifespan as people tend to replace them every two to three years. But rather than gathering dust in a drawer - or adding to the world's mountain of electronic waste - discarded smartphones could be reconfigured for a range of useful green applications. 'Innovation often begins not with something new, but with a new way of thinking about the old, re-imagining its role in shaping the future,' says Huber Flores, Associate Professor of Pervasive Computing at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He is one of several European researchers behind the new study published in the IEEE Pervasive Computing journal. Related 'We don't want to be a niche brand': Seaweed is taking plastic out of stadiums and sandwich boxes This Indian city is using smartwatches to track the impact of increasingly deadly extreme heat Turning outdated smartphones into micro data centres is surprisingly cheap, if you know how. The researchers found that it only costs around €8 to bypass a phone's hardware features and reprogramme it. Firstly, the researchers removed the phones' batteries and replaced them with external power sources to reduce the risk of chemical leakage into the environment, a ScienceDaily report explains. Then, four phones were connected together, fitted with 3D-printed casings and holders, and turned into a working prototype ready to be reused. Related From Scotland to Sweden: How smart cities are helping residents save energy Deep discoveries, landmark lawsuits and rising renewables : Positive environmental stories from 2025 The prototype created by researchers was put to use underwater, where it participated in the monitoring of marine life by helping to count different sea species. Normally, these kinds of tasks require a scuba diver to record video and bring it to the surface for analysis. The prototype meant the whole process could be done automatically underwater. And there are many other ways that a phone's capacity to efficiently process and store data can be put to good use after its WhatsApping days are done. These mini data centres could also be used at bus stops, for example, to collect real-time data on the number of passengers. This could help to optimise public transportation networks. Such smartphone repurposing is just a drop in the ocean of issues that natural resource mining, energy-intensive production and e-waste present. Ultimately, we need to challenge this throwaway culture and move to a more circular model. But the research shows one small way to satisfy demand for computing power with what we've already got. 'Sustainability is not just about preserving the future,' says Ulrich Norbisrath, Associate Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Tartu. 'It's about reimagining the present, where yesterday's devices become tomorrow's opportunities.'
Euronews
16-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Old smartphones turned into ‘tiny data centres' to track marine life
Old phones could have a new chapter as tiny data centres, a new line of research has found. Each year, more than 1.2 billion smartphones are produced globally. Despite the expense to consumers and the environmental toll of producing them, our devices have an increasingly short lifespan as people tend to replace them every two to three years. But rather than gathering dust in a drawer - or adding to the world's mountain of electronic waste - discarded smartphones could be reconfigured for a range of useful green applications. 'Innovation often begins not with something new, but with a new way of thinking about the old, re-imagining its role in shaping the future,' says Huber Flores, Associate Professor of Pervasive Computing at the University of Tartu in Estonia. He is one of several European researchers behind the new study published in the IEEE Pervasive Computing journal. Turning outdated smartphones into micro data centres is surprisingly cheap, if you know how. The researchers found that it only costs around €8 to bypass a phone's hardware features and reprogramme it. Firstly, the researchers removed the phones' batteries and replaced them with external power sources to reduce the risk of chemical leakage into the environment, a ScienceDaily report explains. Then, four phones were connected together, fitted with 3D-printed casings and holders, and turned into a working prototype ready to be reused. The prototype created by researchers was put to use underwater, where it participated in the monitoring of marine life by helping to count different sea species. Normally, these kinds of tasks require a scuba diver to record video and bring it to the surface for analysis. The prototype meant the whole process could be done automatically underwater. And there are many other ways that a phone's capacity to efficiently process and store data can be put to good use after its WhatsApping days are done. These mini data centres could also be used at bus stops, for example, to collect real-time data on the number of passengers. This could help to optimise public transportation networks. Such smartphone repurposing is just a drop in the ocean of issues that natural resource mining, energy-intensive production and e-waste present. Ultimately, we need to challenge this throwaway culture and move to a more circular model. But the research shows one small way to satisfy demand for computing power with what we've already got. 'Sustainability is not just about preserving the future,' says Ulrich Norbisrath, Associate Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Tartu. 'It's about reimagining the present, where yesterday's devices become tomorrow's opportunities.'
