While movement sensors have been present in many laptops around the world for some time in order to protect a machine which has been dropped, scientists have found a new use for the data. Known as accelerometers they can detect a sudden movement in a laptop, i.e. when it may have been dropped, and instantly pull the hard drive heads clear of the area where data is stored, preventing data corruption.
Researchers at the famous Stanford University are working on a system which will network laptops together and send warnings of sudden movements to the main server. While one movement alert may just mean the laptop has been dropped, a number of simultaneous alerts could be a forewarning to an earthquake.
While this may all seem a little far fetched at the moment, news that a network of just 3 laptops was able to successful detect the recent Los Angeles earthquake has made many people sit up and take notice. Anyone who lives in areas which are susceptible to earthquakes will be well aware that every second counts. The fact that the ‘Quakecatcher Network' can pickup movements at an earlier stage than humans could literally mean the difference between life and death for some. |
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