Laptops could be key to an earthquake early-warning system

Seismologists envision a ‘Quake Catchers’ network of volunteers using their computers to precisely map tremors.If Elizabeth Cochran allowed herself to dream, the future would look something like this:Every personal computer would double as a seismic monitor. That MacBook at the coffee house, the one used by the guy pounding out a screenplay? Working to detect ground tremors while its user sips a latte. The aging PC gathering dust in the guest room? Ready to catch the next quake.If Cochran, an earth scientist at UC Riverside, has her way, every time the ground beneath us shakes, those machines would capture its movement and feed the information to a central computer system, creating a rich — and inexpensive — portrait of how and where an earthquake is felt.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quakecatchers12-2010mar12,0,440482.story