Grid computing has been around for over 12 years now and its advantages are many. Grid computing can be defined in many ways but for these discussions let's simply call it a way to execute compute jobs (e.g. perl scripts, database queries, etc.) across a distributed set of resources instead of one central resource. In the past most computing was done in silos or large SMP like boxes. Even today you'll still see companies perform calculations on large SMP boxes (e.g. E10K's, HP Superdomes).

Google recently released a prototype of their Android platform . For those not familiar with Android it is basically a small operating system that runs on mobile phones. The OS comes with prepackaged software like maps, browser, database, bluetooth, audio, and camera functions.