James Melin, a government employed software programmer from Minnesota, has the honour of being the first person to put the Seti@Home programme to good use.

The software helped the developer retrieve a laptop that was stolen on 1 January.

23 Feb 2007

The software automatically starts up and connects to the server whenever it has an internet connection. So Melin monitored the Seti@Home log files to pin down the IP address for his machine. He forwarded the data to the police which subpoenaed the internet provider to give them the subscriber's address.

A few days later, Melin had his laptop back. The contents of the hard drive was intact, except for the addition of a dozen rap songs. But it did contain his wife's novels and screenplays.

Which just goes to show that having a geek husband goes a long way. "I always knew that a geek would make a great husband," she told the Associated Press. "He always backed up all my data, but this topped it all. It became like `Mission: Impossible' for him, looking for hard evidence for the cops to use. ... He's a genius -- my hero."

The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Life (SETI) however still has to yield any direct results.

Millions of public funds finally get put to good use