No, they are specifically built for mining bitcoin.
Miners of this type can be pointed to other cryptocurrencies that use the same proof-of-work function.
You would expect anyone else in the world to avoid compatible proof-of-work functions for exactly that reason.
what kind of faster miners are you referring to? ASIC is the best available technology
The chip technology is an older process using 110nm technology. There are already several companies working on 40nm technology which will be more power efficient and be significantly faster per chip.
110nm is old news. Butterfly labs do 65 nm and KnC does 28 nm. I guess 110 was a test run really, or they lacked access to plants that could do smaller chips.
The avalon chips the author is describing in the article are 110nm I believe.
password hash cracking, perhaps? If they're using the same SHA hash.
They will keep making money, just slower.
Will the amount of money they make pay for the power they consume?
No, but somebody who has free power may be willing to buy your obsolete used ASICs cheap.
therein lies the rub.
ASICs are very power efficient.
Plus the system is self-correcting. Mining becomes unprofitable, people quit, complexity drops enough, mining becomes profitable.