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Category: computing – Page 870

Is Quantum the Future of High-Performance Analytics?

If you think quantum computing sounds like something out of science fiction, you’re not alone. It’s still more theory than practice, but it might be able to answer questions that are unsolvable by current computers. Earlier this year, IBM made a small quantum computer available via the cloud.

Quantum Mechanics and the Weirdness of Particles

To understand quantum computers, you must first know a little bit about quantum mechanics. In the briefest possible description, quantum mechanics is the branch of physics that models how particles behave at the smallest scales.

China successfully develops semiconductor quantum chip

China has made a breakthrough in the research of quantum computing. The quantum laboratory of the University of Science and Technology of China recently announced its success in developing a semiconductor quantum chip.

According to a CNTV report on Aug. 11, the quantum chip is equivalent to the “brain” of future quantum computers; it enables quantum operations and information processing. Besides computing, technologies for quantum storage and control are also essential to the future of this technology. The “sandwich-type” solid-state quantum memory can be operational at a low temperature with magnetic auxiliary equipment.

Zhou Zongquan, a researcher at the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said that the direction of future development is to prolong the life of quantum memory.

Turning Quantum Theories Into Quantum Technologies

ACQUIRE researchers will confront major challenges in a four-year quest to engineer a quantum communication system on a chip. The chip will need to operate at room temperature with low energy in a fiber optic network with entangled photons.

Currently, such a communication system may be demonstrated in laboratories, but only at cryogenic (very low) temperatures, and with bulky, energy-intensive equipment. However, a fundamental understanding of quantum physics and optical materials, as well as recent progress in nanoscale photonic integration, have brought communication systems scaled to the quantum level within reach.

If successful, the ACQUIRE teams’ results will begin to realize the hardware needed for secure and efficient quantum communication. The findings from the ACQUIRE projects will also advance quantum sensing and computing.

Researchers ‘reprogram’ network of brain cells in mice with thin beam of light

Neurons that fire together really do wire together, says a new study in Science, suggesting that the three-pound computer in our heads may be more malleable than we think.

In the latest issue of Science, neuroscientists at Columbia University demonstrate that a set of neurons trained to fire in unison could be reactivated as much as a day later if just one neuron in the network was stimulated. Though further research is needed, their findings suggest that groups of activated neurons may form the basic building blocks of learning and memory, as originally hypothesized by psychologist Donald Hebb in the 1940s.

“I always thought the brain was mostly hard-wired,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Rafael Yuste, a neuroscience professor at Columbia University. “But then I saw the results and said ‘Holy moly, this whole thing is plastic.’ We’re dealing with a plastic computer that’s constantly learning and changing.”

Toward practical quantum computers

Built-in optics could enable chips that use trapped ions as quantum bits…

Researchers from MIT and MIT Lincoln Laboratory report an important step toward practical quantum computers, with a paper describing a prototype chip that can trap ions in an electric field and, with built-in optics, direct laser light toward each of them.

3 Innovative Ways we Could Soon Store The World’s Data

While existing methods like cold, flash and cloud storage are trying to remake themselves in the age of Big Data, there are also a number of alternative methods being developed that suggest looking outside of traditional methods could be our best bet for storing and managing such unprecedented amounts of data.

Here are three methods to look out for:

We are about to witness a data storage breakthrough in which digital information could be embedded into the primary fabric of our being: the double helix of DNA. As a storage system, DNA is both compact and durable, with a single gram of DNA able to store almost a zettabyte of digital data. Now that scientists can successfully create synthetic DNA, it follows that we will be able to control what information gets stored on those strands.

Quantum computing and cryptocurrencies: Are Steemit and bitcoin safe?

Article repeats a lot of the knowns on QC such as bit v. Qubit; and finally provides some good info on pros and cons of Bitcoin and Lamport signatures technique with QC. However, the author didn’t seem to mention any of the work that D-Wave for example is doing with Block chaining. Also, I saw no mention of the work by Oxford on the logic gate which improve both the information processing performance and the security of information transmissions.

In a classical computer bits are used that can either be 0 or 1. In a quantum computer these bits are replaced with Qubits (quantum bits). These Qubits can be 0 or 1, or both at the same time. This is caused by a phenomenon in the quantum realm called superposition. At scales the size of an atom and small molecules, the spin of particles is not determined until it is observed. A pair of Qubits can be in any quantum superposition of 4 states, and three Qubits in any superposition of 8 states. In general, a quantum computer with n Qubits can be in a superposition of up to 2^n different states simultaneously (this compares to a normal computer that can only be in one of these 2^n states at any one time). Because of this, a quantum computer is able to perform computations at the same time, while classical computers perform computations one at a time.

This effectively means that the computing power grows exponentially for each Qubit you add to the system. A quantum computer will be able to make really difficult calculations all the classical computers in the world together would not be able to do before the end of times, in a relatively short amount of time. This opens to world of computing to be able to perform amazingly complex calculations, such as weather or large scale quantum mechanics, with extremely high precision. Unfortunatly, it will also be great at cracking certain types of cryptography.

Seagate’s new 60TB SSD dwarfs the others on the market

Seagate has just announced a whopping 60 TB solid-state-drive, the largest SSD yet with that sort of capacity. Unfortunately, the SSD is only meant for businesses, released as an addition to Seagate’s data center portfolio. With four times the capacity of the next leading SSD, this massive hard drive could hold up to 12,000 DVD movies or even a whopping 400 million photos. Just sit back and think about how ridiculous an amount of data that really is.

The drive was created with quick accessibility in mind, and its flexibile artchitecture means it’ll be simple for data centers to grow from 60TB to accommodate 100TB or more of data in the future, all using the same form factor.

The 60TB SAS SSD is only available right now for demonstration, though it will officially make its debut some time in 2017. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know exactly what the drive itself will look like, though given the fact that it’s just a SSD, I can’t imagine it’ll look especially wild.

China’s tech giants spread their wings abroad but keep share safe at home

Gone are the days for US Tech on quick and easy money — China is making the US Tech face the realities of being relevant or being replaced. My suggestion for folks like Apple, Microsoft, FB take a chapter from Alphabet’s playbook and focus on those technologies that truly revolutionize the technology landscape, multiple industries, etc. Stop throwing money at gadgets and easy replicated apps and services. Let China own it because eventually they will. Focus on things like biocomputing, QC, space, etc. Because anything copied multiple times and quickly means it is easily replaced by the next cheaper and better gadget.

The recent Uber acquisition drama in China has given a new twist to the country’s technology sector.

Domestic tech companies are straining at the leash to go global while also defending their home markets from foreign competitors.

Even before the Didi/Uber battle unfolded, China’s tech firms were making waves. The global industry has been anxiously watching to see if the Chinese behemoths play a big part in the mergers and acquisitions game as they look to gulp down foreign companies. Home-grown giants such as Alibaba, and Tencent with its WeChat platform, have expanded across several countries although they still have a long road to travel before making worldwide impact.