Lifeboat Foundation

Entanglement, once called “spooky action at a distance” by Einstein, is the phenomenon in which the quantum states of separated particles cannot be described independently. This puzzling phenomenon is widely exploited in the quantum physicist’s toolbox, and is a key resource for applications in secure quantum communication over long distances and quantum cryptography protocols. Unfortunately, entangled particles are easily disturbed by their surroundings, and their entanglement is readily diminished by the slightest interaction with the environment.

In a recent study published in the journal Physical Review X, an international team of physicists from Austria, Scotland, Canada, Finland and Germany have demonstrated how quantum entanglement can be strengthened to overcome particle loss or very high levels of noise, which are inevitable in real-life applications outside the laboratory. This strengthening is accomplished by departing from commonly used two-level quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits are bi-dimensional systems, the quantum analogue to the classical bit, with values zero or one. In this study, the researchers instead employed entanglement of systems with more than two levels. By entangling particles of light through their spatial and temporal properties, scientists have now observed the survival of quantum entanglement under harsh environmental conditions for the first time.

When it comes to distributing particles of light outside of a protected laboratory, the environmental conditions are identical to the tested ones. Therefore, the experiment is not only a proof-of-principle implementation, but is ready for long-distance quantum communication under real-world conditions. This new method could hence prove helpful for distributing entanglement in a future quantum internet.

From lab grown meat to object-manipulating robots, the tech that will transform our future is bound to be much bigger than the internet or smart phone.

SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon and more have plans to launch tens of thousands of internet satellites in the next decade.

The City of New Orleans has suffered a cybersecurity attack serious enough for Mayor LaToya Cantrell to declare a state of emergency.

The attack started at 5 a.m. CST on Friday, December 13, according to the City of New Orleans’ emergency preparedness campaign, NOLA Ready, managed by the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. NOLA Ready tweeted that “suspicious activity was detected on the City’s network,” and as investigations progressed, “activity indicating a cybersecurity incident was detected around 11 am.” As a precautionary measure, the NOLA tweet confirmed, the City’s IT department gave the order for all employees to power down computers and disconnect from Wi-Fi. All City servers were also powered down, and employees told to unplug any of their devices.

The power shift continues.

Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the world has developed complex supply chains, from designers to manufacturers, from distributors to importers, wholesalers and retailers, it’s what allowed billions of products to be made, shipped, bought and enjoyed in all corners of the world. In recent times the power of the Internet, especially the mobile phone, has unleashed a movement that’s rapidly destroying these layers and moving power to new places.

Continue reading “The Battle Is For The Customer Interface” »

While these “moonshots” are still some years away, there are viable applications of 5G in the near term. South Korea launched the world’s first commercial 5G network in April and has seen data transfer rates rise from 50 megabits per second to over 700 Mbps. This enables the delivery of augmented reality, virtual reality and AI-enhanced real-time sports content.

With the arrival of next-generation mobile networks, new services like remote surgery will be suddenly feasible. More immediately, expect a boom in video traffic and augmented reality content.

Continue reading “Asia’s roll-out of 5G will bring benefits across the new economy” »

BOSTON, MA — Xfinity Comcast cable television and Internet customers were without service Wednesday morning, thanks to the company’s sixth major outage in the past five days. A spokesperson for Comcast was not immediately available for comment. In addition to the outage in Massachusetts, there were reports of service interruptions in other parts of the country.

Businesses and residential customers on the North Shore were particularly hard hit by the outage. In Salem, the recreational marijuana retailer Insa said it would be closed until further notice because of the outage. At least 15 North Shore communities are affected by the outage.

The blockchain technology that appeared in 2008 with the introduction of Bitcoin is developing approximately five times as quickly as the Internet did. It even went through its boom and bust periods more rapidly than the dotcom mania did.

Today, the ICO hype is over, and, just like with the dotcom bubble, we have seen many companies fail. Many hope to see revolutionary Google-like and Amazon-like blockchain-based solutions appear from the surviving startups. Some of the venture capitalists who have influenced the Internet boom, such as Marc Andreessen from Andreessen Horowitz and Timothy Draper from Draper Associates, share this hope for the blockchain industry.

Enterprise software is estimated to be a $457 billion market in 2019, and blockchain solutions will eat part of it. Given the blockchain market fatigue that we are noticing, where do we stand with the significant “technological revolution” that the true blockchain enthusiasts have promised?

SpaceX has said it is taking measures to tackle some of the concerns raised by astronomers about its Starlink constellation, as it gears up to launch more than a thousand satellites in the next 12 months.

The company’s Starlink mega constellation, which will add up to 42,000 satellites to orbit (only 2,000 active satellites in total orbit Earth today) to beam high-speed internet around the globe, has been taking shape in 2019. The company launched its first 60 satellites in May, followed by a second launch in November.

A third launch is planned in late December, and a fourth in January – with 24 in total planned by the end of 2020. The company hopes to launch 60 Starlink satellites roughly once every two weeks, adding more than 1,500 satellites to orbit by the end of next year alone.