Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘computing’ category: Page 612

Dec 16, 2018

A new type of quantum computer has smashed every record

Posted by in categories: business, computing, information science, quantum physics

IonQ was founded on a gamble that ‘trapped ion quantum’ computing could outperform the silicon-based quantum computers that Google and others are building. As of right now, it does. IonQ has constructed a quantum computer that can perform calculations on a 79-qubit array, beating the previous king Google’s efforts by 7 qubits.

Their error rates are also the best in the business, with their single-qubit error rate at 99.97% while the nearest competitors are around the 99.5 mark, and a two-qubit error rate of 99.3% when most competitors are beneath 95%. But how does it compare to regular computers?

According to IonQ, in the kinds of workloads that quantum computers are being built for, it’s already overtaking them. The Bernstein-Vazirani Algorithm, a benchmark IonQ is hoping will take off, tests a computer’s ability to determine a single encoded number (called an oracle) when the computer can only ask a single yes/no question.

Continue reading “A new type of quantum computer has smashed every record” »

Dec 15, 2018

Mind-reading machine allows completely paralyzed patients to say if they want to live

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, neuroscience

Some patients were even able to indicate that they were happy.


A brain-computer interface records “yes” and “no” answers in patients who lack any voluntary muscle movement.

Read more

Dec 14, 2018

This Could Be the Best Quantum Computer Yet

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics

A startup based in Maryland has released and tested an impressive new quantum computer that demonstrates the power of an occasionally overlooked quantum computing architecture.

Companies like IBM, Google, and Rigetti are developing new kinds of computer processors that rely on the mathematics of subatomic particles to potentially perform calculations difficult for classical computers to do. These devices use superconductors as the basis for their qubits. A company called IonQ, however, has now announced a state-of-the-art system that relies on the quantum nature of atoms themselves, and it’s one of the best-performing quantum computers yet.

Read more

Dec 14, 2018

Computers could soon run cold, no heat generated

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

Transistors, superconductors, and chip design have all seen efficiency breakthroughs this year. So much so, that we may see the cold-running computer before too long.

Read more

Dec 14, 2018

Silicon Valley’s quest for immortality – and its worrying sacrifices

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, computing, life extension, neuroscience

Whether we will ever find a way to overcome the physiological trade offs that hold back immortality, or whether we will really be able to replicate human consciousness in a computer are questions too difficult for us yet to answer. But are those leading the charge against death at least inspiring us to lead healthy lives, or are they simply rallying against an inevitable fate?


Long read: How nature is fighting our attempts to use biohacking to live forever.

Read more

Dec 13, 2018

What Is Cloud Computing (Computing As A Utility)

Posted by in category: computing

This video is the tenth in a multi-part series discussing computing. In this video, we’ll be discussing what cloud computing is and the fundamental change it brings in how we view and think about computing.

[0:27–2:19] Starting off we’ll discuss, the revolution the cloud computing paradigm, computing as a utility, brings to the field of computing, and similar transformations seen when electricity became a utility.

[2:19–5:24] Following that we’ll discuss, what exactly cloud computing is and the types of cloud computing: Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS), Platform As A Service (PaaS) and Software As A Service (SaaS) further extending to serverless architecture, Functions As A Service (FaaS).

Read more

Dec 13, 2018

New Intel Architectures and Technologies Target Expanded Market Opportunities

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering

At Intel’s recent Architecture Day, Raja Koduri, Intel’s senior vice president of Core and Visual Computing, outlined a strategic shift for the company’s design and engineering model. This shift combines a series of foundational building blocks that leverage a world-class portfolio of technologies and intellectual property (IP) within the company.

Architecture Day Fact Sheet: New Intel Architectures and Technologies Target Expanded Market Opportunities

This approach is designed to allow Intel to drive an accelerated pace of innovation and leadership, and will be anchored across six strategic pillars:

Continue reading “New Intel Architectures and Technologies Target Expanded Market Opportunities” »

Dec 11, 2018

IonQ: We’re perfecting trapped ion quantum computing to solve the world’s hardest problems

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Read more

Dec 11, 2018

IonQ Has the Most Powerful Quantum Computers With 79 Trapped Ion Qubits and 160 Stored Qubits

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

IonQ just made a presentation on two new trapped ion quantum computers with 160 stored and 79 processing qubits. This is more qubits than the best noisy superconducting quantum computers which is currently the Google 72 Qubit Bristlecone processor.

* IonQ systems are at room temperature

* IonQ manipulates ions with magnets and lasers and have software control on mostly FPGA chips.

Continue reading “IonQ Has the Most Powerful Quantum Computers With 79 Trapped Ion Qubits and 160 Stored Qubits” »

Dec 11, 2018

How developments in Quantum Computing could affect cryptocurrencies

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, computing, cryptocurrencies, economics, mathematics, particle physics, quantum physics

by Eloisa Marchesoni

Today, I will talk about the recent creation of really intelligent machines, able to solve difficult problems, to recreate the creativity and versatility of the human mind, machines not only able to excel in a single activity but to abstract general information and find solutions that are unthinkable for us. I will not talk about blockchain, but about another revolution (less economic and more mathematical), which is all about computing: quantum computers.

Quantum computing is not really new, as we have been talking about it for a couple of decades already, but we are just now witnessing the transition from theory to realization of such technology. Quantum computers were first theorized at the beginning of the 1980s, but only in the last few years, thanks to the commitment of companies like Google and IBM, a strong impulse has been pushing the development of these machines. The quantum computer is able to use quantum particles (imagine them to be like electrons or photons) to process information. The particles act as positive or negative (i., the 0 and the 1 that we are used to see in traditional computer science) alternatively or at the same time, thus generating quantum information bits called “qubits”, which can have value either 0 or 1 or a quantum superposition of 0 and 1.

Continue reading “How developments in Quantum Computing could affect cryptocurrencies” »