Lifeboat Foundation

You’ve just booted up a game on a state-of-the-art quantum computer. You’re running 19 superconducting quantum bits on a processor held at near absolute zero. Anticipating its sheer power, you press start and…

Since cognitive computing can process massive amounts of data that no human could ever digest and imitate the human brain like no computer system ever has, the technology has amazing potential to amplify our abilities — not replace us — and help us make better, data-driven decisions.

As marketers, we always want to get better. Refining our process and strategy to solve our customers’ problems is our mission. But to understand which tactics actually work and which ones don’t, we usually need to analyze huge sets of complex data.

Data analysis can seem like a tall task, especially if you’re more of a creative marketer. But today, cognitive computing can crunch the numbers for you, helping you make better decisions faster, and hone important aspects of your brand, like brand voice, reporting, and customer support.

At the latest TechCrunch Disrupt conference IBM provided a visionary speech on the future of compute using quantum computing. IBM Research COO Dario Gil gave a very cogent description of quantum computing and how it will change the computing landscape in the near future.

Quantum computing is a very complex and esoteric technology to try to explain to an audience of entrepreneurs and developers looking to raise money for the next Snapchat. Interestingly enough, there was a quantum computing start up at Disrupt, Rigetti Computing, pitching a quantum computing cloud service. IBM introduced its quantum computing cloud service in May 2016.

In the new era of generative design in architecture, engineering, and construction, designers and builders will use computers not just to describe buildings, but cocreate them.

Before GPS, if you got lost while driving your car, you had to swallow your pride and stop to ask for directions. With the help of the innate intelligence of Google Maps or Waze, you can let a machine compute the best route so you can concentrate on what’s really important—driving.

In the case of architects, engineers, and contractors, their computers will help navigate the design and construction process, so they can focus on making successful projects and great buildings as a result.

Dr. Willem-Jan Renger, head of the Innovation Studio at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, is driving citizen engagement in smart city planning using methods generally seen in computer game creation, as part of an international consortium of cities, IRIS.

Why do we need to engage citizens in urban planning?

The most important thing to know [when planning a city] is what do citizens want… What do they need? If we start talking to people, they bring key concerns that they have on their level to the table. One such concern in Utrecht was there’s some street racing going on and some nasty incidents. When we were dealing with issues that the citizens had put forward, traffic safety was something we considered combining with smart street lighting solutions by creating some clever combinations to help pedestrians to cross the street, for example, or give cars feedback on the basis of their driving.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A warmer world makes for nastier hurricanes. Scientists say they are wetter, possess more energy and intensify faster.

Their storm surges are more destructive because climate change has already made the seas rise. And lately, the storms seem to be stalling more often and thus dumping more rain.

Study after study shows that climate change in general makes hurricanes worse. But determining the role of global warming in a specific storm such as Hurricane Florence or Typhoon Mangkhut is not so simple — at least not without detailed statistical and computer analyses.

Scientists have developed a topological photonic chip to process quantum information, promising a more robust option for scalable quantum computers.

The research team, led by RMIT University’s Dr. Alberto Peruzzo, has for the first time demonstrated that quantum information can be encoded, processed and transferred at a distance with topological circuits on the chip. The research is published in Science Advances.

The breakthrough could lead to the development of new materials, new generation computers and deeper understandings of fundamental science.

Quantum particles can be difficult to characterize, and almost impossible to control if they strongly interact with each other—until now.

An international team of researchers led by Princeton physicist Zahid Hasan has discovered a quantum state of matter that can be “tuned” at will—and it’s 10 times more tuneable than existing theories can explain. This level of manipulability opens enormous possibilities for next-generation nanotechnologies and quantum computing.

“We found a new control knob for the quantum topological world,” said Hasan, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics. “We expect this is tip of the iceberg. There will be a new subfield of materials or physics grown out of this. … This would be a fantastic playground for nanoscale engineering.”

You can now control and communicate drone swarms using your mind!

DARPA’s new research in brain-computer interfaces is allowing a pilot to control multiple simulated aircraft at once.