First Commercial Quantum Computer (?)
The world’s first commercially viable quantum computer was unveiled and demonstrated today in Silicon Valley by D-Wave Systems, Inc., a privately-held Canadian firm headquartered near Vancouver.
This is the first paragraph of today’s press release issued by D-Wave Systems. Visit their website for more information on quantum computing in general (in a very accessible language), although commercial “how do I buy it” information is not there explicitly, they hint they’ll be selling capacity online. Let’s see if a) it’s for real, and b) even if it is, what will be the immediate and future impact. They don’t claim that quantum computers will replace conventional computers, explaining (plus here and here) which kinds of problems are better tackled by this technology.
Sometimes, evolution happens in small steps, but if this is true it might signal a true leap in what computers can do. Lets wait and see.
A few links with both sides of the story, and more information:
Cutting the BS
Charlie Stross sums up in this post almost exactly what I think about the environment, our responsability for the status quo, and what our way out is.
Computational Heating
This might be the wrong time of the year to be thinking about this (at least in the northern hemisphere), but this old idea of mine (don’t know if it has been proposed before) has come to mind by the pretty hot (in all senses) MacBook Pro sitting on my lap. If modern computational devices produce so much (waste and wasted) heat, and considering that in some parts of the world electric heating is used extensively, why not combine the two?
Instead of having regular electric heaters to warm up your house and your water, with the decrease in cost of processing capacity, you could have devices that doubled as heaters and processing nodes – processing capacity that you could use for yourself, sell, or donate to projects such as SETI@Home. These devices would be plugged to the mains for power, and have some kind of wireless connectivity. For now, computational heating surely is more expensive (in terms of hardware, not energy) than purely resistive heating, but who knows what the future brings? In a few years time you might be able to go down to the hardware store, and buy a heater (either a space heater or a water heater) with capacity measured both in watts and teraflops! 
The quiet path to the Singularity
Although most people refuse to believe the concept of the technological Singularity, I can’t help but wonder if some apparently unrelated research is not leading the way to our future of uploaded post-humans.
A (even) more colorful Einstein
With the passing of 20 years since the death of Margot Einstein, Einstein’s stepdaughter, a treasure trove of correspondence has been unsealed. It covers the period from 1912 to 1955, and it colors a bit (more) the life of the great scientist and thinker, showing that deep down – no matter who we are – we all have our flaws, and redeeming qualities that cover those faults. Via Boing Boing, via 3quarksdaily.
