2025 will see huge advances in quantum computing. So what is a quantum chip and how does it work?

Motion Loop/Shutterstock Muhammad Usman, CSIROIn recent years, the field of quantum computing has been experiencing fast growth, with technological advances and large-scale investments regularly making the news. The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. The stakes are high – having quantum computers would mean access to tremendous data processing power compared to what we have today. They won’t replace your normal computer, but having this kind of awesome computing power will provide advances in medicine, chemistry, materials science and other fields. So it’s no surprise that quantum computing is rapidly becoming a global race, and private industry and governments around the world are rushing to build the world’s first full-scale quantum computer. To achieve this, first we need to have stable and scalable quantum processors, or chips. What is a quantum chip? Everyday computers – like your laptop – are classical computers. They store and process information in the form of binary numbers or bits. A single bit can represent either 0 or 1. By contrast, the basic unit of a quantum chip is a qubit. A quantum chip is made up of many qubits. These are typically subatomic particles such as electrons or photons, controlled and manipulated by specially designed electric and...

Read More........→March 11, 2025

DRDO’s young scientists complete testing of 6-qubit quantum processor

New Delhi, (IANS): Scientists from DRDO's Young Scientists Laboratory for Quantum Technologies (DYSL-QT) have completed end-to-end testing of a 6-qubit quantum processor, the Ministry of Defence said.“The project executed at TIFR Mumbai’s Colaba campus is a three-way collaboration between DYSL-QT, TIFR and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The DYSL-QT scientists put together the control and measurement apparatus using a combination of commercial off-the-shelf electronics and custom-programmed development boards,” the ministry said.It added that these qubits were designed and fabricated at TIFR and the quantum processor architecture is based on a novel ring-resonator design invented at TIFR. The cloud-based interface to the quantum hardware is developed by TCS.“The scientists are now working on optimising various aspects of the system performance before it becomes ready for operation,” the ministry said.The ministry added that plans are underway to provide wider access to this system for education, and research and eventually as a test bed for testing superconducting quantum devices for analysis.“The next development target is to scale up the number of qubits and assess the scaling trends to technology challenges, development effort/time and monetary resources required for development, operations and commercialisation of various sizes...

Read More........→September 16, 2024

Musk plans largest-ever supercomputer for xAI startup: report

CALIFORNIA - Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has told investors he plans to build a supercomputer dubbed "gigafactory of compute" to support the development of his artificial intelligence startup xAI, an industry news outlet reported on Saturday.Musk wants the supercomputer -- which will string together 100,000 Nvidia chips -- operational by fall 2025, and "will hold himself personally responsible for delivering it on time," The Information said.The planned supercomputer would be "at least four times the size of the biggest GPU clusters that exist today," such as those used by Meta to train its AI models, Musk was quoted as saying during a presentation to investors this month.Since OpenAi's generative AI tool ChatGPT exploded on the scene in 2022, the technology has been an area of fierce competition between tech giants Microsoft and Google, as well as Meta and start-ups like Anthropic and Stability AI.Musk is one of the world's few investors with deep enough pockets to compete with OpenAI, Google or Meta on AI.xAI is developing a chatbot named Grok, which can access social media platform X, the former Twitter which is also owned by Musk, in real time.Musk cofounded OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018, later saying he was uncomfortable with the profit-driven direction the company was taking under the stewardship of CEO Sam Altman.He...

Read More........→July 03, 2024

UK’s fastest supercomputer switched on

The computer is officially the most sustainable supercomputer in the UKThe UK’s fastest and most powerful supercomputer, known as Isambard-AI, has been switched on at the University of Bristol this week.The Isambard-AI supercomputer was first announced by the government last March alongside a £225 million investment. The facility has been built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and contains over 5,000 NVIDIA superchips, allowing it to complete 200 quadrillion calculations per second.Officially named the AI Research Resource (AIRR), the facility is ten times more powerful than the previous leading supercomputer in the UK. Researchers will use the facility to support critical work on the development of AI technology, working closely alongside the UK’s AI Safety Institute.The facility includes thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) and will be used to train the large language models. as Additional focus areas include climate research and accelerating automated drug discovery.“The Isambard-AI cluster will be one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, and will help industry experts and researchers harness the game-changing potential of AI, including through the mission-critical work of our Frontier AI Taskforce,” said Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan in a press release.“This will equip the UK with...

Read More........→May 23, 2024

IBM developing world's smallest computer

Credit: IBM Research Most people are familiar with Moore's Law, but few have heard of Bell's Law – a related phenomenon coined by U.S. engineer Gordon Bell. This describes how a new class of computing devices tends to emerge about every decade or so, each 100 times smaller than the last. The shrinking volume of machines becomes obvious when you look back at the history of technology. The 1960s, for example, were characterised by large mainframes that often filled entire rooms. The 1970s saw the adoption of "minicomputers" that were cheaper and smaller. Personal computing emerged in the early 1980s and laptops became popular in the 1990s. This was followed by mobile phones from the 2000s onwards, which themselves became ever thinner and more compact with each passing year, along with tablets and e-readers. More recently there has been rapid growth in wireless sensor networks that is giving birth to the Internet of Things (IoT). The new computer announced by IBM is just 1mm x 1mm across, making it the smallest machine of its kind to ever be developed. It will feature as many as a million transistors, a solar cell and communications module. The company predicts these devices will be in widespread use within five years, embedded in all manner of everyday objects. So-called "cryptographic anchors" and blockchain technology...

Read More........→April 10, 2018

Computer program learns to replicate human handwriting

Researchers at University College London have devised a software algorithm able to scan and replicate almost anyone's handwriting In a world increasingly dominated by the QWERTY keyboard, computer scientists at University College London (UCL) have developed software which may spark the comeback of the handwritten word, by analysing the handwriting of any individual and accurately replicating it. The scientists have created "My Text in Your Handwriting" – a programme which semi-automatically examines a sample of a person's handwriting that can be as little as one paragraph, and generates new text saying whatever the user wishes, as if the author had handwritten it themselves. "Our software has lots of valuable applications," says lead author, Dr Tom Haines. "Stroke victims, for example, may be able to formulate letters without the concern of illegibility, or someone sending flowers as a gift could include a handwritten note without even going into the florist. It could also be used in comic books where a piece of handwritten text can be translated into different languages without losing the author's original style." Published in ACM Transactions on Graphics, the machine learning algorithm is built around glyphs – a specific instance of a character. Authors produce different glyphs to represent the same element of writing – the...

Read More........→August 24, 2016

A New Reality Materializing: Humans Can Be the New Supercomputer

Illustration: Colourbox Today, people of all backgrounds can contribute to solving serious scientific problems by playing computer games. A Danish research group has extended the limits of quantum physics calculations and simultaneously blurred the boundaries between man and mac. The Danish research team, CODER, has found out, that the human brain can beat the calculating powers of a computer, when it comes to solving quantum-problems. The saying of philosopher René Descartes of what makes humans unique is beginning to sound hollow. 'I think -- therefore soon I am obsolete' seems more appropriate. When a computer routinely beats us at chess and we can barely navigate without the help of a GPS, have we outlived our place in the world? Not quite. Welcome to the front line of research in cognitive skills, quantum computers and gaming. Today there is an on-going battle between man and machine. While genuine machine consciousness is still years into the future, we are beginning to see computers make choices that previously demanded a human's input. Recently, the world held its breath as Google's algorithm AlphaGo beat a professional player in the game Go--an achievement demonstrating the explosive speed of development in machine capabilities. A screenshot of one of the many games that are available. In this case the task is to...

Read More........→April 14, 2016

Fastest ever brain-computer interface for spelling

Researchers in China have achieved high-speed spelling with a noninvasive brain-computer interface. Brain–computer interfaces (BCI) are a relatively new and emerging technology allowing direct communication between the brain and an external device. They are used for assisting, augmenting, or repairing cognitive or sensory-motor functions. Research on BCIs began in the 1970s and the first neuroprosthetic devices implanted in humans appeared in the mid-1990s. The past 20 years have seen major progress in BCIs. However, they are still limited by low communication rates, caused by interference from spontaneous electroencephalography (EEG) signals. Now, a team of researchers from Tsinghua University in China, State Key Laboratory Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors (IOS), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a greatly improved system. Their EEG-based BCI speller can achieve information transfer rates (ITRs) of 60 characters (∼12 words) per minute, by far the highest ever reported in BCI spellers for either noninvasive or invasive methods. In some of the tests, they reached up to 5.32 bits per second. For comparison, most other systems in recent years have been at 1 or 2 ITRs. According to the researchers, they achieved this via an extremely high consistency of frequency and phase between...

Read More........→November 25, 2015

Research helping build computers from DNA

Scientists have found a way to "switch" the structure of DNA using copper salts and EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) -- an agent commonly found in shampoo and other household products. IMAGE: Credit: University of East Anglia New research from the University of East Anglia could one day help build computers from DNA. Scientists have found a way to 'switch' the structure of DNA using copper salts and EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) - an agent commonly found in shampoo and other household products. It was previously known that the structure of a piece of DNA could be changed using acid, which causes it to fold up into what is known as an 'i-motif'. But new research published on Tuesday 18 August in the journal Chemical Communications reveals that the structure can be switched a second time into a hair-pin structure using positively-charged copper (copper cations). This change can also be reversed using EDTA. The applications for this discovery include nanotechnology - where DNA is used to make tiny machines, and in DNA-based computing - where computers are built from DNA rather than silicon. It could also be used for detecting the presence of copper cations, which are highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms, in water. Lead researcher Dr Zoë Waller, from UEA's school of Pharmacy, said: "Our research shows...

Read More........→September 06, 2015

Windows 10 may be selling well, how Microsoft are still not satisfied?

Strong demand for Windows 10 surface (also to be the ultimate test of the market) is more the result of its error correction again in the traditional PC market and the value of compromise, rather than a manifestation of the true value, while the market and users for its functionin the mobile space indifference, but also seems to presage Windows 10 in the mobile market than previous Windows 8 will not have too much outstanding performance. Microsoft has been hailed as the mobile market to reverse the decline and transition heavyweight upcoming Windows 10 operating system market. So Windwos 10 can receive favorable for the market, the relationship with Microsoft's future prospects in the mobile market, and "Mobile led the cloud-first" strategy proposed CEO can be implemented. Recently, the results of a recent survey of IT professionals for research institutions Spiceworks released, Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system abnormalities strong potential demand. That plan to install Windows 10 system users in two years the ratio reached 73%, of which about 40% of users plan to install Windows 10 systems within a year. From that perspective, the demand for Windows 10 system is indeed strong, at least compared with its predecessor Windows 8 system is this. It stands to reason such a high market and customer needs, for Microsoft, should...

Read More........→July 13, 2015

Nearly half of US jobs could be at risk of computerisation within 20 years

A study by the Oxford Martin School shows that nearly half of US jobs could be at risk of computerisation within 20 years. Transport, logistics and office roles are most likely to come under threat. The new study, a collaboration between Dr Carl Benedikt Frey (Oxford Martin School) and Dr Michael A. Osborne (Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford), found that jobs in transportation, logistics, as well as office and administrative support, are at "high risk" of automation. More surprisingly, occupations within the service industry are also highly susceptible, despite recent job growth in this sector. "We identified several key bottlenecks currently preventing occupations being automated," says Dr. Osborne. "As big data helps to overcome these obstacles, a great number of jobs will be put at risk." The study examined over 700 detailed occupation types, noting the types of tasks workers perform and the skills required. By weighting these factors, as well as the engineering obstacles currently preventing computerisation, the researchers assessed the degree to which these occupations may be automated in the coming decades. "Our findings imply that as technology races ahead, low-skilled workers will move to tasks that are not susceptible to computerisation – i.e., tasks that require creative and social intelligence,"...

Read More........→March 13, 2014

Mind Reading Computer Could Communicate With Coma Patients

Western researchers have used neuroimaging to read human thought via brain activity when they are conveying specific ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. Their findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience in a study titled, The Brain's Silent Messenger: Using Selective Attention to Decode Human Thought for Brain-Based Communication. According to lead researcher Lorina Naci, the interpretation of human thought from brain activity – without depending on speech or action – is one of the most provoking and challenging frontiers of modern neuroscience. Specifically, patients who are fully conscious and awake, yet, due to brain damage, are unable to show any behavioral responsivity, expose the limits of the neuromuscular system and the necessity for alternate forms of communication. Participants were asked to concentrate on a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to questions like “Are you married?” or “Do you have brothers and sisters?” and only think their response, not speak it. “This novel method allowed healthy individuals to answers questions asked in the scanner, simply by paying attention to the word they wanted to convey. By looking at their brain activity we were able to correctly decode the correct answers for each individual,” said Naci, a postdoctoral fellow at Western's Brain and Mind Institute. “The majority of volunteers conveyed their...

Read More........→June 03, 2013

Projectors to double brightness with polarisation breakthrough

Liquid crystal (LC) based projectors could become almost twice as energy efficient and much cheaper as researchers from North Carolina State University in the USA and ImagineOptix Corporation reveal a revolutionary polarising technology. The breakthrough means projectors that rely on batteries will be able to run for almost twice as long and all LC projectors can be made twice as bright. All LC projectors utilise polarised light. However, researchers say that efficient light sources, such as LEDs, produce unpolarised light. As a result, the light generated by LEDs has to be converted into polarised light before it can be used. According to NC State researchers, the most common method of polarising light involves passing the unpolarised light through a polarizing filter. They claim that this process wastes more than 50% of the originally generated light, with the bulk of the "lost" light being turned into heat. This is a major reason that projectors get hot and have noisy cooling fans. The new technology, demonstrated in a small pico projector and developed at NC State, allows approximately 90 percent of the unpolarised light to be polarised and, therefore, used by the projector "This technology, which we call a polarisation grating-polarisation conversion system (PGPCS), will significantly improve the energy efficiency...

Read More........→May 14, 2013

Tech startup 3Gear doubles up on cameras for mm-sensitive gesture control

3Gear, a technology start up in San Francisco, has developed a SDK (software development kit), which uses two 3D cameras taking top down images to accurately track the movements of a user’s hand allowing for much more precise gesture control applications. The current demo system uses a pair of Kinect cameras mounted above a work station on a metal structure, but it is anticipated in future that they could be integrated into a computer display or mounted on it. The SDK is being released in the hope that third party developers will extend the capabilities of the company’s hand tracking algorithm’s which are an essential part of accurate gesture control.3Gear's system uses two depth cameras (the same type used with Kinect) that capture 30 frames per second. The position of a user's hands and fingers are matched to a database of 30,000 potential hand and finger configurations. The process of identifying and matching to the database—a well-known approach in the gesture-recognition field—occurs within 33 milliseconds, co-founder Robert Wang says, so it feels like the computer can see and respond to even a millimeter finger movement almost instantly. Source: InAVat...

Read More........→March 31, 2013

When a PC Knows Its Owner

Perceptual computing describes a computer's ability to understand voice, hand and facial gestures. Anil Nanduri, director of perceptual computing solutions and products at Intel, describes how computers can  get to know and respond to voice and gestures. Image: Screen Shot On Video...

Read More........→February 16, 2013

"LlibreOffice" Free And Delight-Full Alternative To MS-office

. Its a very better off free package for home and business user, furnishing all kinds of strong suits as compare to contemporary demand or its even better whatever you want from an office package almost you can avail or more just give half an hour to understand its casual functionality and get ready as LibreOffice is spontaneous and easy to use, and Numerous masses who work with it all day have never faced at a manual – including moving Microsoft Office users, who normally discover all the characteristics they demand are in logical, easy-to-guess places. Plus, when you do need to check something, the built-in help is a valuable aid that answers most of your inquiries. But, for numerous masses, aught renews a good user escort that Teaches you step-by-step how to do what you condition to do. Accomplished LibreOffice user guides are available at following links LibreOffice: "Documentation" as well this page on the wiki. to confirm the composition of the package as per your requirements if you want to obtain this free opportunity, you need to click on following Link: Download or visit another link for your choice of downloads http://www.libreoffice.org/download/, Image: flickr.com ...

Read More........→January 22, 2013

By 2018 computers 'will have 5 senses

Some day soon, you'll be able to order a wedding dress on your tablet and feel the fabric and the veil just by touching the screen. When you feel an object, your brain registers the series of vibrations on your skin as being smooth, rough, sharp, etc. Computer sensors are becoming sophisticated enough to do that too.Within the next five years, vibrators within smartphones will be precise enough that they could be designed to mimic the vibrations experienced when your fingers touch a particular surface. Even though you'll  just be touching glass, it will feel like you're touching whatever object is displayed on the screen. Source: The Coming Crisi...

Read More........→December 18, 2012

US Titan Supercomputer Clocked as World's Fastest

TENNESSEE, USA – The top two spots on the list of the world's most powerful supercomputers have both been captured by the US. The last time the country was in a similar position was three years ago. The fastest machine - Titan, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee - is an upgrade of Jaguar, the system which held the top spot in 2009. The supercomputer will be used to help develop more energy-efficient engines for vehicles, model climate change and research biofuels. It can also be rented to third-parties, and is operated as part of the US Department of Energy's network of research labs. The Top 500 list of supercomputers was published by Hans Muer, professor of computer science at Mannheim, who has been keeping track of developments since 1986. It was released at the SC12 supercomputing conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.Mixed processors Titan leapfrogged the previous champion IBM's Sequoia - which is used to carry out simulations to help extend the life of nuclear weapons - thanks to its mix of central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) technologies. According to the Linpack benchmark it operates at 17.59 petaflop/sec - the equivalent of 17,590 trillion calculations per second. The benchmark measures real-world performance - but in theory the machine...

Read More........→December 18, 2012

Scientists Want To Figure Out Just How Evil A Computer Can Be

Philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could "threaten our own existence," the institution said Sunday. "In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price said. When that happens, "we're no longer the smartest things around," he said, and will risk being at the mercy of "machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us." Fears that machines could overtake humans have long been the subject of science fiction — the computer HAL in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," for example, is one of film's best-known computer threats. While Price said the exact nature of the risks is difficult to predict, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability. He compared the risk to the way humans have threatened the survival of other animals by spreading...

Read More........→December 02, 2012

Science can be sexy! Megan Fox stars as sultry scientist in new computer advert...and talks to dolphins

Marine lover: Megan Fox stars in a new laptop advert and plays an actress turned sexy marine biologist (Screen Shot On Uploaded Video) By HAYLEY COYLE: Megan Fox apparently has a secret mission in life...to talk to dolphins. The Transformers star plays an actress turned marine biologist who wants to talk to dolphins in a new advert for the Acer Aspire S7 laptop. In the commercial Fox meets her agent in a restaurant but is distracted by Scientist: In the ad Fox's dream come true would be to be able to communicate from dolphins the lobster tank...her 'hidden passion' for marine life is so strong she storms to the tank, reaches in returns the  two lobsters back to the ocean. The 26-year-old is then transported to a lab and transformed into a sexy research scientist while a voiceover says: 'We all have our hidden talents and for Megan Fox an egg and a it's marine life. 'The new Acer Aspire means that she can now follow her dream of talking to dolphins.' The nerdy scientists are all starstruck when she lands on their lab and call her 'brilliant'. Fox, who is married to actor Brian Austin Green, 39, can then be seen showing a dolphin various objects like Baffled: The 26-year-old tries to invent technology to help her speak to dolphins while the other scientist are starstruck...

Read More........→November 04, 2012