“Future quantum computers will, for example, be able to pull important information out of the biggest databases almost instantaneously,” Cookson reports. “As the amount of electronic data stored worldwide grows exponentially, the technology will make it easier for people to search with precision for what they want.”
Cookson reports, “Jeremy O’Brien, director of the UK’s Centre for Quantum Photonics, who led the project, said many people in the field had believed a functional quantum computer would not be a reality for at least 25 years. ‘However, we can say with real confidence that, using our new technique, a quantum computer could, within five years, be performing calculations that are outside the capabilities of conventional computers,’ he told the British Science Festival, as he presented the research.”
“The breakthrough, published today in the journal Science, means data can be processed according to the counterintuitive rules of quantum physics that allow individual subatomic particles to be in several places at the same time,” Cookson reports. “This property will enable quantum computers to process information in quantities and at speeds far beyond conventional supercomputers. But formidable technical barriers must be overcome before quantum computing becomes practical.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Open the pod bay doors, HAL. HAL? Uh, oh… SkyNet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14am Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug… We had such potential. Such promise. But we squandered our gifts. And so, 9, I am creating you…
I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t let anyone else post first on this topic.
Well, that would be great. Will I have an internet connection faster than 500kbps? Not likely. So I can get more meh at the same speed as today. I can’t wait!
So are you telling me I learned mergesort for nothing?
You can’t put anything past HAL.
Daisy, daisy…
“But formidable technical barriers must be overcome before quantum computing becomes practical.”
Translation: “How do we keep it from becoming another Skynet?”
OWC has photonic ram for sale. Now that’s fast!
I’m just taking a stab here but doesn’t electricity already travel at the speed of light? Or maybe that’s not really the issue…? Inquiring minds wanna know!
Nah, there’s lots of resistance in them wires. Slows things down.
Electrical propagation rate in metals travels slower than c. About 2/3 c. Still wicked fast. Once the propagations hits semiconductors, it slows further.
Photons would be better.
Unless it gives rise to “total photonic reversal.”
Ghostbusters.
Quantum computers can solve a problem by doing many calculations simultaneously, where as digital computers can only really perform one calculation at a time.
Quantum computers take advantage of a particle’s (nearly incomprehensible) ability to be in an infinite number of places at the same time. When quantum particles are used as the bits of a computer, it can lead to multi-tasking on an immense scale.
Digital computers are limited by only being able to do one thing at a time. Each smallest unit of data can only be 0 or 1 at any given time.
If you want to learn some of the basic ideas behind quantum physics, check out Dr Quantum’s Double Slit Experiment video on YouTube
@1984, I believe that was “protonic reversal” in GHOSTBUSTERS. But that’s no anti-matter…
Your iPad app crashes on start up almost daily.
Think about the power savings when using LEDs over conventional light bulbs. (Tungsten is not as good a conductor as copper wiring, but both waste energy as heat.)
That being said, quantum tunneling works both ways. As computer chips get smaller, I have to believe that there is a greater chance for bits of information not going where you want it to.
Computer users will be virtually beside themselves.
Even with that processor, Microsoft will still be able to slow down the computer with bloatware
Photonic computing has been “five years away” for at least 25 years and counting.
-jcr
Great. Now we can surf and post to FaceBook faster.
Will it be snappy?
Well somebody had to ask!
@The Mac Daddy Oh?
Yes, electricity does, but light is easier to decipher and much less prone to errors. It’s why fiber-optic cables are better than copper cables. Light is much harder to misinterpret than electric signals.
This just might be the advance needed to get Flash to work well.
@Metryq: I stand corrected.
@cubert: Nah, it would just crash immediately instead of taking a minute or two.
-jcr
Buggy. Very buggy. Can’t even see the articles usually listed in left column when iPad is in horizontal view.
I don’t care HOW fast the processor is, a database search will still be limited by throughput. Doubling the speed of the CPU does not cut the speed in half, unless the original CPU was a serious dog. Faster, sure, just not THAT much so.
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Adobe, though, will enjoy the prospect of Flash working in “real time”.
JimSydAus is totally correct – MSFT will STILL slow the system down.
Rabbit, no … mergesort helped pay your bills for decades. It’s over, now.
kayan, not precisely true. Yes, a digital computer can really only do one thing at a time. BUT! Each CORE can do one thing at a time. And each PIPE in each core can prep one thing at a time. This cuts the number of linear machine cycles down from many to few, speeding the entire process significantly – at the same GHz rating! The new technology does not change this, only speeds it still further.
This sounds similar to the Light Peak optical cabling technology Intel and Apple have worked on…