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Friday, January 13, 2012

Tech / Science The Future Is Slapping You in the Face

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 4:20 PM

1. Holy shit: Transparent "smart windows" are coming soon, and the gadget-lover in me wants one so bad I can feel it in my pores:

2. Meanwhile, the largest-ever quantum computation happened this week:

Vancouver-based quantum computer maker D-Wave Systems is the kind of company that often gets mixed reviews—either kudos for working on the very edge of a new and potentially groundbreaking technology, or dismissal for not exactly delivering the kind of Earth-shattering technology that people were perhaps expecting. Regardless, today D-Wave is marking one in the win column after announcing that it has achieved the world’s largest quantum computation using 84 qubits.

A quick quantum computing primer: qubits, or quantum bits, are the basic units of quantum information, comparable to (but quite different from) a classical bit. The main benefit of qubits is that they can exploit the laws of quantum mechanics to exist in two states simultaneously. In comparison to classical computing, that means a single superconducting qubit can exist as both a “one” and a “zero” at the same time, whereas a classical bit can only be one or the other.

While you're probably hoping the solution to the computation was 42, it was not: The answer was 8.

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Comments (17) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

It's certainly cool and all, but who's gonna stand around playing with their window all day?

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on January 13, 2012 at 4:29 PM

@1 Me? <--- easy answer

Posted by JensR

on January 13, 2012 at 4:41 PM

@1-Did you used to say that about phones?

Posted by nseattlite on January 13, 2012 at 5:13 PM

Great idea, horrible implementation, Apple will come out with something people will actually use first, Android fans will complain that they're not the first to market, Samsung will copy it, Apple fans will complain that it's just a copy, Android fans will talk about how Samsung was first anyway.

Posted by Progress in the 21st Century on January 13, 2012 at 5:19 PM

@3: Also: the abacus, the printing press, and the horseless carriage.

Posted by Proteus on January 13, 2012 at 5:22 PM

Ah, where's that transparent aluminum that Scotty brought back from the future to 1986?

Posted by Teslick on January 13, 2012 at 5:22 PM

@4 exactly!!

Posted by Janell8me on January 13, 2012 at 5:31 PM

What's the R value on those suckers?

Posted by Fnarf

on January 13, 2012 at 5:49 PM

Also, most people don't want windows that have to be upgraded every few years. Imagine if the windows in your house all ran Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

Posted by Fnarf

on January 13, 2012 at 5:50 PM

8 WHAT?

Also, yeah, that brings up some new issues with "windows" crashing.

And imagine when little Emma puts a wiffle-ball through the glass. Expensive!

Posted by STJA on January 13, 2012 at 6:58 PM

Oooh! Pictures under glass! Wowzie kazowie! Somebody put pictures under glass!

It's like Back to the Future! As in the part of Back to the Future where they were in the 19 fucking 50s....

Why pictures under glass is lame. Read.

Minority Report my arse.

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on January 13, 2012 at 8:53 PM

@1,

See you're just not forward thinking enough. We need these smart windows installed in the environments we're already enmeshed in. For example, I'm looking to get one to replace my car's windshield as soon as they're readily available.

Posted by mikethehammer on January 13, 2012 at 9:37 PM

You could have an app that automatically draws funny hats, mustaches and lewd appendages on people as they walk by.

I am just pushing the envelope here.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on January 13, 2012 at 11:21 PM

Great you can look at porn from your kitchen window while your neighbors have no clue.

Posted by apres_moi on January 14, 2012 at 2:33 AM

@11 that was a beautiful blog post... But its something that basicly any industry designer knows (Hell, even I know it and I'm what industry designers would call "our intended victim").

What should have been squeezed into it is "yes neither you, me or the lads at Apple/Samsung/China have any idea how to create a 3D full interface" because thats what he's getting at.

... oh and "our hands are amazing" (which I think we can all agree on)

Posted by JensR

on January 14, 2012 at 2:50 AM

Oh goodie, a window constantly filled with smudgy fingerprints. Designed by someone who never cleans their house.

Posted by Sparky on January 14, 2012 at 7:12 AM

@11 - A transitional technology it may well be, but one I'm happy to look forward to until the vision for a fully 3D interface is on the table. Fact is, I have no idea what that would look like and neither does that blogger, yet but pictures under glass is a great and _practical_ next step.

@16 - haha. That's what the maid brigade is for!

Posted by veo_ on January 15, 2012 at 12:24 AM