Researchers have devised a penny-sized silicon chip that uses photons to run Shor's algorithm - a well-known quantum approach - to solve a maths problem.
The algorithm computes the two numbers that multiply together to form a given figure, and has until now required laboratory-sized optical computers.
This kind of factoring is the basis for a wide variety of encryption schemes.
The work, reported in Science, is rudimentary but could easily be scaled up to handle more complex computing.
Shor's algorithm and the factoring of large numbers has been a particular case used to illustrate the power of quantum computing.
Quantum computers exploit the counterintuitive fact that photons or trapped atoms can exist in multiple states or "superpositions" at the same time.
For certain types of calculations, that "quantum indeterminacy" gives quantum computers a significant edge.
While traditional or "classical" computers find factoring large numbers impracticably time-consuming, for example, quantum computers can in principle crack the problem with ease.
That has important implications for encryption methods based on factoring, such as the "RSA" method that is used to make transactions on the internet more secure.
'Important step'
Optical computing has been touted as a potential future for information processing, by using packets of light instead of electrons as the information carrier.
But these packets, called photons, are also endowed with the indeterminate properties that make them quantum objects - so an optical computer can also be a quantum computer.
In fact just this kind of photon-based quantum factoring has been accomplished before, but the ability to put the heart of the machine on a standard chip is promising for future applications of the idea.
"The way people used to make this kind of circuit consumed square metres of laboratory space and took graduate students many months to align," said Jeremy O'Brien, the University of Bristol researcher who led the work.
"Doubling the complexity of the circuit often times turns it from being a difficult task to a practically impossible one, whereas for us to double the complexity it's really straightforward," he told BBC News.
The Bristol team's approach makes use of waveguides - channels etched into the chips that provide a path for the photons around the chips like the minuscule wires in conventional electronics.
While Professor O'Brien said he is confident that such waveguides are the logical choice for future optical quantum computers, he added that there is still a significant amount of work to do before they make it out of the laboratory.
"To get a useful computer it needs to be probably a million times more complex, so a full-scale useful factoring machine is still at least two decades away," he said.
"But this is one important step in that direction."
Link
Monday, September 07, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Anti-Theft Lunch Bags
Tired of having your food stolen by sticky-fingered coworkers or roommates? Bullies taking your kid's lunch? Well, worry no more . . . Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides, making your freshly prepared lunch look spoiled. Don't suffer the injustice of having your sandwich stolen again! Protect your lunch with Anti-Theft Lunch Bags.
Ref
Friday, July 03, 2009
HOW-TO: Installing OSX Leopard, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu on a Macbook
1) You will need a format and repartition of the whole disk, so time machine your previous data.
2) Insert OSX Leopard (also Tiger works) Install DVD. Reboot the macbook pressing the C key (so it will boot from DVD). From the "Utilities Menu" window menu select "Disk Utility". From "Volume Scheme" tab, select 5 partitions and use this schema:
2.0- EFI protected (which is invisible under Disk Utility)
2.1- Name: VISTA Format: MS-DOS File System <--create this partition *even* if you don't plan to install Vista, XP partition *must* be the 4th one to avoid missing hal.dll trouble!
2.2- Name: STORAGE Format: MS-DOS File System
2.3- Name: XP Format: MS-DOS File System
2.4- Name: OSX Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2.5 - Format: Free Space (Linux partitions will be created here later)
Every partition will host its OS. The (optional, but very advidsed) STORAGE partition will be formatted in FAT32 to share files between the four OSes. If you are installing a brand new hard disk, check boot loader type as "GUID Partition Table (GPT)" (remove MBR default or you will not be able to install OS X). Then click the "Partition" button, and all your data on disk will be destroyed.
Now you can close "Disk Utility", and start install OS X to volume "OSX". After reboot into OS X, hou have to install rEFIt boot loader (download it from refit.sourceforge.net) into volume "OSX".
Update: If you have installed "MacBook EFI Firmware Update 1.1" (available via Apple Software Updater) installing rEFIt is no more compulsory if you plan to install linux after on your macbook. This update will fix built-in keyboard issue with "legacy" bootloaders, so you can use grub bootloader included in Ubuntu to boot Vista, Xp and Ubuntu. But I personally installed rEFIt because I really prefer his graphical boot than grub textual one :D
Update: If you want to obtain a triple boot macbook, without installing Vista don't create the VISTA partition on step 2), proceed to step 3a) and ignore 3b). Instead if you want to install Vista, jump directly to step 3b)
3a) You can use directly from OS X terminal the "fdisk" command, that handles an MBR-partitioned disk, to setup the XP partition suitable for installing that windows version. Open a terminal under OS X:
type "sudo fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0"
enter password and ignore the message "fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory"
type "p" to print MBR partition table
type "f " "4" to flag partition 4 active
type "q" to save and quit
3b) Insert Windows Vista install DVD. Reboot the macbook pressing the C key. Install Vista onto partition 2 named "VISTA". You must format it as NTFS at this point. Installation finishes and you have a dual boot Mac.
In Vista, click the "Start" button, click "Control Panel", click "System and Maintenance", click "Administrative Tools", and then double-click "Computer Management". In the Navigation pane, under "Storage", click "Disk Management". Right-click the XP partition, and then click "Mark Partition as Active".
4) Insert Windows XP install CD. You can't install any XP version coming on 2 CDs (like Media Center Edition 2005), only version from a single CD or DVD. So if you want to install MCE 2005 you need the (single) DVD version. Reboot the macbook pressing the C key. Press the enter key when you will read "Press any key to boot from CD". If you boot Vista by mistake, you must mark active XP partition again (because rEFIt will flag Vista as active if you select it).
You will see the VISTA partition marked "D:" and XP partition "C:". Now install XP to "C:". You must format it now (in either NTFS or FAT32) or XP will not boot. At reboot, select the 2nd windows logo "boot from partition 4" to continue install. Installation finishes and you have a (dual)triple boot Mac.
5) Insert Linux Ubuntu install live CD or DVD, (I used Ubuntu Desktop 8.04b AMD64) reboot from it. Launch install from desktop.
- At step 3, choose your keyboard layout as Macintosh.
- At step 4, choose to manually partition the disk:
create a / partition and a swap partition at the end of the disk. (Swap must be larger than memory to be able to "hibernate". And one megabyte here is 1000*1000 bytes, not 1024*1024)
- At step 7, before you go ahead with the install, click "advanced", and tell ubuntu to install GRUB to (hd0,2), the FAT partition. (Yes, this is the right place. Installing GRUB into the MBR will let GRUB manage the windows booting, you will have to go through 2 boot manager to boot windows or linux, which is not what we want. Besides MBR, it seems GRUB can only be installed into among the first 4 partitions to be bootable, and the FAT partition right now doesn't contain a boot code so it's safe to have GRUB live there)
Update: If you don't want to use rEFIt, install GRUB into the MBR. Hold "option" key upon boot to select "Windows", then use Grub menu to boot between Ubuntu, Vista, or Xp.
Proceed with the install. Reboot and you will see 4 OSes from rEFIt menu.
6) Almost done! Now install hardware drivers in each OS, in both Windows installation insert Leopard install disk 1 and install bootcamp drivers to make touchpad, iSight and so on perfectly working under both Xp and Vista.
Link
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Michael Jackson, king of pop and ... inventor?
MJ always had a reputation for putting on a good stage show, but did you know that some of the equipment he used was so creative as to warrant a patent? In the “Smooth Criminal” video, everyone on the stage ends up leaning over at a 45 degree angle at one point, something that is normally not possible. But instead of being held against the stage by the pure power of funk, Jacko actually invented a very special shoe to help pull off the trick.
If you view the patent, you’ll see that the sole of the shoe had a very special notch and plate in it, and unbeknown to the public, there was a steel peg in the stage that allow the dancers to lock the special shoe down to hold their weight. Pretty amazing stuff.
Here’s the video, if you watch at 3:53, you can see the shoes in action. Also, watch the guy on the right, he has problems disengaging from the floor.
Ref.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Security : Laser Bike Protection Lane
The personal bike lane consists of strips of laser-light projected onto the asphalt. This provides a psychological barrier to other road users, hopefully giving the cyclist a little extra breathing space.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
How to make Compost
The term "black gold" doesn't just refer to oil. In fact, among those looking to reduce their consumption of petrol products, the term has an entirely different connotation.
In organic circles, black gold generally refers to compost, a dark, soil-like mixture of decaying organic material that's perfect for giving your garden a nutrient-rich pick me up. Think of compost as a plant's equivalent to a shot of espresso. So what is this black gold, and where do you get it? The good news is that you probably already have it -- you're just throwing it all away.
Link
Open Source PriusPlus Project
The PriusPlus project is an open source project set up to develop a method to convert a '04-'07 Toyota Prius into a Plug-in Hybrid. The project is a combination of hardware and software development to allow qualified individuals or individuals working with a qualified electrician to convert their own car to a PHEV.
Link
Wow !!! iPhone soap. The Perfect Gift
Do you love the iPhone or know someone who does? This is the perfect gift for iPhone lovers!
This iPhone soap is roughly the same size as the actual iPhone. It has the black button at the bottom and the "screen icons" in its "flat screen". The top layer of the soap is dark grayish black and the bottom layer is a slightly lighter shade of gray. I must say that this is one of my coolest creations and each feature is meticulously created. I hope you like the result of the many experiments and hours I spent to perfect it!
It weighs about 3 oz and it is scented with an Amaretto fragrance. (I'm happy to provide a list of available fragrances to customize it as well.) Not only does it look cool, it is also infused with shea butter. It can also be made without fragrances or without shea butter.
You will receive the soap in a clear plastic box with a matching ribbon.
Check out my other high tech gadgets soaps and other cool soaps while you are here! Other high tech gadgets soaps will also be introduced at www.twoeggplants.com. Thanks for coming!
Link
Monday, May 11, 2009
The new Fit-PC2
CompuLab introduces fit-PC2 – the smallest, most power-efficient Intel Atom PC to date. fit-PC2 architecture is what sets it apart from other nettop PCs - fit-PC2 is designed around the Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz and the ultra low power Intel US15W system controller hub, rather than the Atom N270 and 945G used in other nettop-PCs, thereby reducing power consumption by more than two thirds.
US15W incorporates hardware video acceleration. This allows fit-PC2 to run Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux at just 6W and to play full HD 1080p H.264 video using less than 7W.
Link
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Create Fun Art with Myoats
Myoats is a community where people create designs using an online drawing application. These designs can be rated, downloaded, and archived. The Most Liked designs are rewarded by being featured on the home page.
http://www.myoats.com
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Barack Obama Secure Phone, not a BlackBerry
Follow this link to see the possible future portable phone of Barack Obama.
A General Dynamics Sectéra® Edge™ Secure Mobile Environment Portable Electronic Device, that looks like a blackberry. Sectéra® Edge™ Secure
Saturday, January 10, 2009
AppleTV Clone for Free with Boxee
On a laptop or connected to an HDTV, boxee gives you a true entertainment experience to enjoy your movies, TV shows, music and photos, as well as streaming content from websites like Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, and flickr.
Boxee's Link
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