Kevin143 - Slashdot User

Submission + - First Commercial Quantum Computer Demonstrated

Submitted by

emw2012

on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @02:57AM

emw2012 writes: "As of February 13, D-Wave Systems Inc. of Burnaby, British Columbia has shown a proof of concept of its 16-qubit quantum system, dubbed "Orion". The system was showcased, audaciously enough, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, where D-Wave displayed Orion's power in a drug molecule matching test, followed by such worthy enterprises as solving a party seating arrangement seeking to pair like-minded guests, and deducing a Sudoku puzzle to completion. While time will tell whether Orion is remembered as merely a curious misadventure or the harbinger of revolution in the processing industry, D-Wave has assured us of the later, promising systems able to model molecular dynamics, complex NP-complete optimization problems, and simulate nanoscale behavior in fractions of second, compared to years (or simply not at all) on BlueGene/L and its digital kin.

dwavesys.com, Press Release"

Submission + - Enso Humanizes Windows

Submitted by

illuminatedwax

on Thursday January 25, 2007 @08:47AM

illuminatedwax writes: "The Wall Street Journal's Walter S. Mossberg's latest column is a writeup on a new software system called Enso. Enso is from a small software startup called Humanized, led by Aza Raskin. The software allows Windows users to do common tasks, like launching programs, spellchecking, or Googling for search terms, but what's interesting is that it allows you to do these tasks from within any program in Windows by use of the keyboard. From the article:
There are two initial Enso products, which can be downloaded at humanized.com. One, called Enso Launcher, allows you to launch programs and switch among windows via typed commands. The other, called Enso Words, allows you to do spell-checking, even when the program you're using doesn't include that capability, and to look up the meaning of words. Both products also include a simple calculator and the ability to launch Google searches.
Humanized says that users will be able to program their own commands for Enso in future versions."

Submission + - Engineering Challenges of the next century

Submitted by on Thursday January 11, 2007 @03:51PM

An anonymous reader writes: The National Academy of Engineering has gathered a committee of the super-geeks to discuss the Engineering Challenges facing the world. Some of the committee members are known names in IT or are otherwise known for their engineering/technology leadership. MSNBC picked it up earlier.

Submission + - Cisco responds to criticism over Apple Lawsuit

Submitted by tobkin on Thursday January 11, 2007 @04:35AM

tobkin writes: Looks like Cisco's SVP and General Counsel has responded to the criticism over their lawsuit against Apple: http://blogs.cisco.com/news/2007/01/update_on_cisc os_iphone_tradem.html

Submission + - Hotel WiFi Tracks You as You Surf

Submitted by

saccade.com

on Thursday January 11, 2007 @03:50AM

saccade.com writes: "During my last hotel stay, I thought it was a pretty strange that it took two browser re-directs before the hotel's Wi-Fi would show me the web page I browsed to. Picasa developer Michael Herf noticed the same the thing and dug a little deeper. He discovered: "...their page does some tracking of each new page you visit in your browser, outside what a normal proxy (which would have access to all your cookies and other information it shouldn't have, anyway) would do. This "adlog" hit appears to also track a "hotel ID" and some other data that identifies you more directly. Notably, I've observed these guys tracking HTTPS URLs, and of course you can't track those through a proxy.". Herf notes the WiFi service provider, SuperClick, advertises that it "allows hoteliers and conference center managers to leverage the investment they have made in their IP infrastructure to create advertising revenue, deliver targeted marketing and brand messages to guests and users on their network...""

Slashdot Top Deals