Back in September 2014, Ars Technica’s Andrew Cunningham took on a Herculean challenge in modern computing. Egged on by his coworkers, he used a PowerBook G4 running OS 9.2.2 as his “daily driver” for a couple of days, placing a turn of the century bit of hardware into the present tense. It's no surprise that almost nothing was achieved that week (except for, of course, the excellent article). I had that story on my mind when, many years later while browsing a local online classifieds site, I stumbled across a gem: a Macintosh IIsi. Even better, the old computer was for sale along with the elusive but much desired Portrait Display, a must-have for the desktop publishing industry of its time. I bought it the very next day. It took me several days just to get the machine to boot at all, but I kept thinking back to that article. Could I do any better? With much less? Am I that arrogant? Am I a masochist? Cuppertino retro-curiosity ultimately won out: I decided to enroll … [Read more...] about Classic computing joyride—Cruising through modern workloads on a Macintosh IIsi
Classical computer
Minesweeper Genius modernizes a classic computer game
You remember that old puzzle game you probably played to pass the time at work or school, right? No, not Solitaire! We're talking about Minesweeper. The goal in classic Minesweeper is to clear the board without detonating the mines that lurk underneath the tiles. In order to do this, players received clues when they clicked on squares, which took on the form of numbers. The numbers indicated how many mines were adjacent to that square. Minesweeper's objective was always simple, but much easier said than done, especially in the larger boards. Minesweeper Genius takes this classic and challenges you even further. Minesweeper Genius is almost like a combination of Minesweeper and Sudoku. You'll have to help Aristotle sweep the minefield to escape the aliens trying to conduct experiments on him. Each grid has a fixed number of rows and columns. At the start of each row or column is a number that indicates how many mines are in hidden away in that line. Using your puzzle-solving skills, … [Read more...] about Minesweeper Genius modernizes a classic computer game
IBM’s new program includes a 50-qubit quantum computer
A new quantum computing program called Q at IBM promises more than 50 qubits, which should push conventional computers one step closer to the trash heap. IBM Q will deliver paid quantum computing consulting and services to users. It's much like IBM's Watson, which uses conventional computers, but Q uses quantum computers. The 50-qubit quantum computer will be 10 times larger than a 5-qubit system already housed by IBM. And the new system will be able to do things that conventional computers can't do: It will accelerate drug discovery and make scientific discoveries, IBM said. Quantum computers are radically different than conventional PCs and could ultimately replace today's PCs and servers. They offer a way to advance computing as today's classic computer reach their limit, and as making smaller chips becomes challenging. IBM is building faster quantum computers to show such systems aren't theoretical dreams. IBM's ultimate goal is to build a universal quantum computer with … [Read more...] about IBM’s new program includes a 50-qubit quantum computer
Why we should be afraid of quantum computing
Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have been warning about the harm runaway artificial intelligence could do to humanity in the future. But another technology may pose a more imminent threat: quantum computing. Quantum computers are straight out of science fiction. Take the “traveling salesman problem,” where a salesperson has to visit a specific set of cities, each only once, and return to the first city by the most efficient route possible. As the number of cities increases, the problem becomes exponentially complex. It would take a laptop computer 1,000 years to compute the most efficient route between 22 cities, for example. A quantum computer could do this within minutes, possibly seconds. Unlike classic computers, in which information is represented in 0s and 1s, quantum computers rely on particles called quantum bits, or qubits. These can hold a value of 0 or 1 or both values at the same time — a superposition denoted as “0+1.” They solve … [Read more...] about Why we should be afraid of quantum computing
The Ongoing Battle Between Quantum and Classical Computers
A popular misconception is that the potential—and the limits—of quantum computing must come from hardware. In the digital age, we’ve gotten used to marking advances in clock speed and memory. Likewise, the 50-qubit quantum machines now coming online from the likes of Intel and IBM have inspired predictions that we are nearing “quantum supremacy”—a nebulous frontier where quantum computers begin to do things beyond the ability of classical machines. Quanta Magazine About Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences. But quantum supremacy is not a single, sweeping victory to be sought—a broad Rubicon to be crossed—but rather a drawn-out series of small duels. It will be established problem by problem, … [Read more...] about The Ongoing Battle Between Quantum and Classical Computers