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
How a string of giant atoms might bring quantum computers to physics labs
Today, it's Rydberg atoms and how to make a quantum computer from them. It's a bit far-fetched, but given the detail of the calculations, it's probably something that will turn up in a couple of years. And when it turns up, it will not be like previous quantum computers, which started testing with one or two qubits. A Rydberg computer should start out at 10-12 qubits. Rydberg atoms again? I recently reported on a story about how atoms could be trapped within a Rydberg atom. In that article, I described what a Rydberg atom is. Let me repeat myself here: A Rydberg atom is an ordinary atom with one electron that has an awful lot of energy. Negatively charged electrons are held by an atom because they are attracted to the positively charged nucleus. The trapped electrons are all stacked in order of energy (I'm ignoring all the other properties that make the stack more interesting). This stack is basically the same for all atoms: there are an infinite number of possible energies, all of … [Read more...] about How a string of giant atoms might bring quantum computers to physics labs
Google ups quantum computing war
The race for quantum computing is gaining momentum and now Google is joining the fray with the announcement that it is developing a 72-qubit processor. The company's new processor stands out because it shows how close we are to quantum supremacy or the point where a quantum computer would be able to outperform its classic counterparts without being subject to the performance costs of correcting errors. Google previously revealed a nine-qubit design back in 2014 and its new 72-qubit design called Bristlecone will try to “preserve the underlying physics” of the original processor though it will scale up “the same scheme used for coupling, control and readout.” Though the new processor may be close to achieving quantum supremacy, it has been designed more as a testbed to research error rates and scalability but it still might be the first platform that is able to outperform a classical computer. Research scientist at Google's Quantum AI Lab, … [Read more...] about Google ups quantum computing war
Ready for “quantum supremacy”? Google’s Bristlecone quantum computing chip could outdo ordinary machines
Google has a quantum computer chip, called Bristlecone, and the company thinks it'll outdo the classical computers using today's silicon processor designs.Quantum computers, which stand to revolutionize at least part of the computing industry if anybody can ever figure out how to get them working, are benefiting from heavy investments at Google, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, D-Wave and others. Google detailed some of its plans Monday in a blog post about Bristlecone.For one thing, Google research scientist Julian Kelly said, the Bristlecone quantum computing chip has 72 qubits, the weird memory cells that endow quantum computers with their ability to store an immensely wide range of combinations of ones and zeros. For another, it should be able to outdo Google's earlier 9-qubit device when it comes to the essential technology of quantum error correction, which is key to keeping hypersensitive qubits from getting perturbed."We are cautiously optimistic that quantum supremacy can be achieved … [Read more...] about Ready for “quantum supremacy”? Google’s Bristlecone quantum computing chip could outdo ordinary machines