IBM has announced that it has successfully created its most powerful quantum processor to date. The 17-qubit prototype will serve as the foundation for the first early-access commercial systems offered as part of the IBM Q program.
The new processor represents a significant increase in qubit count, but that’s not the only improvement that has been made. IBM states that the prototype leverages advances in terms of materials and architecture, resulting in a system that’s twice as powerful as the one that’s currently available for public usee via IBM Cloud.
IBM is also making some upgrades to that public system, which has run more than 300,000 experiments for students, scientists, and enthusiasts since the IBM Q initiative got underway in March 2017. The previous 5-qubit processor has been replaced with a 16-qubit processor, which should allow for much more complex problems to be studied using the hardware.
“The significant engineering improvements announced today will allow IBM to scale future processors to include 50 or more qubits, and demonstrate computational capabilities beyond today’s classical computing systems,” said Arvind Krishna, the senior vice president and director of IBM Research and Hybrid Cloud.
Quantum computing has progressed in leaps and bound over recent years, and now the race is on to find practical applications for the most promising examples of the technology. Quantum systems are capable of working with data sets that are much too large or complex for classical computers to handle.
After years of theoretical research, companies like IBM are looking to monetize the technology by offering it to businesses as a solution for their data analysis needs — and since IBM is already talking about a commercial implementation, it seems that the project is well on its way toward that goal.
Of course, quantum computing isn’t the only solution to this kind of problem. Earlier this week, HPE unveiled its latest prototype of The Machine, which provides similar capabilities in terms of working with large data sets, without invoking the intricacies of superposition and quantum entanglement.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.