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      Quantum computing progress: Higher temps, better error correction

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Yesterday - 22:24 · 1 minute

    conceptual graphic of symbols representing quantum states floating above a stylized computer chip.

    Enlarge (credit: vital )

    There's a strong consensus that tackling most useful problems with a quantum computer will require that the computer be capable of error correction. There is absolutely no consensus, however, about what technology will allow us to get there. A large number of companies, including major players like Microsoft, Intel, Amazon, and IBM, have all committed to different technologies to get there, while a collection of startups are exploring an even wider range of potential solutions.

    We probably won't have a clearer picture of what's likely to work for a few years. But there's going to be lots of interesting research and development work between now and then, some of which may ultimately represent key milestones in the development of quantum computing. To give you a sense of that work, we're going to look at three papers that were published within the last couple of weeks, each of which tackles a different aspect of quantum computing technology.

    Hot stuff

    Error correction will require connecting multiple hardware qubits to act as a single unit termed a logical qubit. This spreads a single bit of quantum information across multiple hardware qubits, making it more robust. Additional qubits are used to monitor the behavior of the ones holding the data and perform corrections as needed. Some error correction schemes require over a hundred hardware qubits for each logical qubit, meaning we'd need tens of thousands of hardware qubits before we could do anything practical.

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      The Ars Technica guide to keyboards: Mechanical, membrane, and buckling springs

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Yesterday - 11:00

    The Ars Technica guide to keyboards: Mechanical, membrane, and buckling springs

    Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

    Your keyboard is the thread that connects you to your computer. The way a keyboard feels—from the sensations of each key pressing down and resetting to the build of the board’s chassis—has a direct impact on your typing experience, affecting accuracy, speed, and fatigue.

    We’ve dug into the joys of quality keyboards and the thrills of customization at Ars Technica before. But what really makes one type of keyboard feel better than another? People say membrane keyboards feel mushy, but why ? And what about keyboards with cult-like followings? What makes decades-old IBM keyboards or expensive Topres so special?

    In this guide, we’ll look at how some of the most popular keyboard categories work and how their differences impact typing feel.

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      Unreleased preview of Microsoft’s OS/2 2.0 is a glimpse down a road not taken

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 13 March - 18:30 · 1 minute

    This big, weathered box contains an oddball piece of PC history: one of the last builds of IBM's OS/2 that Microsoft worked on before pivoting all of its attention to Windows.

    Enlarge / This big, weathered box contains an oddball piece of PC history: one of the last builds of IBM's OS/2 that Microsoft worked on before pivoting all of its attention to Windows. (credit: Neozeed )

    In the annals of PC history, IBM’s OS/2 represents a road not taken . Developed in the waning days of IBM’s partnership with Microsoft—the same partnership that had given us a decade or so of MS-DOS and PC-DOS—OS/2 was meant to improve on areas where DOS was falling short on modern systems. Better memory management, multitasking capabilities, and a usable GUI were all among the features introduced in version 1.x.

    But Microsoft was frustrated with some of IBM’s goals and demands, and the company continued to develop an operating system called Windows on its own. Where IBM wanted OS/2 to be used mainly to boost IBM-made PCs and designed it around the limitations of Intel's 80286 CPU, Windows was being created with the booming market for PC-compatible clones in mind. Windows 1.x and 2.x failed to make much of a dent, but 1990’s Windows 3.0 was a hit, and it came preinstalled on many consumer PCs; Microsoft and IBM broke off their partnership shortly afterward, making OS/2 version 1.2 the last one publicly released and sold with Microsoft’s involvement.

    But Microsoft had done a lot of work on version 2.0 of OS/2 at the same time as it was developing Windows. It was far enough along that preview screenshots appeared in PC Magazine, and early builds were shipped to developers who could pay for them, but it was never formally released to the public.

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      After 32 years, one of the ’Net’s oldest software archives is shutting down

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 29 January - 20:13

    Box art for IBM OS/2 Warp version 3, an OS released in 1995 that competed with Windows.

    Enlarge / Box art for IBM OS/2 Warp version 3, an OS released in 1995 that competed with Windows. (credit: IBM)

    In a move that marks the end of an era, New Mexico State University (NMSU) recently announced the impending closure of its Hobbes OS/2 Archive on April 15, 2024. For over three decades, the archive has been a key resource for users of the IBM OS/2 operating system and its successors, which once competed fiercely with Microsoft Windows.

    In a statement made to The Register , a representative of NMSU wrote, "We have made the difficult decision to no longer host these files on hobbes.nmsu.edu. Although I am unable to go into specifics, we had to evaluate our priorities and had to make the difficult decision to discontinue the service."

    Hobbes is hosted by the Department of Information & Communication Technologies at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. In the official announcement, the site reads, "After many years of service, hobbes.nmsu.edu will be decommissioned and will no longer be available. As of April 15th, 2024, this site will no longer exist."

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      IBM to acquire application modernization assets from Advanced

      pubsub.slavino.sk / infoworldcom · Thursday, 18 January - 19:19 edit

    IBM on Thursday said that it was acquiring application modernization assets from Advanced in an effort to enhance the mainframe application and data modernization services of its consulting business.

    Advanced, which is headquartered out of Birmingham, UK, provides mainframe modernization and OpenVMS and VME migration services.

    The assets and services acquired from Advanced are expected to complement the capabilities of IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z , the company said in a statement.

    To read this article in full, please click here


    Značky: #IBM, #Rozne, #Analytics

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      IBM, Meta form “AI Alliance” with 50 organizations to promote open source AI

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 5 December - 17:03

    Robots shaking hands on a blue background.

    Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Benj Edwards )

    On Tuesday, IBM and Meta announced the AI Alliance , an international coalition of over 50 organizations including AMD, Intel, NASA, CERN, and Harvard University that aims to advance "open innovation and open science in AI." In other words, the goal is to collectively promote alternatives to closed AI systems currently in use by market leaders such as OpenAI and Google with ChatGPT and Duet .

    In the AI Alliance news release, OpenAI isn't mentioned by name—and OpenAI is not part of the alliance, nor is Google. But over the past year, clear battle lines have been drawn between companies like OpenAI that keep AI model weights (neural network files) and data about how the models are created to themselves and companies like Meta, which provide AI model weights for others to run on their own hardware and allow others to build derivative models based on their research.

    "Open and transparent innovation is essential to empower a broad spectrum of AI researchers, builders, and adopters with the information and tools needed to harness these advancements in ways that prioritize safety, diversity, economic opportunity and benefits to all," writes the alliance.

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      IBM unveils new quantum computing chip to ‘explore new frontiers of science’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 4 December - 16:43

    Computer and AI giant rolls out machine using ‘Heron’ chips using subatomic particles instead of ones and zeros

    The computer and artifical intelligence technology giant IBM on Monday unveiled a new quantum computing chip and machine that the company says could serve as the building blocks of much larger and faster systems than traditional silicon-based computers.

    IBM’s rollout of what it calls Quantum System Two, which uses three “Heron” cryogenically cooled chips, comes as tech rivals including Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, China’s Baidu and others are racing to develop machines that use quantum bits – subatomic particles that unlike the ones or zeros of traditional computing can be in “superposition” of both one and zero at the same time.

    Continue reading...
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      IBM adds error correction to updated quantum computing roadmap

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 4 December - 15:40 · 1 minute

    Image of a series of silver-covered rectangles, each representing a processing chip.

    Enlarge / The family portrait of IBM's quantum processors, with the two new arrivals (Heron and Condor) at right. (credit: IBM)

    On Monday, IBM announced that it has produced the two quantum systems that its roadmap had slated for release in 2023. One of these is based on a chip named Condor, which is the largest transmon-based quantum processor yet released, with 1,121 functioning qubits. The second is based on a combination of three Heron chips, each of which has 133 qubits. Smaller chips like Heron and its successor, Flamingo, will play a critical role in IBM's quantum roadmap—which also got a major update today.

    Based on the update, IBM will have error-corrected qubits working by the end of the decade, enabled by improvements to individual qubits made over several iterations of the Flamingo chip. While these systems probably won't place things like existing encryption schemes at risk, they should be able to reliably execute quantum algorithms that are far more complex than anything we can do today.

    We talked with IBM's Jay Gambetta about everything the company is announcing today, including existing processors, future roadmaps, what the machines might be used for over the next few years, and the software that makes it all possible. But to understand what the company is doing, we have to back up a bit to look at where the field as a whole is moving.

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      Big brands keep dropping X over antisemitism; $75M loss, report estimates

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 27 November - 19:22

    Big brands keep dropping X over antisemitism; $75M loss, report estimates

    Enlarge (credit: Pool / Pool | Getty Images Europe )

    The latest advertiser fallout on X , the platform formerly known as Twitter, could end up costing Elon Musk's company much more than the $11 million in revenue that the company previously estimated could be "at risk" due to backlash over antisemitic content on X.

    According to internal X sales team documents reviewed by The New York Times , X may lose "up to $75 million" as more than 100 major brands—including Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and Uber—have stopped advertising, while "dozens" more are considering pausing ads on the platform.

    These sales team documents, The Times reported, "are meant to track the impact of all the advertising lapses" in November. On top of noting which brands have stopped advertising, the documents also flag brands at risk of halting ads. Ultimately, the sales team's goal is listing "how much ad revenue X employees fear the company could lose through the end of the year if advertisers do not return," The Times reported.

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