blake johnson

Quantum computing is in the news today (such as this article which carries the dubious front-page text of "Quantum computers ready to go commercial", and here which is much more accurate) because Canadian start-up D-Wave demo'ed their 16-bit "quantum computer" yesterday. Quantum computer is in scare quotes in that sentence because their demo did not provide enough details to say one way or another whether their system is actually a quantum computer, because all they showed was some pretty graphics and solutions to problems which they claimed were being run on their hardware. It's going to take a lot more than that to appease the scientific community.

Dave Bacon provides a fair critique (warning: very technical!) as well as amusing commentary (not very technical) on the hype that this is getting in the press.

I think that what D-Wave is trying is pretty neat, but I am very skeptical at this point.

Update: Apparently D-Wave themselves are not willing to state with certainty that their machine is truly quantum. See the AP article on CNN.

It has been quite a while since I reviewed or mentioned a book on this blog, but over winter break I finished reading the marvelously imaginative Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It is a fiction/fantasy book set in 19th century England. It has some of the feel of a Jane Austin book, except things actually happen. The story follows a pair of English magicians (Susanna Clarke uses the word "magician" where I might say "wizard"), who are determined to bring magic back to England. As they do so, their surroundings morph into a Midsummer Night's Dream kind of fantasy land, with fairies mixing with kings. The landscape which develops is very dark, but is interrupted by the constant gaity of Jonathan Strange and the aloofness/awkwardness of Mr. Norrell.

My historian/anglophile fiancee really appreciated the inclusion of actual historical figures like Lord Byron, Napoleon, and the Duke of Wellington. The caricatured portrayals of these men serve to entertain as well as give the story a bit of historical depth. It allows one to imagine that the events actually happened, which is Ms. Clarke's particular brand of magic.

A lot of good superbowl commercials this year. My favorite is a toss-up between two Bud Light Commercials:

The GM: Robot commercial would probably be next in my list. You can view more superbowl commercials on the iFilm website.