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DAILY VIDEO: Microsoft Starts Quantum Computer Development Program; Cerber Ransomware Expands Database Encryption Attacks; IBM Debuts Watson Internet of Things Services Practice; and there’s more.

Today’s topics include Microsoft’s plan to build a Quantum computer, Trend Micro’s find that the Cerber malware is seeking out database files to encrypt and hold for ransom, IBM’s new Watson internet of things services for the automotive, electronics and insurance industries, and the release of the Microsoft Office Online Server update.

Microsoft is on a mission to build a quantum computer, and the company has appointed Todd Holmdahl to manage the project. Holmdahl is the corporate vice president of Microsoft Quantum, a unit dedicated to turning the company’s quantum computing research into real-world products.

Continue reading “Microsoft Sets Sights on Building Practical Quantum Computer” »

Machines lace almost all social, political cultural and economic issues currently being discussed. Why, you ask? Clearly, because we live in a world that has all its modern economies and demographic trends pivoting around machines and factories at all scales.

We have reached the stage in the evolution of our civilization where we cannot fathom a day without the presence of machines or automated processes. Machines are not only used in sectors of manufacturing or agriculture but also in basic applications like healthcare, electronics and other areas of research. Although, machines of varying types had entered the industrial landscape long ago, technologies like nanotechnology, the Internet of Things, Big Data have altered the scenario in an unprecedented manner.

The fusion of nanotechnology with conventional mechanical concepts gives rise to the perception of ‘molecular machines’. Foreseen to be a stepping stone into nano-sized industrial revolution, these microscopic machines are molecules designed with movable parts that behave in a way that our regular machines operate in. A nano-scale motor that spins in a given direction in presence of directed heat and light would be an example of a molecular machine.

A Polish-British team of physicists has constructed and tested a compact, efficient converter capable of modifying the quantum properties of individual photons. The new device should facilitate the construction of complex quantum computers, and in the future may become an important element in global quantum networks, the successors of today’s Internet.

Quantum internet and hybrid quantum computers, built out of subsystems that operate by means of various physical phenomena, are now becoming more than just the stuff of imagination. In an article just published in the journal Nature Photonics, physicists from the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Physics (FUW) and the University of Oxford have unveiled a key element of such systems: an electro-optical device that enables the properties of individual photons to be modified. Unlike existing laboratory constructions, this new device works with previously unattainable efficiency and is at the same time stable, reliable, and compact.

Building an efficient device for modifying the quantum state of individual photons was an exceptionally challenging task, given the fundamental differences between classical and quantum computing.

Free Satellite WiFi

Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to launch thousands of satellites into space with the aim of providing super-fast global internet coverage, according to a regulatory filing.

SpaceX – the company on a mission to colonize Mars – outlined plans to put 4,425 satellites into space in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing from earlier this week.

Continue reading “SpaceX wants to launch 4,425 satellites into space to bring super-fast internet to the world” »

A video of a chimpanzee ‘playing in virtual reality’ has garnered mixed reactions across the internet as viewers remain torn on whether it is harmless fun, or if it edges on animal cruelty.

In the video, the chimpanzee named Sugriva can be seen wearing an HTC Vive headset and swatting at the air as he follows objects on the screen – an experience many humans can relate to.

Continue reading “Bizarre video emerges of a chimp trying VR and trying to grab objects” »

How important is the internet to your day-to-day life?

For starters, you’re definitely reading this on a screen and using the internet to access it. That means you probably use the internet to access most of your news, as well as to check your email, check the weather, get directions, look up anything you might want to know over the course of an average day, and communicate with your friends and colleagues.

In the vast majority of the developed world, the internet has become a resource we rely on for pretty much everything; it makes multiple aspects of our lives easier, faster, and cheaper.

Continue reading “The Race to Wrap the Earth in Internet Is Heating Up” »

“I will answer very simply, that the internet will disappear… It will be part of your presence all the time.”

That was Eric Schmidt talking on a panel about the future of the web earlier last year. He’s referencing a vision of the future which, not too long ago would have felt very much a work of science fiction.

But today, we inch closer to this idea of architecturally integrated, living, breathing, dynamic spaces. The internet becomes something that’s omnipresent, instead of just something you click on.

Internet users leave a data trail of over 2.5 billion gigabytes of data daily, and this tool gives a look at what could be done with this kind of big data.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TK9oS7HS3Ng

Today, SpaceX filed with the FCC to obtain the rights to operate 4,400 satellites to offer internet services from orbit, a plan that was announced last year.

Elon Musk’s trust currently owns 54% of the outstanding stock of SpaceX and has voting control of 78% of the outstanding stock of SpaceX.

Continue reading “SpaceX filed with FCC to operate 4400 satellites and Elon Musk SpaceX shares are worth $8.1 billion” »