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Virtual Reality is finally happening after years of existing only in science fiction or as underwhelming prototypes. While Oculus Rift is certainly a big deal due to the financial support from Facebook, there are other compelling options on the market. One particularly impressive bit of hardware is the HTC Vive, which features a variety of great games and immersive motion controls.

The below video showcases several of the most exciting games on the HTC Vive, which headset purchasers will be ready to play as long as they have a gaming PC that meets the minimum requirements to be VR ready.

Continue reading “Games Worth Checking Out on HTC Vive” | >

Elegance, speed, comfort and sustainability – fusing to a new form of traveling, defining a completely new form of freedom. This is the Lilium Jet, the world’s first electric vertical take-off and landing jet.

Start your journey from anywhere and travel faster and more elegantly than in your boldest dreams. 400 km/h top speed – 500 km range. The future of aviation begins now.

Continue reading “Lilium Aviation” | >

I reported on this finding which the National Labs in Oak Ridge TN published yesterday. This is MIT’s own report on the research and discovery of new material called bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) with an ultrathin layer of a magnetic material, europium sulfide (EuS). I know that is a mouth full. However, the end result will be that it could lead to a new generation of electronics, spintronics, or quantum computing devices. Definitely a big move forward in bridging QC into all things that use daily.

A new and unexpected magnetic effect has taken researchers by surprise, and could open up a new pathway to advanced electronic devices and even robust quantum computer architecture.

The finding is based on a family of materials called topological insulators (TIs) that has drawn much interest in recent years. The novel electronic properties of TIs might ultimately lead to new generations of electronic, spintronic, or quantum computing devices. The materials behave like ordinary insulators throughout their interiors, blocking electrons from flowing, but their outermost surfaces are nearly perfect conductors, allowing electrons to move freely. The confinement of electrons to this vanishingly thin surface makes then behave in unique ways.

But harnessing the materials’ promise still faces numerous obstacles, one of which is to find a way of combining a TI with a material that has controllable magnetic properties. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere say they have found a way to overcome that hurdle.

Continue reading “Researchers Find Unexpected Magnetic Effect” | >

Great move to my friends at D-Wave! Nice.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY—(Marketwired — May 10, 2016) — D-Wave Systems Inc., the world’s first quantum computing company, 1QB Information Technologies Inc. (1QBit), a quantum software firm, and financial industry experts today announced the launch of Quantum for Quants (quantumforquants.org), an online community designed specifically for quantitative analysts and other experts focused on complex problems in finance. Launched at the Global Derivatives Trading & Risk Management conference in Budapest, the online community will allow quantitative finance and quantum computing professionals to share ideas and insights regarding quantum technology and to explore its application to the finance industry. Through this community, finance industry experts will also be granted access to quantum computing software tools, simulators, and other resources and expertise to explore the best ways to tackle the most difficult computational problems in finance using entirely new techniques.

“Quantum computers enable us to use the laws of physics to solve intractable mathematical problems,” said Marcos de López de Prado, Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Partners and a Research Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Computational Research Division. “This is the beginning of a new era, and it will change the job of the mathematician and computer scientist in the years to come.”

Experts in finance, mathematics, computer science and physics have agreed to participate as editors and content contributors of the community, including:

Continue reading “D-Wave Systems and 1QBit Partner With Financial Industry Experts to Launch Quantum for Quants Online Community” | >

Interesting approach to the topic.

Do aliens exist? Carlo Rovelli, a founder of loop quantum gravity theory and author of the best-selling book “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics,” says it’s an easy question.

“There is so much space up there that it is childish to think that in a peripheral corner of an ordinary galaxy there should be something uniquely special,” he writes. “Life on Earth gives only a small taste of what can happen in the universe.”

Humans do have a long history of thinking they are special, though we’re gradually learning otherwise.

Continue reading “A leading physicist says it’s ‘childish’ to think there are no aliens” | >

StarWars fighting is here! Wow; all we need is Yoda, and a Jedi Academy; then we can say life is indeed imitating art.

Experts believe that US aircraft could be fitted with the so-called death rays early in the next decade once scientists have managed to reduce the size of the devices while increasing their power.

Continue reading “American aircraft will be the first to fire laser weapon” | >

I love contract season with the US Government because you get to see all of the cool projects being awarded.

CAMBRIDGE, MA — The U.S. military’s unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) depend on stealth as they conduct surveillance and reconnaissance and other missions in the deep oceans. With Global Positioning System (GPS) signals unable to penetrate the ocean’s surface, these UUVs can rely on inertial sensors to provide acceptable positioning information during short missions. On longer missions, however, inertial sensors accumulate error, forcing the vehicles to risk exposing themselves to enemies as they periodically surface to obtain a GPS fix.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is addressing this issue by funding the development of a small number of acoustic transmitters that can be anchored to fixed locations around ocean basins to serve as an undersea navigation constellation, according to a May 10 release by the Cambridge-based nonprofit company Draper.

By measuring its range to multiple signals emanating from known coordinates, an undersea vehicle can operate continuously with accurate navigation information without needing to surface for GPS fixes or to use high cost inertial systems that are typical of current UUVs. DARPA awarded a contract on March 15 to a Draper-led team to begin development of a solution for the Positioning System for Deep Ocean Navigation (POSYDON).

Continue reading “Draper Gets DARPA Contract to Improve Stealth Capabilities for Undersea Vehicles” | >

Not saying that the whole Apple situation cause this; it just odd timing.

The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have asked mobile phone carriers and manufacturers to explain how they release security updates amid mounting concerns over security vulnerabilities, the U.S. agencies said on Monday.

The agencies have written to Apple, AT&T and Alphabet, among others, in order “to better understand, and ultimately to improve, the security of mobile devices,” the FCC said.

The FCC sent letters to six mobile phone carriers on security issues, while the FTC ordered eight mobile device manufacturers including BlackBerry, Microsoft, LG Electronics USA and Samsung Electronics America to disclose “the factors that they consider in deciding whether to patch a vulnerability on a particular mobile device.”

Continue reading “US investigates security of mobile devices” | >