Feb 9 2007

Quantum Computing

Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on a microprocessor will double every 24 months. Since Gordon E. Moore made this observation in 1965, it has proven itself to be fairly accurate. I should note that many people state the doubling time is 18 months, but Moore is being misquoted and has always said that it would take 2 years.

The problem with Moore’s Law is that by the decade of the 2020′s, the circuits on a microprocessor will be measured on an atomic scale. You would either have to put the circuits on a larger wafer, or use another technology. That other technology could be quantum computing.

Computers today operate like switches, binary switches to be more precise. The fundamental storage unit is a bit which uses the metaphor of being on or off. Engineers represent this as a 1 or a 0, but its actually a high or low voltage that is being stored in the memory circuit.

Unlike a binary computer, a quantum computer will be able to perform multiple calculations concurrently where a binary computer can only do one at a time. This shouldn’t be confused with computers with dual processors or dual core processors. The CPU on a binary computer can only do one thing at a time. A machine with two CPU’s will each be able to only process one calculation at a time.

Quantum technologies use quantum physics to govern their behaviour, as opposed to the classical laws of physics that binary computers use. The basic storage element is not a bit, but a qubit (quantum bit). While a binary bit can only be in one of two states (on or off) at any moment, a qubit can exist in mutliple states. It can be 1 or 0, a superposition that exists simultaneously as a 1 or 0, or be somewhere between a 1 or 0. However, its not accurate to describe quantum computers using a 1 or 0, its actually two spin states that are either down or up. A qubit represents the atoms that are working together as memory and the processor.

Quantum technology will revolutionize computers. A quantum computer will be able to make calculations billions of times faster than that a silicon computer. This will be major leap forward in the computer industry. Unfortunately, this technology is still years away from appearing on your desktop.

D-Wave Systems will be demonstrating their 16-qubit quantum computer this month at the Computer History Museum and the Telus World of Science. Their machine can perform 64,000 calculutions simultaneously. They will be showing an adiabatic quantum computer (AQC) which was designed for solving just one type of problem. We still have to wait for the consumer quantum computer for our gaming needs.

By Johan • Technology • 0

Feb 7 2007

The Paperless Office

Business Week made a prediction of the paperless office in 1975. This term refers to automation making paper redundant for routine office tasks. In the early days of the personal computing industry, this was used as a strong selling point. In reality, computers have not reduced or eliminated paper but instead have made larger stacks of it on desks and the need to purchase filing cabinets with greater capacity.

While digital media has certain advantages over paper, our generation has been thoroughly conditioned to prefer paper as a medium for conveying information. Paper is also easier to read than text on a computer monitor or PDA. It has better colours and the image is sharper (not to mention less eye strain). Digital media is, however, more convenient because you can perform searches, create multiple bookmarks and comments, and its much more portable.

For example, BibleWorks is a software package that has “112 Bible translations in 30 languages, 14 original language texts with 18 morphology databases, 12 Greek lexicons and dictionaries, 5 Hebrew lexicons and dictionaries, plus 30 practical reference works”. Try carrying all of those printed books around. A notebook computer can store all of this in about 5 GB. Obviously, digital media is the way to go. The only thing that needs to be improved is the user interface and people need to be conditioned to accept it.

There are transitions from paper to digital media. The most common one is Adobe Acrobat. PDF documents are everywhere and they’re great for print publishers making digital versions of their work. The problem is that its not convenient reading them on a computer monitor. If the text is designed with columns, you have to scroll up and down the page to read an article. Its not really as convenient as reading a top-down scrolling web page.

Xerox PARC has also created electronic paper. This is a design technology which imitates ink on paper. Its a thin plastic electronic display which is flexible like paper. There are millions of small beads which can be rotated to show white or black. The image is written by applying a voltage to it which then rotates the beads to the desired colour and is permanent until it’s changed. While this technology may be expensive, it’s very useful for people who require easy access to large amounts of black and white documents and portability, such as architects.

We’re still a long way from paperless offices but it is a vision which will be realized by future generations, especially by those who are environmentally conscious.

By Johan • Technology • 2

Feb 7 2007

The Super Highway Traffic Jam

The Internet is getting busier and busier. According to Deloitte & Touche, they predict that this year will have greater traffic on the Internet than its capacity to serve it. Their reason for them stating this is that the number of Internet users have increased enormously along with an increase in streaming video (which is quite a bandwidth hog). The Internet backbones have failed to make the upgrade to be able to handle the future digital traffic jam.

The costs of building Internet infrastructures are multi-billion dollar projects. This is one reason why there is hesitation in upgrading existing systems. A major slow down in Web traffic could also justify creating a two-tiered Internet (see Free As In Internet Freedom). This is a battle currently being waged by net neutrality advocates.

No matter what happens, Internet infrastructres will need to be upgraded. Bandwidth and usage will continuosly increase. People will soon be downloading high capacity DVD media, which can 25 GB or greater in size. We’re going to need a faster Internet and larger hard drives to be able to store all these things.

By Johan • Technology • 0