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Archive for the ‘computing’ category: Page 695

Mar 14, 2017

Steve Job’s first computer on sale: Apple 1 to be auctioned off

Posted by in category: computing

The rare machine — priced $666.66 (£420) in 1976 — was built by hand by Apple founder Steve Wozniak in California. The retro personal computer will be auctioned off in Cologne, Germany, on March 20.

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Mar 14, 2017

IBM Has Devised a Way to “Grow” Computer Chips

Posted by in categories: computing, nanotechnology

In Brief

  • Scientists have devised a way, inspired by nature, of coaxing carbon nanotubes to build themselves into structures that could be used to replace silicon chips.
  • The successful implementation of this technology could lead to faster than silicon computer chips along with bendable electronics.

Traditionally, computer microchips are made of the semiconductor silicon. Silicon is turned into wafers where complex circuitry is carved—but there’s a limit to this complexity and to the chips’ processing capacity, and it’s coming soon.

Scientist from IBM are ushering in a revolution of microchip design by seeking to use carbon nanotubes. The researchers theorize that these nanotube chips could use less electricity, and be six to ten times faster than silicon-based ones.

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Mar 13, 2017

Physicists Call for a Soccer-Field-Size Quantum Computer

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

The proposed system could lead to breakthroughs in currently unsolvable problems.

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Mar 13, 2017

Scientists Want to Build a Super-Fast, Self-Replicating Computer That “Grows as It Computes”

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, quantum physics

Scientists say it’s possible to build a new type of self-replicating computer that replaces silicon chips with processors made from DNA molecules, and it would be faster than any other form of computer ever proposed — even quantum computers.

Called a nondeterministic universal Turing machine (NUTM), it’s predicted that the technology could execute all possible algorithms at once by taking advantage of DNA’s ability to replicate almost perfect copies of itself over billions of years.

The basic idea is that our current electronic computers are based on a finite number of silicon chips, and we’re fast approaching the limit for how many we can actually fit in our machines.

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Mar 13, 2017

Scientists reveal new super-fast form of computer that ‘grows as it computes’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, engineering, quantum physics

Researchers from The University of Manchester have shown it is possible to build a new super-fast form of computer that “grows as it computes”.

Professor Ross D King and his team have demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of engineering a nondeterministic universal Turing machine (NUTM), and their research is to be published in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

The theoretical properties of such a computing machine, including its exponential boost in speed over electronic and quantum computers, have been well understood for many years – but the Manchester breakthrough demonstrates that it is actually possible to physically create a NUTM using DNA molecules.

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Mar 13, 2017

Western Digital Is Starting To Produce World’s First 64-Layer 3D NAND Flash Memory Chip

Posted by in category: computing

Western Digital begins production of the first 64-layers 3D NAND memory chip in the world. (Photo : SanDisk / YouTube)

Western Digital has announced on Monday, Feb. 6, that it has started its production of the densest 3D NAND flash memory chips in the industry. The new Western Digital 3D NAND chips enable three bits of data to be stored in each cell and stack 64 layers atop another.

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Mar 10, 2017

This super-fast 3D printer is powered by holograms

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, computing, holograms

The advantage of Daqri’s chip, the company says, is that it can create holograms without the need for complex optics. On a silicon wafer, a tiny grid of tunable crystals is used to control the magnitude and time delay, or phase, of reflected light shined at the surface of the chip from a laser. Software adjusts the crystals to create patterns of interference in the light, resulting in a three-dimensional light field.

In experiments, the team has used the chip to create solid objects by projecting holograms into containers of various light-activated monomers. It can currently make small objects, such as a paper clip, in about five seconds—a process that could take a normal 3D printer several minutes.


A startup called Daqri has technology that can print solid objects faster and also powers a new kind of head-up display.

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Mar 7, 2017

IBM Is Rolling Out the World’s First Universal ‘Quantum Computing’ Service

Posted by in categories: computing, internet, quantum physics

IBM esta anunciando que estão desenvolvendo um sistema universal de “computação qu ntica”

O serviço será chamado IBM Q, e ele dará às pessoas acesso ao seu computador qu ntico de estágio inicial pela internet para usar como desejar — por uma taxa.

O grande elefante na sala é que, por enquanto, o computador qu ntico da IBM só funciona com cinco qubits, então não é muito mais rápido (se houver mais rápido) do que um computador convencional.

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Mar 6, 2017

First hint of how DNA calculators could supercharge computing

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, quantum physics

By Matt Reynolds

By making DNA endlessly change, researchers have shown how a biological computer might one day solve problems much faster than conventional computers or even quantum computers. It’s still a long way from being functional though.

The DNA-based system is an experiment in how it may be possible to make a theoretical type of computer known as a non-deterministic universal Turing machine.

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Mar 6, 2017

Hard drives of the future could be made of DNA

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, internet, mathematics

Our data-driven society is churning out more information than traditional storage technology can handle, so scientists are looking for a solution in Nature’s hard drive: DNA. A pair of researchers at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center recently wrote a full computer operating system, an 1895 French film, an Amazon gift card and other files into DNA strands and retrieved them without errors, according to a study published in the latest edition of Science.

There are several advantages to using DNA. It’s a lot smaller than traditional media; a single gram can fit 215,000 times more data than a one terabyte hard drive, The Atlantic notes. It’s also incredibly durable. Scientists are using DNA thousands of years old to de-extinct wooly mammoths, for example. But, until now, they’ve only unlocked a fraction of its storage capacity. Study coauthors Yaniv Erlich and Dina Zielinski were able to fit the theoretical maximum amount of information per nucleotide using a new method inspired by how movies stream across the internet.

“We mapped the bits of the files to DNA nucleotides. Then, we synthesized these nucleotides and stored the molecules in a test-tube,” Erlich explained in an interview with ResearchGate. “To retrieve the information, we sequenced the molecules. This is the basic process. To pack the information, we devised a strategy—called DNA Fountain—that uses mathematical concepts from coding theory. It was this strategy that allowed us to achieve optimal packing, which was the most challenging aspect of the study.”

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