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Archive for the ‘computing’ category: Page 831

Oct 5, 2015

A quantum logic gate in silicon built for the for the first time (w/video)

Posted by in categories: computing, encryption, quantum physics, supercomputing

A Game Changer in Quantum Computing:
The ingredients for superfast computers could be nearly in place. For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that two silicon transistors acting as quantum bits can perform a tiny calculation.

The advance represents the final physical component needed to realise the promise of super-powerful silicon quantum computers, which harness the science of the very small — the strange behaviour of subatomic particles — to solve computing challenges that are beyond the reach of even today’s fastest supercomputers. Potentially transforming fields like encryption and the search for new pharmaceuticals.

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Oct 5, 2015

Why I’m running for president—and got a chip implanted in my hand

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, cyborgs, geopolitics, life extension, sex, transhumanism, virtual reality

My new and first article for The Daily Dot. It’s about transhumanism and the Immortality Bus tour:

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Oct 5, 2015

Computer algorithm created to encode human memories

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, neuroscience

Researchers have developed a computer algorithm that mimics the brain’s electrical signalling and helps memory. The FT reports.

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Oct 4, 2015

The interfaces that bridge the human-machine divide

Posted by in category: computing

First it was toggle switches. And then keyboards, the mouse and other standard interface devices gave us control of computers and the digital world. From the tangible, to hands-free and beyond, the ways in which we control digital systems are expanding. We’ve collected just a few of the interesting products and concepts that are breaching the two-dimensional world of computing and merging it with our physical reality.

[Image: Jinha Lee / MIT Media Lab].

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Oct 4, 2015

Computer that could outlive the universe a step closer

Posted by in categories: computing, physics, space

The heat-death of the universe need not bring an end to the computing age. A strange device known as a time crystal can theoretically continue to work as a computer even after the universe cools. A new blueprint for such a time crystal brings its construction a step closer.

Ordinary crystals are three-dimensional objects whose atoms are arranged in regular, repeating patterns – just like table salt. They adopt this structure because it uses the lowest amount of energy possible to maintain.

Earlier this year, Frank Wilczek, a theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speculated that a similar structure might repeat regularly in the fourth dimension – time.

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Oct 4, 2015

How Should We Prepare for the AI Revolution? Ray Kurzweil Responds in This Q&A [Video]

Posted by in categories: computing, Ray Kurzweil, robotics/AI

On the cusp of a far-reaching revolution thanks to the advances in artificial intelligence and computing, it’s easy to feel a bit…concerned. Well, maybe more than just a bit, especially if you consider societal attitudes about technology.

Truth is that the way we perceive the world around us is conditioned to a degree by the environment we grow up within. There’s also little doubt that certain cultures are more open and adaptive to technology than others. But one could argue that the potential enhancements that AI could usher in are so dramatically advanced that even the earliest adopters within Silicon Valley aren’t really prepared for what’s coming.

Continue reading “How Should We Prepare for the AI Revolution? Ray Kurzweil Responds in This Q&A [Video]” »

Oct 4, 2015

This new smart glove can turn sign language into text and speech

Posted by in categories: computing, electronics

Sign language has helped the hearing-impaired communicate for many centuries, way before it was formalised and officially recognised, but this long-standing language of gestures has now been given a 21st-century technological upgrade. Saudi designer and media artist Hadeel Ayoub has invented a smart glove that recognises hand movements and converts them into the relevant text.

Much like Google Translate can give anyone a basic grasp of a foreign language in an instant, this glove is designed to help sign language users make themselves understood by those who can’t usually interpret it.

Five flex sensors sit on the fingers, monitoring how they’re being manipulated, while an accelerometer integrated into the fabric of the glove figures out how the hand is being held and the direction in which it’s pointing. Through three successive prototypes, the glove has been made thinner, lighter, and faster, and the latest version includes a text-to-speech chip to vocalise the words as they’re signed.

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Oct 3, 2015

Method to replace silicon with carbon nanotubes developed

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, singularity

Moore’s Law is, and shall be for a very long time, the law of the land.
Singularity: +1, Luddites: Who cares, they don’t use computers.
wink


Schematic of a set of molybdenum (M0) end-contacted nanotube transistors (credit: Qing Cao et al./Science)

IBM Research has announced a “major engineering breakthrough” that could lead to carbon nanotubes replacing silicon transistors in future computing technologies.

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Oct 2, 2015

Incident of drunk man kicking humanoid robot raises legal questions

Posted by in categories: computing, law, robotics/AI

A few weeks ago, a drunk man in Japan was arrested for kicking a humanoid robot that was stationed as a greeter at a SoftBank, Corp., store, which develops the robots. According to the police report, the man said he was angry at the attitude of one of the store clerks. The “Pepper robot” now moves more slowly, and its internal computer system may have been damaged.

Under current Japanese law, the man can be charged with damage to property, but not injury, since injury is a charge reserved for humans. Dr. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, who is cofounder of the ROBOLAW.ASIA Initiative at Peking University in China, and former researcher of the Humanoid Robotics Institute at Waseda University in Japan, thinks a better charge lies somewhere in between.

Weng is advocating for special robot laws to address the unique nature of human-robot interactions. He argues that humans perceive highly intelligent, social robots like Pepper (which can read human emotions) differently than normal machines—maybe more like pets—and so the inappropriate treatment of robots by humans should be handled with this in mind.

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Oct 2, 2015

‘Major’ IBM breakthrough breathes new life into Moore’s Law

Posted by in categories: computing, innovation

IBM scientists take a big step toward their quest to bring us speedy, low-power chips. The secret: carbon nanotubes.

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