[equalator]

The supercooled niobium chip at the heart of the D-Wave Two has 512 qubits and therefore could in theory perform 2^512 operations simultaneously. That’s more calculations than there are atoms in the universe, by many orders of magnitude…. Read more:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2164806,00.html

I could see the Terminator going back in time to throw this chip into the steel--

[Hardastarboard]

So I can get bad data even faster. Cool!!

[Flick Lives]

The D-Wave Two is an unusual computer, and D-Wave is an unusual company. It’s small, and it has very few customers, but they’re blue-chip: they include the defense contractor Lockheed Martin; a computing lab that’s hosted by NASA and largely funded by Google; and a U.S. intelligence agency that D-Wave executives decline to name.

---

That would be the NSA. Think of brute forcing any password in seconds.

[Bronzewound]

Will it run Photoshop?

[HangnJudge]

[Gene Eric]

Imagine pumping all the data allegedly collected by the NSA into this apparatus — it could probably then be taught to compute “intuitively”.

[bigbob]

“could perform 2^512 operations simultaneously”

And 2^256 of them will be “SVCHOST”

[Bobalu]

The only quantum computers out there today are all Adiabatic quantum machines. There are some 512 qubit machines made in Canada and some of those are in the US but adiabatic just ain’t gonna cut it for factoring primes and similar problems..IMO.

They would need REAL quantum computers.

The Canadian D-Wave 512 qubit machine cannot factor primes as fast as a home-made array of graphics cards in a geeks basement.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3037834/posts?page=10#10

[piytar]

Ok, D-Wave. Prove it. Accept submittal of a ton of 512 bit composite numbers that are the products of two primes from JD Power & Associates. Factor them and publish the results. For a true 512 q-bit computer, this would be a trivial exercise.

Until you do that, D-Wave, I am more than skeptical...

[ElkGroveDan]

The supercooled niobium chip at the heart of the D-Wave Two has 512 qubits and therefore could in theory perform 2^512 operations simultaneously.

Yeah I know how that works. No sooner will I save up enough for one of these and get it up and running and they'll come up with the 1024 qubit model that's available in a dozen designer colors for half the price.

[cloudmountain]

Hah, will they have the Yahoo games on it?
As long as I can play some on-line bridge, cribbage, gin and hearts, I'll be a happy camper.

This will be WAY, WAY, WAY (1000X more) outta MY league! A man gal has GOT TO know her limitations. Clint Eastwood, sort of.

[Usagi_yo]

Can we know get the answer for 1 divided by 0 now?

[GraceG]

The supercooled niobium chip at the heart of the D-Wave Two has 512 qubits and therefore could in theory perform 2^512 operations simultaneously. That’s more calculations than there are atoms in the universe, by many orders of magnitude…. Read more:

What if we are just a simulation running on someone's desk somewhere?

[HartleyMBaldwin]

For some reason I’m thinking about John Varley’s story “Press Enter”.