Google to build quantum computing processors

Google has partnered with scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara to build new processors for use in quantum computing systems.

Quantum computers aim to use properties of subatomic particles to perform calculations millions of times faster than conventional computers, although there are lots of obstacles to overcome for that to happen.

Google’s Quantum Artificial Intelligence team will work with researchers at UC Santa Barbara to build new quantum information processors to help make quantum computers a reality.

Today’s computers use electrical transistors to represent the ones and zeros of binary computing, but quantum computers will use qubits, or quantum bits, which rely on laws of quantum mechanics to achieve various states.

And while a transistor can only be in one of two states—on or off, representing a 1 or a 0—quantum bits can hold multiple states simultaneously, meaning they can be a 1 or a 0, or both at the same time. That could allow them to perform multiple calculations in parallel, vastly increasing their processing power.

Qubits are also highly unstable, however, and can alter their state at the tiniest change in temperature or magnetism. Physicists at UC Barbara are on the forefront of trying to solve those problems, so it’s easy to see why Google wants to work with them.

The two groups will work on processors based on superconducting electronics, Google said in a blog post. That involves cooling materials to a point near absolute freezing where electrical resistance and magnetic fields are minimized.

Microsoft is also researching quantum computing and published a paper and a video recently that explain in plain English how it works.






Source : pcworld.com

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Google brings Slides to iPad, adds Office functionality

The iPad is great for productivity, that much is certain. Apple CEO Tim Cook says he gets about 80% of his work done on an iPad, and now you might be able to as well. Google has rounded out their suite of productivity apps for iPad, bringing Slides to the tablet. There is also some new functionality for those who may be using the Docs or Sheets apps as well.

Google’s Slides app compliments their Docs and Sheets apps, already available for iPad. The trio reach into Drive, which is Google’s effort at productivity anywhere. By starting, continuing, and finishing work in the cloud, you can access your stuff anywhere.

Slides may have been held out to work on functionality, too. Google is also announcing their three apps now work with Microsoft Office documents. At Google I/O this year, Android and Chrome boss Sundar Pichai told us that Drive would be a lot more friendly with Office in the near future. An update gave us that functionality, so perhaps getting the Slides app to work with Office presentations was among the final steps in that process.

The app is available now, and is free to download. It does require a Drive account to be set-up, but if you’ve got Gmail, you already have that. For being productive on the go, Drive is hard to beat in many circumstances — especially if you’re using multiple OSs, and multiple types of devices.






Source: slashgear.com

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Google+ Auto Backup brings drive uploads to desktop

The same service you’ve been using with your smartphone for several months is hitting the desktop world this week with Google+ Auto Backup. This software ships - strangely enough - with the newest version of Picasa, uploading your photos automatically from a certain directory to your Google+ social networking account. This service works with photos that are 2048pixels on their longest end unless you’d like to devote Google Drive space to the effort.

This upload process could easily be done by you with a series of uploads from your folders of photos manually, but the idea is an extra added bit of simplicity. Here you’re able to tell this internet-connected app to watch a directory in your computer, uploading any and all photos that come along from the point at which you start.

This app can also be configured to work with your media locally. While you’re able to pull media from a variety of locations - folders and physical drives included - you’ll be able to have all of this data copied to a single local hard drive while you’re at it. It would appear - for now - that you don’t actually have to use this Google+ Auto Backup app to connect with Google+ at all, if you don’t want to.

In releasing this app with Picasa 3.9.137, we may be seeing one of the last signs before Picasa is fully folded into Google+. It’d be a strange idea, collapsing the service entirely, but it’s not without precedent. Look at how similar the icons are already!





VIA: 9to5Google, Picasa

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