Computers and Technology

Figuring out how to harness this power is one of today's hottest areas of computer research. The Dedicated Notebook Computer Research Project reflects Microsoft's fundamental goal to help build digital literacy for all by improving access to technology.

Computer

The Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics is a multi-disciplinary facility where composers and researchers work together using computer-based technology both as an artistic medium and as a research tool. The Directory of Top Computer Executives database of IT executives is available in a variety of formats to fit the individual needs. That vision will include the development and maintenance of open-source software infrastructures that are portable across a wide range of supercomputer architectures. Scientists at the University of Manchester have made a breakthrough that could pave the way for a new type of high-speed computer. If built, quantum computers would be the most powerful computers ever made, with speeds millions of times faster than the average PC for some types of calculations. This breakthrough, which results from three years research, opens the possibility of being able to create quantum gates -- a more advanced version of processors found in modern computers. "This is the start in terms of the development of a quantum computer, but now that we have shown we can do this, it gives us clear targets.

Army and the National Science Foundation is to study the feasibility of quantum computers. Researchers are looking
into the concept of quantum computers -- computers capable of performing calculations billions of times faster than any of today's silicon-based devices. "The computers we use today operate under the principles of classical physics. "Quantum computers, however, operate under the principle of quantum mechanics, which are governed by the properties of atoms and molecules. "It's really the next frontier in computer technology. "Calculations that take months for the fastest super-computer to process can be performed in seconds by a quantum computer. "Desktop computers work one step at a time, performing one task before moving on to the next, which makes for rather slow processing. Quantum computers can work on a million Calculations at once.

"A conventional digital computer's bits exist either as a zero or a one. These qubits become entangled with other qubits, which is how quantum computers get their speed. They can factor large numbers very fast, they are extremely useful in decoding and encoding information. If a quantum computer were built today, no information on the Internet would be safe. "Searching large databases can also be done in a fraction of the time it would take a conventional computer. So how long will it be before quantum computers make the most powerful desktop computers of today look like turtles. "If you consider that today's laptops and personal digital assistants are the offspring of the simple computers developed decades ago, the idea of a quantum computer very soon doesn't seem unrealistic.