Tag Archives: Hardware
Google and NASA open a laboratory to use a quantum computer
Last week Google announced the launch of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab together with NASA’s Ames Research Center and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). This laboratory will host a quantum computer created by D-Wave Systems, the D-Wave Two model that will be used for various scientific research, particularly on machine learning. The ultimate goal is to build new models for problems such as climate change. Continue reading
Google Vs. patent trolls
Google, in collaboration with other companies such as BlackBerry, EarthLink and Red Hat, submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) a series of comments. Their request is of a greater vigilance against the phenomenon of “patent trolling”, which is the use of patents for the sole purpose of restricting competition and to obtain money through lawsuits or through agreements following threats of such action. Continue reading
The Roadrunner supercomputer has been decommissioned
In the last weekend the Roadrunner supercomputer, which at the time of its activation in 2008 was the most powerful in the world, was officially decommissioned. It was the first PetaFLOPs computer, which means that it’s been the first to break the petaflop barrier in its computer power. Continue reading
LG acquires webOS from Hewlett-Packard
LG has reached an agreement with Hewlett-Packard for the acquisition of the webOS operating system for an amount of money that hasn’t been disclosed. LG will use webOS in its new line of Smart TVs and will assume stewardship of the projects Open webOS and Enyo, the cross-platform JavaScript framework used to write applications that work on different mobile devices and browsers. Continue reading
A new life for the Ember supercomputer
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) gifted the Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the supercomputer Ember. Originally funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), it will now be used to work in genomics and transcriptomics. It will be handled by the High-Performance Biological Computing (HPCBio) group, which runs the infrastructure for bioinformatics. Continue reading
Google opens the pre-orders for its augmented reality glasses Google Glass
In April 2012, Google introduced Google Glass, augmented reality glasses. Now the time arrived to open the pre-orders for the first commercial version called Explorer Edition, at the cost already planned of $1,500. For common users it will take a long time before they can buy them, howver there’s the possibility to become an Explorer, meaning being part of a group of “pioneers” who will participate in the Google Glass launch events in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Continue reading
