Dwave systems is offering the first commercially available quantum computer. 128 qubits.
I had Long Now bet offered since 2006.
There will be a quantum computer with over 100 qubits of processing capability sold either as a hardware system or whose use is made available as a commercial service by Dec 31, 2010
So it appears that would have been missed by 5 months (unless Google or someone else paid Dwave some money last year.
I was told in an email from Geordie Rose, CTO of Dwave Systems that the sale to Lockheed Martin took place November, 2010.
The processor in the D-Wave One – codenamed Rainier – is designed to perform a single mathematical operation called discrete optimization. It is a special purpose processor. When writing applications the D-Wave One is used only for the steps in your task that involve solving optimization problems. All the other parts of your code still run on your conventional systems of choice.
Rainier solves optimization problems using quantum annealing (QA), which is a class of problem solving approaches that use quantum effects to help get better solutions, faster. Because D-Wave One is a type of quantum computer, it‘s natural to think that developing applications on the system might be really hard. While it does require some work, it is not as difficult as you might think. Most of the hard work arises from having to bring together basic knowledge from fields that normally don‘t cross-pollinate much, such as quantum physics and machine learning.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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