"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

Tag: IBM

Big Data, Quantum Computing breakthrough

Day 843 of 1000
Betty Blonde #22 – 08/15/2008
Betty Blonde #22
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IBM made a big breakthrough that could have a big impact on the cost and performance of “Big Data” systems.  The breakthrough has to do with something called Quantum Computing that allows for much faster processing than with certain classes of problems.  Big Data is an area where Kelly and Christian will probably both work.  The breakthrough is the ability to demonstrate Bose-Einstein Condensation at room temperature.  I am sure we are quite a ways from use of the techonology in the wild, but it will make Statisticians with Big Data skills more employable before too long.

Stepan’s theories on the space shuttle

Stepan, my Russian, chemist friend and I got into one of those discussions common to rooms full of engineers: the relative benefits of the different ways to go into space.  He has a very interesting theory.  The mundane part is that it is cheaper to send up rockets than maintain a space shuttle fleet.  The really good part is that he is against the private sector getting to deeply into making rockets for space travel.

He says, “Can you imagine, the next thing you know, we will have an atomic exchange between IBM and Cisco!”

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