Google Begins Quantum Computing Research Project in Collaboration With NASA and USRA

Google, web search giant now is aim to crack the code of the next level in computer evolution. When compared to traditional computers, the quantum computers are considered as the Holy Grail of computing.

This will remove all the errors from the current traditional computing systems. According to Google Inc, the company will be joined by a research team headed by John Martinis (Physicist from University of California Santa Barbara), which will be working on building the superconducting electronics based new quantum information processors. This Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab is partnership between NASA, USRA and Google. The aim of the lab is to study the application of quantum optimization in relation with the artificial intelligence.

The Quantum AI team will be able to test and implement the new designs that have been developed for quantum optimization and inference processor with an integrated hardware group. These designs are based on the theoretical insights and learning’s inspired from the D-Wave quantum annealing architecture.

John Martinis who is professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, is one of the most prominent known names in the researchers who have given immense contribution towards the researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Google is working on quantum chips as they have the vision that one day these chips will make the machines perform like humans.

The designed Chips that will be able to work at sub-atomic levels in such a way; that they will be able to make the existing processors even faster.

As per the experts, the quantum bit will be having two different states at the same time. They will be able to improve the power and speed of computing today. Standard computer deals with binary data which is expressed normally in zero and ones. However the quantum computing will be encoding the data by using the sub-atomic particle behaviour.

Google has become focused on artificial intelligence past couple of years and also working on self driving cars projects and robots projects. Google has acquired artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies Ltd in January 2014. Even though the DeepMind Technologies Ltd Company has unable to produce any commercial product, they have been paid £242 million ($399 million) for their proficiency in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

This company has the aim of making computers think like humans. According to another founder in the company, Shane Leg, had warned that the artificial intelligence is the number one risk in the current century and might even lead to the extinction of the human race. In a recent interview he stated that one day human race has to extinct and the artificial intelligence will be the most prominent contributor towards this.

Google has ensured that an ethics board is overseeing all the processes under Artificial Intelligence.

Microsoft Distributed First Prerelease Versions of Windows 9

Microsoft will announce the new Operating System code named “Threshold” on a special press conference on 30th September according to the sources. But the close partners of the company already received the preliminary version of the OS and it is well protected against leaks and the preliminary version is yet to have more features according to the sources.

Until now Microsoft never communicated the official name for OS Threshold but the terminology Windows 9 seems more logical and it was accidently disclosed by the Microsoft’s counterpart in China. Windows 9 will have the start menu again which was originally indented to return with the update of the previous version; hence the user may expect substantial changes in the OS.

According to the experts; the tool bar or the Charms bar may vanish and the features of the menu will be built directly into the windows application of Modern UI interface. Another novelty expected is the introduction of virtual desktops that allow users to run their applications in different areas while maintaining a unified view. Windows 9; The Microsoft’s next generation of Windows is on a strict separation of modern user interface (UI Modern) and classic desktop interface hence the PC users who feared for windows 9 with tile screen may breathe freely.

The desktop and Note book users who operate mostly with Mouse and Key board will be more benefited and they can operate freely without tiles and where as the Tablet users has to satisfy with the Modern UI interface. According to Neowin, the developers have the updated the feature of Windows 9 and vigorously revised so that the existing Windows can be upgrade to a new version with only one button click is possible.

What features going to happen into the account of the update is unclear. It is conceivable that Microsoft so retrofit the language assistant Cortana. Apparently, Microsoft is currently testing a pre-release version, in which the voice assistant Cortana is integrated, according to Neowin. Cortana is Microsoft's answer to the voice controls which is the competition to Google Now and Siri from Apple.

However, Cortana is probably not an integral part of Windows 9, but an additional application. According to Neowin, the trial version is named "Windows Technical Preview for Enterprise". The final version of the much spoken OS under the code name "Threshold" Windows 9 will follow in early 2015. According to insiders Windows-7 and -8 users will get the free switch over to the new system.


Accordingly, it is expected that Windows 9 under the hood again brings more changes, which unifies the use of the operating system on different device classes. Windows 9 is going to be activated via the Internet and then on the one hand to the Microsoft account of the user and on the other hand bound to the PC.

The coupling with the PC can be overridden, so you can move the system to other computers also. As part of the reports to the Windows 8 successor even see some information appeared to Windows 10. As the successor to Microsoft Windows 9 plane, therefore the first operating system that runs entirely in the cloud. Instead, the operating system to be installed on the local hard disk, the user then grab on "to be" system from any computer with an Internet connection to. As the earliest release date applies 2017.

“Super Normal Hearing” Through Sonova’s New Microphone

Sonova, a Zurich based company has been able to successfully develop a new microphone which is in the shape of pen and called “Roger”. The name has been derived from terms used for radio communication to indicate receipt of message. It is wireless microphone which has the ability to transmit the voice of the speaker over a 2.2 GHZ frequency to a tiny receiver chip in the hearing aid.


This device has been designed to help the people who have loss of hearing to understand speech. This device is will be able to perform better even when compared to the normal hearing of the people. With the increase in the aging population, the demand of hearing aid is increasing in the industry and companies and manufacturers are trying to implement new technologies to attract more and more customers.

Through this product the company is aiming to retain their position as the market leaders in makers of hearing aid equipments. Company is generating nearly 70% of their revenue from the products which have been launched in the market less than two years ago.

The company has designed the product, which can be either placed on a table to use like microphone or can be hung around a speaker’s neck. It has the ability to enhance speech depending on the surrounding noise like industries, polluted traffic noise, if you are in a vehicle etc.

WHO has already indicated that nearly 5% of the people around the world have problem with hearing. This 5% data accounts for nearly 360 million people out of the world’s population. According to the Sonova’s Science and technology head, Stefan, this hearing aid will be very beneficial if the target of speech is atleast an arm distance away and not very close.

According to the study published by American Journal of Audiology, with the help of “Roger”, at 65 DB noise level, people with hearing loss (moderate or severe) were able to understand the speech much better than the normal hearing people. The sale of the pen has contributed towards the company’s wireless communication business by 19%.

As per Kevin, head of technology at British charity Action on Hearing Loss, even though there are other competitors in the market offering wireless communication products, the sale of roger pen is very discrete as it has a completely different ability of switching between different amplifying sounds coming from all the directions. Due to this rival company like GN Resound has launched their new product LiNX hearing aid through which the user will be able to enjoy music and take calls from their iPhones. They are considering the fact that people will opt for a hearing aid liked with a popular brand rather than simply wearing a hearing aid.

Even though “Roger” pen has its advantages, the inbuilt technology has limitations. At the end nothing can replace the power a brain has with any number of technical equipments and devices.

Aerial Video on Apple’s Spaceship Progress

Privacy advocates debate that drone provides government as well as corporation the ability to spy on the public and though it is true, drones could also be used by the public to snoop on governments and corporations.

It has happened with Apple who is in the process of building a massive new campus expansion in Cupertino, California and is making great progress which has been revealed in aerial shots that have been captured by amateur photographer with the help of DJ1 Phantom 2 Vision+drone sponsored by B&H Photo Video.

The pilot managed to manoeuvre the camera over the construction site to take a video on the happenings of the new Apple headquarters and on what it currently looks like. Apple being very strict about revealing its products refrained from commenting about its circular spaceship like headquarters being built on Tantau Avenue which is blocked from the eye of the public by high walls, preventing even passers-by from getting street level pictures of the construction.

The aerial shots which were taken by KCBS reporter Ron Cervi in April, has not portrayed much with the exception of crop circles, but the new eight minute video posted on Aug 24’14 showed great process in high definition on the creation of a donut shaped furrow in the ground where the four story circular office building of Apple would be housing more than 13,000 employees.

Apple Campus 2 – Last Major Project of Steve Jobs

The video has also provided a better view of the new massive Apple campus to the viewers and once completed the ring will be providing over 2.8 million square foot of space at its headquarters, a giant spaceship version of Apple’s stores which seems to be much bigger than the Empire State Building that was once the tallest building in the world as well as the Pentagon.

It is also much larger than a U.S. Navy Blimp, a battleship from World War II as well as a super tanker. In the video, the B&H drone has captured the northwest corner of the construction site, flying over the ring foundation and on turning around portrays the concrete plant inside the green perimeter fence which circles the site.

Apple Campus 2 is one of the last major project which was headed by Steve Jobs, visionary and founder of Apple before he had succumbed to cancer in 2011, who had taken help from the legendary architect Norman Foster whose renowned projects included restoring the historical Reichstag in Berlin and construction of the bullet shaped Gherkin in London, to help in building according to Jobs future vision, `one of the best office building in the world’.

Campus Completion - 2016

The campus is expected to get completed in 2016 and will have vast gardens transplanted with fruit trees hanging over bike paths, glass gazebo which would be leading to an underground theatre for the purpose of press events, a state of the art gym together with a 90,000 square foot cafeteria.

Moreover the campus would also be housing a building on the southern edge for research and development. However in the meanwhile, Apple will have to manage with the overgrown Infinity Loop headquarters with the engineers’ team placed at various locations in Cupertino till they move into their new spaceship home on completion.

Bug Bounty Program: Find Bugs and Get Rewards from Twitter

One of top online social networking giant- Twitter has launched their new “bug bounty program”. This programs aims at paying $140 to the volunteer security researchers who are able to report any bug or vulnerability in the website.

In order to recognize the work being done by volunteer or individual security researchers, the new program was launched. This program has been named as “HackerOne” and launched in partnership with the portal names HackerOne, which connects web security researchers with different companies. The ultimate aim is to encourage the efforts that are being put by these researchers for making Twitter safe for everybody. At the moment the minimum reward value has been set at $140 but there has not upper limit set for the maximum value. According to Twitter, the maximum reward will depend on the severity and kind of the bug that will be detected.

Twitter has set certain qualification parameters before the researchers can get their hands on the reward:

• You should be the first person to report about any bug and you will not able to publicly disclose any information about the identified bug before Twitter has the opportunity to fix the bug.
• You can't live in countries like; Cuba, Sudan, North Korea, Iran, or Syria because the national law of these countries prohibits Twitter to pay any rewards to the hackers.
• As per the data available on the HackerOne website, 46 bugs have already been fixed by Twitter and nearly 44 hackers have been thanked for their efforts in identifying the bugs.
• Twitter has been able to launch a wall of fame in which the researchers who were able to identify bugs and have been rewarded will be featured.

On the similar lines, Facebook had also launched a program in the year 2011 with the minimum rewards of $500. Market giants Google and Microsoft are also not behind; even they have similar reward programs. So if you are an individual security researcher and trying to select a particular platform for carrying out individual research, then probably Microsoft and Facebook’s reward will be more rewarding as they are ready to pay more for the service.

Twitter has been successfully able to put out the message to hackers to find bugs and get paid in return. Even though the reward might seem small but excellent hackers and researchers have got opportunity to find as many bugs as possible to get paid. This news has made a lot of amateur hackers and researchers in India happy as among the 44 hackers who have been thanked, 10 of them are Indians.