Hasta La Gadget!

Much of ZTE’s MWC 2013 focus was its desire to go from white label to global brand name. And from the looks of these leaked shots, the Chinese OEM’s taking that goal seriously, purportedly prepping a new handset for Sprint. Going by the rumored name “Quantum,” the handset falls below flagship status, allegedly running Android Jelly Bean and bearing a Snapdragon S4 processor, 5-inch 720p display, 1GB RAM and a 13-megapixel rear camera housed in an outsized circular module. There’s no visible carrier branding anywhere on the device to confirm its possible Sprint LTE destiny — only a logo in the notification pane and an anonymous tip, as reported to Android Police, pegs it for that. If this leak does indeed pan out, then that’s good news for Sprint subs looking for more hardware choice, giant screens and 4G. And if not, well, no one will know the difference. Check out the source for additional shots.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Source: Android Police

Behold, the beating heart of a time machine! Or “clock”, as most people call them, but this one is nothing like your grandfather’s. This super-accurate timekeeper is an optical atomic clock built by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and its tick is governed by a single ion of the element strontium. More »

Unfortunately for those in the enemy tracking game, sophisticated aircraft-equipped anti-detection systems can outfox radar by intercepting the signal and sending back a false image, as shown above. However, researchers from the University of Rochester have figured out a technique to defeat such a jamming system that harnesses the quantum properties of light. By polarizing photons before sending them toward objects to be scanned, any attempt at modifying the returning photons caused quantum interference that was easy to detect, in the form of the very high polarization errors shown in the second false image. According to the team, such a a system could “easily be realized and integrated into modern optical ranging and imaging systems,” with a little work, making it infinitely more difficult to defeat radar systems. Check the source for more “light” reading, provided that quantum mechanics doesn’t break your brain.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Via: MIT Technology Review

Source: Arxiv (PDF)

Schematic of creating a space-time crystal.

In a googol of years or so, scientists expect the universe to enter a state known as “heat-death,” where there’s no thermodynamic free energy remaining and everything’s stopped moving. A clock that could keep time even after the heat-death would require a crystal that has periodic structure in time as well as space, which would mean it is a four-dimensional crystal. There’s actually a practical use for such a 4D crystal during this epoch, as scientists would use the device to study complex physical properties and phenomena in the quantum world.

A team of researchers led by scientists from the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory have proposed the experimental design of such a 4D crystal. The paper, published on Arxiv, describes a device that uses an electric-field ion trap and Coulomb’s law to form a spatial ring crystal, which, once a weak static magnetic field is applied, will begin a rotation that will never stop. Theoretically, the rotation won’t stop even when the universe reaches entropy. According to the paper:

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Scientists turn a single atom into a bit, Kinect used to create impressive physics demo,

If you’ve been paying attention, you know the quantum computing revolution is coming — and so far the world has a mini quantum network, not to mention the $10,000 D-Wave One, to show for it. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and University College, London, have now developed the “first working quantum bit based on a single atom of silicon.” By measuring and manipulating the magnetic orientation, or spin, of an electron bound to a phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip, the scientists were able to both read and write information, forming a qubit, the basic unit of data for quantum computing.

The team used a silicon transistor, which detects the electron’s spin and captures its energy when the spin’s direction is “up.” Once the electron is in the transistor, scientists can change its spin state any way they choose, effectively “writing” information and giving them control of the quantum bit. The next step will be combing two qubits into a logic step, with the ultimate goal being a full-fledged quantum computer capable of crunching numbers, cracking encryption codes and modeling molecules that would put even supercomputers to shame. But, you know, baby steps.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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