Noisy quanta, floppy IBM, Hotmail defense, and more...

Could we have a working quantum computer by 2008? D-Wave Systems thinks so. The Canadian company has received US$17.5M funding to produce a "noisy" quantum computer, based on "quantum tunneling" techniques. Anyway, don't ask me to explain it: my head hurts enough just writing this. This Slashdot poster tried, and now I need to lie down. The Quantum Pontiff muses thusly:

It sounds to me, from the article, that the proposal is a quantum computer which implements a quantum adiabatic algorithm ... I would have a hard time telling a venture capitalist to put money in something quite so controversial, but hey, what do I know, I’m just a lowsy [sic] academic nerd and a chicken.

IBM has many, many flops, according to the Top500 Supercomputers list. Om Malik believes that IBM is crushing its competition. Steve Dekorte runs the numbers, vis-a-vis G5 vs. Itanium2. The Apple Matters blog is all fired up that #14 is a cluster of 1,100 G5 Xserves. Francis Uy breaks it down by CPU type. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center is voted "best looking computer room." So what? DNA sequencing, for example. Mark Hall notices that Sun used to be big in this list.

Curt thinks Hotmail is insisting on SenderID. He links to an AP story which claims that if an email sender doesn't publish SenderID records, the message will be treated as [a spam test] failure. The AP story's not the best-written piece in the world, that. I had a go at explaining what Hotmail's up to. In summary: Do you own a domain? Publish an SPF record already!

Buffer overflow:

• Many IT managers don't use security at all!
• Security company jumps on PR bandwagon; WaPo reporter sucked in
• "Tired of Linux": Sun blogger Ben Rockwood switches to 100% OpenSolaris
• Microsoft offers to block Windows Server 2003 SP1
• AMD encroaches on Intel's laptop turf
• $99? Get ready for laser printer price wars!
• Enough about Apple and Intel

And finally... Make an "In Case of Emergency" phone entry. Do it and pass it on.

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk.