What is the latest in quantum computing?
http://www.dwavesys.com/ claims they have built a 16-qubit quantum computer which will be unveiled later this month. A qubit is a quantum bit. By 16-qubit they don’t mean 16 at a time, as in a 16-bit microprocessor, but 16 *in total*. The announcement is believable, as a quantum computer with seven qubits that can factorize the number fifteen into its factors three and five using a quantum algorithm has already been demonstrated in July 2001. The same process can be used to factorize the large numbers that are used in cryptography, breaking the code. 128-bit encryption can be broken with less than 1000 qubits.
