Here come the design patents: new law boosts rights in shapes ...

One of Apple?s key weapons in its legal battle against competitors is a special type of patent that protects the visual appearance of a product. Critics have denounced these patents as a way to own ?rounded rectangles? but we may have to get used to seeing a lot more of them.

Last week, President Obama signed a law that will increase the term and scope of so-called ?design patents.? The law could offer US designers a new way to fight knock-offs ? but some fear it will strain an already over-burdened Patent Office and make America?s troubled patent system even more dysfunctional.

The new design patent law: what it does

Design patents, which protect the ornamental features of an invention, are nothing new. To get a better idea of what they are, imagine a new type of fork that can pick up food better than ever before. The inventor could get a regular patent for the pick-up function ? but she could also get a design patent for distinct scrollwork built into the handle of the fork. A more familiar example is the design patents which cover the look and feel of Apple?s iPad.

Few people had heard of design patents until recently when shoe company Crocs used them to chase away rivals or Apple used its design patents to hammer Samsung for allegedly copying the iPhone and iPad. Design patents have also become more popular as the Supreme Court has taken an increasingly dim view of many conventional utility patents. (See the picture at right, posted by leading patent blog?Patently-O, for examples of design patents in court right now).

Now, the just-signed Patent Law Treaties?Implantation?Act of 2012 will see more design patent requests flood in from more places. The main purpose of the law is to harmonize America?s design patent laws with the rest of the world ? in particular, by letting ?inventors? use a single application filed anywhere in the world to seek design rights in many countries at once. For instance, Ikea could submit drawings of a chair in Sweden and then get a US design patent based on the same application.

The law, which is will take effect in about a year, will also increase the design patent term from 14 years to 15 years and allow applicants to seek 100 different design inventions with a single application.

More rights to rectangles?

Richard Stockton, a patent lawyer at Banner & Witcoff in Chicago, says that,?traditionally, the first people to call him about design patents are manufacturers who outsource production to China but then discover the factory owner is replicating their product.

Now, though, he expects?the new treaty rules will lead more foreign companies to apply for design patents in the US.

?Asia is very interested. A lot of people think there will be a snowball effect,? said Stockton.

He adds that recent court fights between Apple and Samsung have awakened people to the fact that design patents are easier to get than utility patents.

?I?ve obtained them in 60 days with some elbow grease,? claimed Stockton, adding that a ?good rule of thumb? price for a basic design patent application is $ 2500-$ 3000 all-in versus several times that for a regular patent. (The 60 day figure might be an outlier ? others say it usually takes more than a year).

Stockton says design patents also pack more of a damages punch than regular patents because, if they are infringed, a court must award damages based on the value of the whole invention ? not just a patented feature.

More patents, more problems?

Sarah Burstein, a design patent expert at the University of Oklahoma, is skeptical the new law is necessary and fears that lawyers will game design patents in the same way they have done with other parts of the patent system.

?The devil is in the details,? she said in a phone interview, and predicted that more applications will arrive from Japan, Asia and the rest of the world. US designers, meanwhile, can likewise seek rights in more places.

Burstein is especially concerned about how the new law, as it stands, requires the US Patent Office to reject design applications from foreign countries within a certain amount of time. If it doesn?t, under the treaty, the applicant is entitled to design rights in America.?And, if a flood of new applications arrive, will the patent office be able to handle them? The office is already struggling to clear backlog and retain qualified examiners?with starting salaries that begin around $ 42,000.

Burstein worries the law?s current structure could lead companies to first seek design rights in countries with weaker standards and then use those overseas rights as a quick way to get design patent protection in the US.

And while the new protections could help US designers in theory, Burstein believes any benefits will not be widespread.

?This won?t help poor design students,? she said.

A bigger question may be why Congress passed the law in the first place. America?s technology and retail sectors are already buckling under a wave of spurious patent lawsuits, many of which involve ?patent trolls? using old patents to extort licensing fees. The new law could provide yet more ammunition for the trolls to shake down productive companies.

And while most people would agree that inventors should have the right to stop rip-offs, America already has a robust trademark and trade dress rules that let them do just that.

Ultimately, design patents may be yet one more area where America discovers that intellectual property rules are a lot like salt ? a little bit can be great but too much ruins everything.

Images by?Nomad_Soul

GigaOM

Source: http://msoftnews.com/google/here-come-the-design-patents-new-law-boosts-rights-in-shapes-designs/

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Healthy Crock Pot Recipes and Slow Cooker Recipes - Food

For folks on low-glycemic diet plans, vegetarians, or anyone who would like to eat healthier, there are a variety of different vegetarian and other healthy crock pot recipes which are delicious and convenient. The beauty of these meals is that you can prepare them in the morning, (or even the night before), throw them into the slow cooker, set it and forget it until lunch or dinner time.

Crock pot recipes are perfect for folks who work during the day, or who have other commitments such as child care or errands to run. In the past, healthy crock pot meals were few and far between as most crock pot recipes included meats high in fat as well as the addition of sugar and salt. Thankfully, slow cooker recipes have come a long way. Healthy slow cooker recipes often include leaner cuts of meat, (or no meat), and a variety of beans and vegetables. Barley, lentils, and dal are also great inclusions to crock pot meals as are a variety of different mushrooms, (especially for vegetarian or vegan dishes).

Coconut milk can be a great substitute for cream or whole milk and a variety of spices can help replace the salt of other crock pot recipes. For households where one or both parents work, these type of meals allow them to prepare healthy, delicious food for their families, with the ease of standard slow cooker recipes.

And for folks who are on low-glycemic or low-carb diets, healthy slow cooker recipes and often much needed break from the low-fat cheese, chicken breasts, and nuts they eat most of the time. Rather than bread, potatoes, or pasta, whole grain rice is often a great accompaniment for a variety of different recipes including Asian inspired dishes such as beef and snow peas. If you do decide to serve pasta with your crock pot meals, opt for whole wheat pasta rather than highly process white pastas.

With summer quickly approaching, healthy crock pot recipes are the perfect way to escape hours hovering around the stove or oven. Just throw in the ingredients of the healthy crock pot meal, turn it on, and go outside to enjoy summer while your dinner cooks itself. Many crock pot recipes even use super convenient food such as canned vegetables and condensed soups, making them even faster to prepare.

Of course, whenever possible, healthy crock pot meals should include fresh vegetables or a salad on the side.

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Source: http://food.sasaoo.com/healthy-crock-pot-recipes-slow-cooker-recipes/

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Putin says he will sign anti-US adoptions bill

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will sign a controversial bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, while the Kremlin's children's rights advocate recommended extending the ban to the rest of the world.

The bill is part of the country's increasingly confrontational stance with the West and has angered some Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point.

The law would block dozens of Russian children now in the process of being adopted by American families from leaving the country and cut off a major route out of often-dismal orphanages. The U.S. is the biggest destination for adopted Russian children ? more than 60,000 of them have been taken in by Americans over the past two decades.

"I still don't see any reasons why I should not sign it," Putin said at a televised meeting. He went on to say that he "intends" to do so.

UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child. Russian officials say they want to encourage more Russians to adopt Russian orphans.

Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Thursday petitioned the president to extend the ban to other countries.

"There is huge money and questionable people involved in the semi-legal schemes of exporting children," he tweeted.

Kremlin critics say Astakhov is trying to extend the ban only to get more publicity and win more favors with Putin. A graduate of the KGB law school and a celebrity lawyer, Astakhov was a pro-Putin activist before becoming children's rights ombudsman and is now seen as the Kremlin's voice on adoption issues.

"This is cynicism beyond limits," opposition leader Ilya Yashin tweeted. "The children rights ombudsman is depriving children of a future."

The bill is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russian officials deemed to be human rights violators.

The U.S. law, called the Magnitsky Act, stems from the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in jail after being arrested by police officers whom he accused of a $230 million tax fraud. The law prohibits officials allegedly involved in his death from entering the U.S.

Kremlin critics say that means Russian officials who own property in the West and send their children to Western schools would lose access to their assets and families.

Putin said U.S. authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished ? a clear reference to Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler for whom the adoption bill is named. The child was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

The U.S. State Department says it regrets the Russian Parliament's decision to pass the bill, saying it would prevent many children from growing up in families.

Astakhov said Wednesday that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the U.S. would remain in Russia if the bill comes into effect.

The passage of the bill follows weeks of a hysterical media campaign on Kremlin-controlled television that lambasts American adoptive parents and adoption agencies that allegedly bribe their way into getting Russian children.

A few lawmakers claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that the children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not "enter God's kingdom."

Critics of the bill have left dozens of stuffed toys and candles outside the parliament's lower and upper houses to express solidarity with Russian orphans.

___

Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-sign-anti-us-adoptions-bill-122506016.html

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Russia parliament passes anti-US adoption bill - World News

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

A protester argues with police officers outside the Federation Council in Moscow on Wednesday. The poster held by the protester reads: "Children get frozen in the Cold War."

By Reuters

MOSCOW --?Russia's upper house of parliament approved a bill on Wednesday that would prohibit Americans from adopting Russian children and impose other measures in retaliation for a U.S. law designed to punish Russians accused of human rights violations.?

The bill would also outlaw some U.S.-funded non-governmental organizations and impose visa bans and asset freezes on Americans accused of violating the rights of Russians abroad.?

The bill was endorsed by the lower house last week and is now expected to be sent to President Vladimir Putin to sign.

Putin hasn't committed to signing the bill, but referred to it as a legitimate response to the new U.S. law.

It is one part of a larger measure by angry lawmakers retaliating against a recently signed U.S. law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators.?

The U.S. law is primarily intended to end Cold War-era trade restrictions and was hailed by U.S. businesses worried about falling behind in the race to win shares of Russia's more open market, but its human rights part has outraged Putin's government.

Dubbed the Magnitsky act, the U.S. legislation is named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested by officials he accused of a $230-million tax fraud.

He?was repeatedly denied medical treatment and in 2009 died after almost a year in jail after being severely beaten by guards.

Opportunity denied
Some top Russian officials, including the foreign minister, have spoken flatly against the Russian bill, arguing that the measure would be in violation with Russia's constitution and international obligations.

Earlier Wednesday, several protesters were detained outside the upper house as it prepared to make its decision.

Boy's Christmas wish: Adoption of little brother caught in US-Russia spat

"Children get frozen in the Cold War," one poster read.

Critics of the bill say it victimizes orphans by depriving them of an opportunity to escape often-dismal Russian orphanages.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims the U.S. is "poisoning ties" between the two countries with a law that bans Russians who abuse human rights and is backing a Russian draft law banning adoption by Americans. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

Americans may lose right to adopt Russian kids

There are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia, according to UNICEF. More than 60,000 Russian children have been adopted in the United States in the past 20 years.

The Russian bill is named in honor of Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler who was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours.

See the US Action Plan on Children in Adversity

The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Russian lawmakers argue that by banning adoptions to the U.S. they would be protecting children and encouraging adoptions inside Russia.

Russian children?s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov told the Interfax news agency that 46 children who were about to be adopted by U.S. citizens would stay in Russia ? despite court rulings in some of these cases authorizing the adoptions.

Astakhov also insisted that all adoptions would be halted once the bill is signed by Putin, but a senior lawmaker at the Federation Council insisted it cannot be enacted immediately.

Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Council's foreign affairs committee, said that a bilateral Russian-U.S. agreement binds Russia to notify of a halt in adoptions 12 months in advance.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/26/16158938-russia-parliament-passes-anti-us-adoption-bill

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8 Essential iPad Apps for Bloggers | Tools - Web Design Ledger

Before I begin, let me just say what this list is, and what it isn?t. It?s not just a random set of iPad apps that can, but on the other hand, don?t have to turn out to be that useful to you. I also didn?t want to give you countless alternatives for a specific single aspect of blogging.

Instead, I?ve tried to take a broad look at blogging as a profession and point out a set of apps that will simply allow you to do your work smoothly and with better effectiveness.

(By the way, I actually use these apps myself.)

Also, I will try to keep this as low budget as possible, but not everything is free. Even though the digital world of today allows us to get quite a lot of quality for no cost at all, sometimes investments need to be made if we want to make our work easier.

1. Blogsy

Let?s start with the main app for bloggers. You might be surprised that it?s not WordPress, but there?s actually something a lot better than the official app. Blogsy isn?t free, but it?s just a minor investment ($4.99).

The app allows you to write posts using a clear an usable interface, and then send them out to a number of publishing platforms including: WordPress, Blogger, Posterous, Typepad, Joomla, and more (image below). However, the biggest strength of this app is the possibility to create new posts offline and to do it in a clear and easy to grasp manner.

Of course, all standard text formatting features are available, and you can also include videos, pictures, links, and content from other platforms on the Internet. In the end, this is the most important app on this list. Without it your blogging would be a lot more difficult.

By the way, I?m using it right now to create this very post.

2. WordPress

Okay, time for the official app. Even though Blogsy is better for doing the actual blogging, the official app can still come handy. Besides, it?s free.

The main value of this app lies in its possibility to edit whatever has already been published on your blog. This includes posts, pages, and comments. There?s really no better way of moderating comments than through this app.

You can also use Blogsy for updating your live posts and pages, but from my experience, it just creates a big mess in your Blogsy files, so I don?t advise it.

3. Aviary

Aviary was one of the most popular online photo editing apps (before it went through a major direction change, so to speak). This is the iPad version of the main app. Both Blogsy and WordPress allow you to include photos in your blog posts, but the photo editing capabilities of these apps are not that great. Aviary does a much better job at it, and it?s free.

Some features Aviary has to offer: auto enhancement, orientation, cropping, brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, sharpness, red-eye removal, and more (image below).

Aviary takes photos from your camera roll or allows you to shoot new ones. Once you?re done editing, the new version of the image is saved back to your camera roll. Then you can upload it through Blogsy or WordPress.

4. MindMeister

Mind mapping is a great way to organize your thoughts, plans, strategies, and post ideas. If you don?t know what mind mapping is then feel free to visit Wikipedia, which does quite a good job at explaining it.

Mind mapping isn?t the most difficult thing to do on a standard PC, but on an iPad it becomes even easier. When you have the multitouch and drag and drop interface at your disposal you can make your work truly effortless. Plus, the tool itself is very easy to use, offers quite a lot of interesting features, and it?s free.

You can create an unlimited number of mind maps, synchronize them through the online interface of MindMeister.com, and even export them to other mind map formats, or standard PDF and PNG files.

5. Teed

It?s time for the first productivity app on this list. In essence, Teed is a to-do list management app. But what?s great about it (other than the fact that it?s free) is that it?s in tune with GTD ? one of the most popular time and work management methodologies.

Even if you?re not using GTD, you can still benefit from this app a lot. It has a clear interface, and all the features you?d need, including: the possibility to work on multiple projects, prioritize, set notifications, tagging, password protection, modify the app badge, and much more.

6. Analytics

It?s probably about time to mention an app for tracking your performance and web stats. There are many paid solutions out there, but one of the best ones is still free ? it?s Google Analytics (no surprise here).

As far as I know, there?s no decent Google Analytics app for the iPhone, but the one for the iPad lets you in on almost the complete set of features your Analytics profile has to offer. You can track multiple profiles (sites) and look at your stats from every possible angle (your audience, traffic sources, popular content, conversions, and so on).

7. Google Drive

Quite simply, this app gives you access to all your Google Docs files. It?s free and (kind of) offers you everything the full online version does. I?m saying kind of because, for some reason, you can?t edit the spreadsheets. I guess this is something the next versions will fix.

Other than that, this app is the complete package. You can browse your documents, create new ones, edit them, and share them with other users.

8. Dropbox

I?m sure that your iPad isn?t the only device where you keep your content and do your work, so a service like Dropbox can surely come handy for you. What?s important about this app is that it grants you access to your online Dropbox account.

I?m sure you?re familiar with Dropbox itself ? the online disk space and platform that keeps your files synchronized between every computer you own.

The important thing is that it?s not like a standard Dropbox app (the desktop one). It doesn?t create a folder on your iPad and automatically synchronize everything in it. This app is only a clearer interface to access your online account, through which you can download each file individually.

You can also upload pictures and videos directly from the app itself. Plus, if you install additional apps (like Documents), you can link them to Dropbox and upload other files as well.

When it comes to viewing your files, Dropbox has some basic capabilities to view images and text files, but for other types of files it?s good to install additional apps like FileApp, for example.

This closes my list of 8 essential iPad apps for bloggers. Feel free to let me know what you think and also point out other apps you find useful.

About the Author

Karol K. is a freelance blogger and writer. He's passionate about design, blogging and online business. If you want to get a list of websites that pay to write feel free to visit him at YoungPrePro.

Here's some other articles that you will definitely find useful.

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11 UI Kits for iPhone and iPad Development

34 Inspiring iPad Application Websites

Source: http://webdesignledger.com/tools/8-essential-ipad-apps-for-bloggers

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Ex-President George H.W. Bush in intensive care

FILE - In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, former President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's new documentary on his life near the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday, Dec. 26. 2012 that doctors at the Houston hospital where Bush has been treated for a month remain ?cautiously optimistic? that he will recover. Still, no discharge date has been set, and McGrath says that doctors are being cautious because at Bush?s age ?sometimes issues crop up that are beyond anybody?s ability to discern or foretell.?(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, former President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's new documentary on his life near the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday, Dec. 26. 2012 that doctors at the Houston hospital where Bush has been treated for a month remain ?cautiously optimistic? that he will recover. Still, no discharge date has been set, and McGrath says that doctors are being cautious because at Bush?s age ?sometimes issues crop up that are beyond anybody?s ability to discern or foretell.?(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

HOUSTON (AP) ? Former President George H.W. Bush remained in guarded condition overnight in the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital after a day marked by "a series of setbacks including persistent fever," according to his spokesman.

In a brief email Wednesday, Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, said the 88-year-old former leader had been admitted Sunday to the ICU at Methodist Hospital. McGrath said Bush, the oldest living former U.S. president, was alert and talking to medical staff, adding that doctors are cautiously optimistic about his treatment.

No other details were released about his medical condition, but McGrath said Bush is surrounded by family.

Bush has been hospitalized since Nov. 23, when he was admitted for a lingering cough related to bronchitis after having been in and out of the hospital for complications related to the illness.

Earlier Wednesday, McGrath said, a fever that kept Bush in the hospital over Christmas had gotten worse and that doctors had put him on a liquids-only diet.

"It's an elevated fever, so it's actually gone up in the last day or two," McGrath told The Associated Press. "It's a stubborn fever that won't go away."

But he said the cough that initially brought Bush to the hospital has improved.

Bush was visited on Christmas by his wife, Barbara, his son, Neil, and Neil's wife, Maria, and a grandson, McGrath said. Bush's daughter, Dorothy, was expected to arrive Wednesday in Houston from Bethesda, Md. The 41st president has also been visited twice by his sons, George W. Bush, the 43rd president, and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida.

Bush and his wife live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The former president was a naval aviator in World War II ? at one point the youngest in the Navy ? and was shot down over the Pacific. He achieved notoriety in retirement for skydiving on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House in 1992.

___

Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-27-Bush%20Hospitalized/id-aff3ed8e2be6483eb8e37df27f913e93

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Speedy boson machine could bridge classic and quantum computing

8 hrs.

Charles Q. Choi , TechNewsDaily

A new type of machine could rival quantum computers in exceeding the power of classical computers, researchers say.

Quantum computers?rely on the bizarre properties of atoms and the other construction blocks of the universe. The world is a fuzzy place at its very smallest levels ? in this realm where?quantum physics?dominates, things can seemingly exist in two places at once or spin in opposite directions at the same time.

The new computers rely on "boson" particles, and resemble quantum computers, which differ from traditional computers in important ways. Normal computers represent data as ones and zeroes, binary digits known as bits that are expressed by flicking switch-like transistors on or off. Quantum computers, however, use quantum bits, or qubits (pronouced "cue-bits"), that can be on and off at the same time, a state known as "superposition."

This allows the machines to carry out two calculations simultaneously. Quantum physics permits such behavior because it allows for particles that can exist in two places at once or spin in opposite directions at the same time.?[Experiment Demonstrates Possibility of Quantum Internet]

Flash interactive: How quantum computers work

In principle, quantum computers could solve certain problems much faster than can?classical computers, because the quantum machines could run through every possible combination at once. A quantum computer with 300 qubits could run more calculations in an instant than there are atoms in the universe.

However, keeping qubits in superposition is challenging, and the problem grows more difficult as more qubits are involved. As such, building quantum computers that are more powerful than classical computers has proven very difficult.

Now, though, two independent teams of scientists have built a novel kind of device known as a boson-sampling computer. Described as a bridge between classical and quantum computers, these machines also make use of the bizarre nature of quantum physics. Although boson-sampling computers theoretically offer less power than quantum computers are capable of producing, the machines should still, in principle, out-perform classical computers in certain problems.

In addition, a boson-sampling computer does not require qubits. As such, "it's technologically far simpler to create than building a full-scale quantum computer," said researcher Matthew Broome, a quantum physicist at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Boson-sampling computers are actually a specialized kind of quantum computer (which is known more formally as a universal quantum computer).

"The main difference between boson-sampling computers and universal quantum computers is that boson-sampling quantum computers can't solve a universal set of problems like universal quantum computers can," Broome said. "But they are still conjectured to be able to solve problems that would be massively intractable for classical computers. Boson sampling computers are an intermediate model of a quantum computer."

Boson-sampling computers are not based on qubits, but on particles called?bosons. "In our case, we use photons," said researcher Ian Walmsley, a quantum physicist at the University of Oxford in England. Photons are the packets of energy that make up light, and are one type of boson.

Gallery: What the heck is a boson?

Broome and Walmsley were in separate groups that each devised a boson-sampling computer, based off concepts first described by theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson at MIT. The computers involve multiple devices that can each generate single photons. The photons are inserted into a network where they can interact with one another. They emerge from outputs equipped with sensors to analyze the particles.

The task of calculating which outputs these photons will emerge from, an operation known as boson sampling, grows well beyond the capabilities of classical computers the more photons are involved. The new computers accurately resolved what paths the photons would take ? three photons with Broome and his colleagues' machine and four in Walmsley and his collaborators' device.

Since boson-sampling computing is in its infancy, it remains uncertain whether these computers can solve problems beyond boson sampling. Still, this research suggests that computers based on quantum physics could indeed tackle problems beyond the reach of classical computers.

Year in Science: Higgs boson takes the prize

Previously, there was nothing to say "that anything you can do on a quantum computer you can't do on a normal computer, which leaves in question the necessity for quantum computers," Broome said. "Now, with boson sampling, we're coming up with machines based on quantum physics that can attack problems strongly believed to be intractable for classical computers."

In the future, "it would be great to push these computers toward more photons to tackle problems that would be challenging to simulate on normal computers," study coauthor Walmsley added. Using about 20 to 30 photons would?be a problem?beyond the capabilities of classical computers.

Both research teams detailed their findings online Dec. 20 in the journal Science.

Copyright 2012?InnovationNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/speedy-boson-machine-could-bridge-classic-quantum-computing-1C7662777

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