Bloch sphere diagram of a quibit (WIkimedia)

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany announced yesterday, in the journal Nature, they created an elementary quantum network to transmit data via photons.

The Max Planck quantum network was comprised of two nodes in two laboratories 21 meters apart that were connected by an optical fiber. To create the quantum effect, each node placed a rubidium atom in an ”optical cavity” between a pair of reflective mirrors half a millimeter apart. After stimulating the atoms by laser, the atoms emitted a polarized photon with matching filtering controls. One photon was translated as quantum information, and transmitted by optical fiber to the recipient atom, which accepted the photon as itself.

In classical networks, i.e. our information superhighway or today’s internet, we use binary bits to transmit data. Bits are set to 0 or 1. Bits are bundled, transmitted, or encrypted using mathematically-based methods and algorithms. Our classical networks are increasingly complex, in order to provide secure solutions.

I’m coining the term “information synchronicity” to help explain in household terms the physical phenomena that occurs in quantum networks. The “information superhighway” is no longer the right analogy to describe the quantum world. In quantum computing, a “qubit” is the unit of quantum information. The value of a qubit may be 0, 1, or a superposition expression of its state. See the “Bloch spere” diagram, which depicts a qubit. When two photons across a distance are filtered to be identically polarized, a strong correlation results, and the atoms are able to recognize or “feel” each other. This is known as “quantum entanglement”. The beauty and simplicity of a quantum network is that transmission between sender and recipient is securely dedicated to their message exchange. Synchronicity enables secure data transmission because no entity may “hack” or intercept the message because they cannot adopt that same photon identity.

To get my head wrapped around all this and what it implies, I contacted Sachiko Graber, a senior Physics major and Teaching Assistant at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. Ms. Graber explains, “Quantum networks are a really cool new way to implement ideas of quantum physics in the ‘real world.’” Ever since the famous EPR paper and thought experiment, physicists have been researching the possibilities of quantum teleportation. (The EPR Paradox paper, written in 1936 by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, challenged quantum mechanics that it is impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a quantum particle at the same moment.) Ms. Graber says, “The high speed secure network is one possible application of the quantum networking idea. Quantum networks go one step beyond quantum cryptography, which uses quantum keys to keep data secure. A secure high speed network deploying quantum entanglement will be the next step. However, this is a very, very basic prototype. It will still be a long time before we get there.”

Quantum cryptology applications already exist in the “real world”. Since 2005, Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has supported a Raytheon/BBN and QinetiQ partnership for quantum cryptology on a network in the Boston-Cambridge, Massachusetts area. Voters in Geneva during the October 2007 Swiss parliamentary elections cast their votes securely using the process, by Id Quantique, which used secure encryption encoded by a key generated using photons.

I’m liking the term “Information Synchronicity”. Albert Einstein didn’t like the term “entanglement”. Instead he sardonically referred to entanglement as “spooky action at a distance.” In 1951, Carl Jung wrote and lectured on Synchronicity, regarding the nature of relationships and consciousness. Jung described synchronicity as an “acausal connecting principle” and drew parallels to quantum physics, and discussed it with Albert Einstein. In quantum networks, the awareness is atomic.

A quantum network is an exciting development, indeed! Future expectations are to extend applications to transmissions across space and long distance, to ships, airplanes, and satellites.

Cyberspace is a buzz about this. Nerd humor is all the rage in blog comments, such as on Engadget. Imagine, what is the next killer mobile quantum ap? What do you think? Share your comments.

It seems that the new iPad cannot catch a break. With news flowing around that preorders have been sold out, Signals Research reports that the new tablet may clog up 4G networks.

With the 4G networks of today being used very lightly, CEO of Signals Research, Michael Thelander says “The iPad is definitely going to be a challenge, and it will put a strain on the networks.” The new Retina display’s ability to output 1080p video will likely run up most people’s data limits and place a heavy load on the young network. At their present state, the 4G LTE networks are simply not ready for the massive bandwidth usage expected from the likely record breaking sales of the new iPad. The rise of 4G smartphones has been a gradual one, allowing for carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to prepare their networks. However, the high adoption rate for iPads will likely slow down the network, says Thelander.

AT&T’s network was torn apart by the introduction of the 3G iPhone a couple of years back. The network has since learned from that experience, yet the new 4G network is still not used to the traffic likely to be generated by the tablet.

Amit Malhotra, a vice president of Metrico Wireless, which helps test mobile device and network performance for carriers and manufacturers, says that “Most people are going to be limited by their data plans. One of the selling points of the iPad is the display; people are going to watch HD content, and that means larger files.” To add to the problem, Apple is now allowing 50 megabyte mobile apps to be installed on the App Store.

AT&T offers 3 GB of data for $30 dollars while Verizon offers 2GB for the same price. At those rates, one HD movie download will likely run up the monthly data usage for an average consumer. Verizon also offers 10GB for $80, but few people have adopted the plan. The new iPad will not be available on any other networks.

“What will likely happen is they will get very efficient at switching to Wi-Fi whenever there’s an opportunity,” says Malhotra.

Back in January, Harmonix launched the tools necessary for artists and personal music-lovers to create their own tunes and sell them to the world.

The Rock Band Network

The Rock Band Network Store opened today with more than 100 initial tracks from bands like 3 Inches of Blood, Jonathan Coulton, Steve Vai, of Montreal, Flogging Molly, Lacuna Coil and many, many more.

“The response to and interest in the Rock Band Network has been even greater than we originally expected,” said Alex Rigopulos, CEO and co-founder of Harmonix Music Systems. “We’re very excited about the number of bands and labels who have geared up to participate in the Rock Band Network, as well as the number of enthusiasts who have signed up to participate in the Peer Review and Playtest processes.”

Every song was created using the tools Harmonix provided, users will make 30% of the total take and the songs will be exclusive to Xbox 360 for 30 days before releasing on Wii and PS3.

Calling all digital music enthusiasts, Harmonix and MTV Games today opened the Rock Band Network for users to upload and eventually sell their tunes to living room rockers.

Announced back in July, the Rock Band Network allows anyone, anywhere to create and upload their tune to the soon-t0-be Rock Band Network Music Store, and take home 30-percent of the take.

Now, the song-creation process is not easy, and it’ll cost you between $50 and $100 for an XNA membership to even begin, but I guess, if you’re good, you could make some money?

"We are excited to democratize the Rock Band platform and expand the music discovery experience to the greater music community with the Rock Band Network," said Alex Rigopulos, CEO and co-founder of Harmonix.  "We believe this will be great for fans, music lovers, bands and the music industry as a whole."

Have a look at the Rock Band Network Official Page for tons more information, including a step-by-step introduction to the service, and what it’ll take to get your song published.

We’re living in a broadband, super multimedia, HD video streaming world, and you need network architecture to back that up.

Network attached storage is all the rage now, too. With everyone buying notebooks and netbooks and streaming their Netflix to their Xbox, here are four routers we like that have the most modern security, wireless speed, storage and multimedia features for your 21st century digital life.

NETGEAR WNDR3700
$159.99
Pros: The WNDR3700 balances advanced features like the latest Wi-Fi standards and powerful security options with relative plug-and-play ease for the less technically minded.
Cons: Price may worry some. Quality is an investment.
The final word: It’s the best on the list. Plug it in, configure it, and it will always be there for you.

LINKSYS BY CISCO WRT610N
$179.99
Pros: The WRT610N is great for advanced users who want to customize their system.
Cons: The price is a concern, and novice users might get confused.
The final word: If this is your first time buying a router, pass.

D-LINK DIR-685 STORAGE ROUTER
$229.99
Pros: The D-Link has onboard storage and doubles as a digital photo frame.
Cons: Price. You’re paying for that digital photo frame.
The final word: It’s a great gadget, if you like gadgets.

BELKIN N+ ROUTER
$119.99
Pros: The Belkin is easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and powerful, with the ability to add a storage device.
Cons: None.
The final word: This is a fine choice for the 21st century multimedia family.

The day has come for all Comcast High-Speed residential Internet customers: You officially have a usage cap.

The “customer-defined” usage limit is 250GB a month. Comcast‚ says it’s “an extremely large amount of data, much more than a typical residential customer uses on a monthly basis.”

They include in their Terms of Service that this roughly constitutes:‚ 
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* Send more than 50 million plain text emails (at 5 KB/email);‚ 
* Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song); or‚ 
* Download 125 standard definition movies (at 2 GB/movie).‚ 
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Comcast also released some of their current customer usage data, which puts the average residential Internet traffic downloads at 2-3 GB a month.

You should‚ notice some key word usage in the statement, that will be coming as a bill stuffer, as harmless and not worthy of another glance. “Managing the network is essential as Comcast works to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all of its customers. The company uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards. Comcast tries to use tools and technologies that are minimally intrusive and, in its independent judgment guided by industry experience, among the best in class.”

The italics are mine. With such mitigating word usage, Comcast is trying to drive the point to it’s docile customers that it’s doing this for your good, and the good of the network.‚ 
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To all the Comcast customers who just check their email,‚ you won’t be reading this unless it’s forwarded, and‚ you‚ won’t care about the limit.

To the people who read news and emails‚ and visit Myspace or Facebook, you might think about it for a second, but disregard it.

For the users who email, social network, game online and download, a notice about this usage cap will hold more weight.

Finally, there’s the Comcast customers whom utilize the Internet more efficiently and can do all of the activities above while running a P2P agent in the background. These users know exactly what it means to them.

So why should anyone who doesn’t live on the Internet care? The speed of technological advancement dictates that pretty soon, this “massive” usage cap will become a noose we so quickly placed on ourselves. With the advent of not only high-definition video on demand, and digital downloads, there are a score of other‚ programs that‚ use the bandwidth while people just check their email, or just check their networking sites.

Even websites have become more content rich. Heavy text news sites have become a multi-media room. What 56K once could handle is‚ a neanderthal-like usage now with higher speeds becoming standard. As Internet speeds rise, and our daily lives connect more to the Internet, the usage cap will seem more and more stringent.‚ 
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“Though the proposed cap is relatively high, it will increasingly ensnare more users as technology continues its natural progression,” said Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner.‚ 
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For those Blast Magazine readers live on the Internet and are worried about what would happen if you crossed the line, don’t worry. “As part of our pre-existing policy, we will continue to contact the top users of our high-speed Internet service and ask them to curb their usage.”

“If a customer uses more than 250GB and is one of the top users of our service, he or she may be contacted by Comcast to notify them of excessive use. At that time, we’ll tell them exactly how much data per month they had used. We know from experience the vast majority of customers we ask to curb usage do so voluntarily.”

For now anyway, although the Internet is abuzz with future network shutdowns and or including excessive bandwidth usage fines, all of this is on top of the confirmed diurnal network bandwidth-throttling practices that Comcast got in trouble for.
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For the non-Comcast customer, all this should be a red flag. Comcast clearly states in their ToS that, “The need to engage in network management is not limited to Comcast. In fact, all large Internet service providers manage their networks. Many of them use the same or similar tools that Comcast does.” Comcast is‚ leading Internet service provider, so it’s only rational to expect other major ISPs to follow suit, especially if they see any Comcast practices as a “success”.

Enjoy the gallows.