Month: December 2020

We have a winner in the world’s first quantum chess tournament

It’s like playing in a multiverse “but the different boards are connected to each other”

A player from Amazon, Aleksander Kubica, won the world's first quantum chess tournament, during last week's virtual Q2B conference on quantum computing.

Enlarge / A player from Amazon, Aleksander Kubica, won the world's first quantum chess tournament, during last week's virtual Q2B conference on quantum computing. (credit: lucadp/Getty Images)

Forget all those amusing memes of Anya Taylor-Joy's Beth Harmon from The Queen's Gambit facing off against Spock in Star Trek's infamous 3D chess. We want to see Beth take on challengers in a quantum chess tournament. The world's first such tournament was held December 9 as part of the virtual Q2B conference on quantum computing, with Amazon's Aleksander Kubica emerging victorious, New Scientist reports.

What exactly is quantum chess? It's a complicated version of regular chess that incorporates the quantum concepts of superposition, entanglement, and interference. “It’s like you’re playing in a multiverse but the different boards [in different universes] are connected to each other,” said Caltech physicist Spiros Michalakis during a livestream of the tournament. “It makes 3D chess from Star Trek look silly.”

Quantum chess (as played in the tournament) is the brainchild of Chris Cantwell of Quantum Realm Games. When he was a graduate student in quantum computing at the University of Southern California, he got the idea while working on a project for a class on creativity and invention. “My initial goal was to create a version of quantum chess that was truly quantum in nature, so you get to play with the phenomenon,” Cantwell told Gizmodo back in 2016. “I didn’t want it to just be a game that taught people quantum mechanics.” By playing the game, the player slowly develops an intuitive sense of the rules governing the quantum realm. In fact, “I feel like I’ve come to more intuitively understand quantum phenomena myself, just by making the game,” he said.

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"Augen auf die Straße"

Erdgeschosszonen darben. Kann von ihnen ein Anstoß zur Stadterneuerung nach der Pandemie ausgehen?

Erdgeschosszonen darben. Kann von ihnen ein Anstoß zur Stadterneuerung nach der Pandemie ausgehen?

Das 1,5 Grad-Ziel verschlafen

Die verpassten Klimaziele weisen auf ein gehöriges Maß Neokolonialismus der Industriestaaten hin. Ein Kommentar

Die verpassten Klimaziele weisen auf ein gehöriges Maß Neokolonialismus der Industriestaaten hin. Ein Kommentar

Phosphorus equivalent of graphene makes reconfigurable transistors

May be useful for security, as it’s hard to tell how the circuitry might execute.

Image of two sets of bar graphs.

Enlarge / One gate, two behaviors. (credit: Peng Wu et al.)

At the moment, our processors are built on silicon. But fundamental limits on what can be done with that material has researchers eyeing ways to use materials that have inherently small features, like nanotubes or atomically thin materials. At least in theory, these will let us do what we're now doing, just more efficiently and/or with physically smaller features.

But can these materials allow us to do things that silicon can't? The answer appears to be yes, based on research published earlier this week. In it, the researchers describe transistors that can be reconfigured on the fly so that they perform completely different operations. They suggest this can be useful for security, as it would keep bad actors from figuring out how security features are implemented.

Doping vs. security

The researchers, based at Perdue and Notre Dame, lay out an argument for why this sort of reconfigurable circuitry could have security implications. It comes down to the materials science of silicon transistors. They require areas of silicon that either hold negative or positive charge (creatively named p- or n-type semiconductors). These are created by doping, or adding small amounts of certain elements to the silicon. This is done during the manufacturing, and the doping is locked into place at that point. This means that the operation of individual transistors is locked into place when the chip is made.

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Zu geringe Nachfrage: Tesla hält wohl Produktion von Model S und X an

Tesla setzt die Herstellung zweier Modelle aus, weil die Nachfrage offenbar nicht hoch genug ist. Dennoch sollen im laufenden Jahr 500.000 Autos verkauft werden. (Tesla, Technologie)

Tesla setzt die Herstellung zweier Modelle aus, weil die Nachfrage offenbar nicht hoch genug ist. Dennoch sollen im laufenden Jahr 500.000 Autos verkauft werden. (Tesla, Technologie)

Pirate IPTV Provider Must Pay DISH $15.8m in Damages

Back in January, US broadcaster DISH Network filed a sealed complaint targeting the Florida-based owner of a pirate IPTV service operating under several brand names. After almost a year, the case has now been concluded. In addition to complying with a permanent injunction, defendant Robert Reich has agreed to pay DISH more than $15.8m in damages.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

IPTVWhen the stars align, there is good money to be made running a pirate IPTV service.

Given that suppliers, software, hardware, customers and payment processors all behave as expected, things can run relatively trouble-free. However, there’s always a risk that rightsholders will step in to disrupt or even shut down the party.

DISH Files Lawsuit Targeting Pirate IPTV Service

As it has done on numerous occasions in the past couple of years, back in January DISH filed a lawsuit in a US court in an effort to shut down a pirate IPTV service.

Owned by Robert Reich, an alleged resident of Riviera Beach, Florida, the business involved platforms operating under several brands including Channel Broadcasting Corporation of Belize Ltd, Channel Broadcasting Cable, CBC Cable, and CBC.

According to the DISH complaint, Reich is the owner and operator of the ‘CBC X-View Cable Service’ which does business at CBC.bz. DISH alleged that the service utilized official DISH subscriber accounts (many of which had Florida addresses) to ‘steal’ the company’s programming before retransmitting it via the Internet.

“Defendant sells subscriptions to the CBC pirate television service for $60 per month plus a $55 installation fee. To purchase a subscription, customers can contact CBC through a variety of means according to CBC’s website, including telephone, email, Facebook, and WhatsApp VOIP service,” the complaint alleged.

DISH went on to claim that Reich’s service was also being used in several hotels in Belize, including the Radisson Fort George, with DISH error messages on the establishments’ screens betraying that DISH was the source of the pirated video content.

DISH Tracked Reich Down in Belize

During April, DISH used a former police officer and process server to serve Reich in Belize, delivering an ex parte motion for a temporary restraining order and motion for preservation order, and an asset freeze granted previously by the court.

In a subsequent motion to quash, Reich said that he hadn’t been properly served but in a Florida court, Judge Rodney Smith dismissed the motion and sided with DISH. In May, the court noted the earlier temporary restraining order and acknowledged that the parties had met to agree the terms of a preliminary injunction to be formalized by the court.

With that order granted and severe restrictions placed on Reich’s assets, the court ordered the businessman to keep detailed records of his expenditures moving forward. The case rolled on but in October, the court was told that the parties were moving towards a settlement.

Stipulated Judgment and Permanent Injunction

Documents filed with the court this week revealed that a settlement had indeed been reached.

Rather than dealing with the matter outside court, DISH and partner NAGRASTAR asked the court to enter judgment under the Federal Communications Act, specifically 47 U.S.C. § 605(a) and 47 U.S.C. § 605(e)(4), which covers the sale of device codes (aka subscriptions) and piracy devices such as configured set-top boxes.

According to the filing, defendants Robert Reich, wife Carol Reich (who was named in an amended complaint), and their company Channel Broadcasting Corporation of Belize Limited have agreed to pay damages to DISH following their sale of more than 21,000 ‘access credentials’ (aka subscriptions) that utilized DISH content.

The court was happy to sign off on the arrangement.

“DISH is awarded statutory damages of $15,852,000.00 under the FCA, calculated at the parties’ agreed upon amount of $750.00 for each of the 21,136 access credentials sold and supported by Defendants to the CBC Service through which Defendants provided unauthorized access to DISH’s television programming,” Judge Rodney Smith writes in his order.

In addition to the substantial damages award, the defendants are now the subject of a permanent injunction that prevents them from receiving, retransmitting or copying any DISH content, or assisting others to do so.

They are also permanently restrained from operating any website that trafficks in any technology or service that might enable third-parties to access DISH programming without paying the broadcaster.

The related documents can be found here and here (pdf)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Von Panik in den Lockdown getrieben

Bundeskanzlerin und Länderchefs fahren erneut das öffentliche Leben herunter und schränken Grundrechte ein. Was das für unsere Demokratie bedeutet und welche Alternativen es gegeben hätte

Bundeskanzlerin und Länderchefs fahren erneut das öffentliche Leben herunter und schränken Grundrechte ein. Was das für unsere Demokratie bedeutet und welche Alternativen es gegeben hätte

VR meetings are weird, but they beat our current reality

VR app called Arthur lets you, distant colleagues collaborate within a 3D meeting space.

A virtual workspace is composed of heavily stylized floating heads and a permanent sunset.

Enlarge (credit: Arthur VR)

The Sun never sets in virtual reality. This occurred to me after an hour-long briefing in an Oculus Quest 2 headset. Joined by more than a dozen other floating avatars, we teleported our way around an “outdoor” meeting space that could only be described as aircraft-carrier-meets-Croatian-vacation.

Beyond the vast expanse of virtual breakout spaces was a stunning sunset, but the day never grew dark. When I pressed a button on the Touch Controller a tad too long, I ended up standing unnervingly close to another avatar, a fellow journalist. Then I remembered that you can’t catch the coronavirus from a digital simulacrum.

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