Quantum Computers are the way of the future

      Quantum Computation is something that is not going through the mind of the every day consumer.  Alphabet's 'Google' have teamed up with NASA to develop the super computer 'D-wave 2X'.  The D-wave 2X is much different than computers we know today,computers "rely on bits representing ones and zeros to complete tasks. In contrast, a quantum bit, or “qubit,” pushes the boundaries of physics by representing a one and a zero at the same time. Many qubits working together at the same time would in theory create a computer that performs some calculations exponentially faster"(wsj.com).  If google is able to develop this technology fully, then the applications of these algorithms could be used in any sort of way.  It can be applied to the NYSE where stocks can be calculated faster in real time, and people can make transactions and trades without having to worry about computer malfunctions.  In the healthcare industry, doctors can use this on the systems they have for large research.  They would be able to diagnose patients faster or find out what causes a disease quicker. The article goes on to explain that this could help in the airline industry.  Google believes that it would decrease airline delays by selecting the best places for the aircraft and crew to be (wsj.com).
     However there is one problem that Google explained, it can only be designed to perform a single specific task.  Google said it "needed absolutely zero temperatures to work and was at risk of blowing up when it had to be cleaned recently" (wsj.com).  Now this can pose a problem for large companies, or facilities that want to use this quantum computing.  The major problem is that it would need to be kept in an environment that keeps the machine in stable condition.  Most corporations or large facilities that the machine will be used in have existing space for the machine to replace their old computation system, however the company or owner of the facility may not know if the conditions are safe for it to work properly. 

    International Business Machines corp. is also working on universal quantum computers.  Now this will most likely not be ready for another fifteen to twenty years, but Google says that this would be the holy grail of technology.  They would be able to apply it to anything making computers do tasks that they were unable to do before.  Google also believes that this can be applied to the field of artificial intelligence.  It can be used for machine learning, this would allow for computers to learn as users continue to use them. This would then make computations and the use of the computer much faster than it already was.  It can also be applied to any consumer product, like smartphones or tablets or laptops.  The limit for this technology is exponential.
    Some skeptics believe that this quantum computer might not be faster than a super computer.  Matthias Troyer explained that it was faster when using classical algorithms on problems that were designed to be hard for the algorithm but easy for the D-wave.  This means that only the machine speeds up the calculation rather than providing a new algorithm for the computer.

Sources:
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/what-are-nasa-and-google-doing-d-wave-2x-quantum-computer-496766
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/12/10/googles-tough-search-a-quantum-leap-in-computing-power/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V1LcPEEcZk