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Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a new chip that it said showed quantum computing is “years, not decades” away, joining Google and IBM in predicting that a fundamental change in computing technology is much closer than recently believed. Quantum computing holds the promise of carrying out calculations that would take today’s systems millions of years and could unlock discoveries in medicine, chemistry, and many other fields where near-infinite seas of possible combinations of molecules confound classical computers. Quantum computers also hold the danger of upending today’s cybersecurity systems, where most encryption relies on the assumption that it would take too long to brute force gain access. The biggest challenge of quantum computers is that a fundamental building block called a qubit, which is similar to a bit in classical computing, is incredibly fast but also extremely difficult to control and prone to errors. Microsoft said the Majorana 1 chip it has developed is less prone to those errors than rivals and provided as evidence a scientific paper set to be published in academic journal Nature. When useful quantum computers will arrive has become a topic of debate in the upper echelons of the tech industry. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last month that the technology was two decades away from overtaking his company’s chips, the workhorses of artificial intelligence, reflecting broad skepticism. Those remarks prompted Google, which last year showed off its own new quantum chip, to say that commercial quantum computing applications are only five years away. IBM has said large-scale quantum computers will be online by 2033. Microsoft’s Majorana 1 has been in the works for nearly two decades and relies on a subatomic particle called the Majorana fermion whose existence was first theorized in the 1930s. That particle has properties that make it less prone to the errors that plague quantum computers, but it has been hard for physicists to find and control. Microsoft said it created the Majorana 1 chip with indium arsenide and aluminum. The device uses a superconducting nanowire to observe the particles and can be controlled with standard computing equipment. The chip Microsoft revealed Wednesday has far fewer qubits than rival chips from Google and IBM, but Microsoft believes that far fewer of its Majorana-based qubits will be needed to make useful computers because the error rates are lower. Microsoft did not give a timeline for when the chip would be scaled up to create quantum computers that can outstrip today’s machines, but the company said in a blog post that point was “years, not decades” away. Jason Zander, the Microsoft executive vice president who oversees the company’s long-term strategic bets, described Majorana 1 as a “high risk, high reward” strategy. The chip was fabricated at Microsoft labs in Washington state and Denmark. “The hardest part has been solving the physics. There is no textbook for this, and we had to invent it,” Zander said in an interview with Reuters. “We literally have invented the ability to go create this thing, atom by atom, layer by layer.” Philip Kim, a professor of physics at Harvard University who was not involved in Microsoft’s research, said that Majorana fermions have been a hot topic among physicists for decades and called Microsoft’s work an “exciting development” that put the company at the forefront of quantum research. He also said that Microsoft’s use of a hybrid between traditional semiconductors and exotic superconductors appeared to be a good route toward chips that can be scaled up into more powerful chips. “Although there’s no demonstration (of this scaling up) yet, what they are doing is really successful,” Kim said. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Jamie Freed)
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E-Commerce
As the Trump administration continues to dismantle federal agencies, one that plays a critical role in U.S. infrastructure and election security faces an uncertain future. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), housed in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and tasked with enforcing cybersecurity and protecting American infrastructure across all levels of government, placed multiple members of its election security team on administrative leave over the last few weeks, according to reports by the Associated Press and TechCrunch. The 17 reported election security team members, part of the agencys foreign influence and disinformation teams, were placed on administrative leave as part of an overall review of the team, with a particular focus on those two operations. A DHS spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied that number. On Friday, the Trump administration separately fired more than 130 members of CISA, the DHS confirmed. We are making sweeping cuts and reform across the federal government to eliminate egregious waste and incompetence that has been happening for decades at the expense of the American taxpayer, a DHS spokesperson wrote in an email to Fast Company. The DHS declined to answer any specific questions but noted that it is currently actively identifying other positions it deems wasteful. (The White House did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment.) Although it may be too early to understand the full impact of these personnel shifts, some experts warn that the moves could have serious consequences for future elections. Some of the staff who were put on administrative leave were the regional election security advisers, says Derek Tisler, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-wing think tank. This was a group of election security experts, and they played a vital role in providing on-the-ground support, connecting local election officials to all of the various services and expertise that CISA has to offer. CISA, an agency created by President Donald Trump in 2018, was a critical resource to local election offices in the past three elections, Tisler tells Fast Company. The agency would help state and local officials protect their election systems against physical and cyber attacks. However, CISA found itself in Trump’s crosshairs after the agency released a statement saying the 2020 election was the most secure in American history (Trump falsely claimed that the election was rigged). Trump responded by firing the then-director of CISAone of his own appointeesthrough a Tweet. Trump is not the only Republican to target CISA. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has been leading a crusade against the agency for the past two years. The Ohio congressman subpoenaed the agency for election-related documents, and the Judiciary Committee labeled it the nerve center of government censorship. Tisler says CISAs election security team has been vital because elections are so decentralized: There are more than 8,000 local election jurisdictions across the country that often have very small offices. CISA has valuable election security experts and resources that these offices can call upon. CISA, tasked with overseeing all critical infrastructure, does much more than police election security. Several of its flagship projects have encouraged awareness surrounding best practices for cybersecurity. The agency runs a database of exploited network vulnerabilities for businesses to refer to and has also encouraged tech companies to promote secure development practices in its Secure by Design campaign. Tisler fears that, should CISA dwindle in size, election security will become increasingly vulnerable to both foreign and domestic threats. Since the 2016 election, interference from foreign adversarieslike China, Iran, and Russiahas threatened American election security. Among the 130 CISA members fired by Trump, several were working to counter Chinese hacking threats, according to CNNs Zachary Cohen. Cybersecurity experts on both sides of the aisle have spoken very positively of CISA and the assistance it offers, according to Hugh Thompson, executive chairman of the cybersecurity conference RSAC. The cybersecurity community has become accustomed to partnering with CISA. If you believe that you’re currently under attack, CISA would be one of the places that you would go to and either report the incident or get some feedback from them, Thompson says. The administrations approach to cybersecurity has made headlines outside of the job cuts at CISA. Last week, Trump tapped as his new national cyber director the RNC executive Sean Cairncross, who doesnt have any background in cybersecurity. And over the weekend, CISA temporarily froze all of its election security work. But experts agree that its still too early to tell whether these changes are cause for panic or just a sign of mass government overhaul. This is a constantly emerging space, says Tisler. Were going to lose a lot of the support that weve built up to fend off attacks. What exact impact will that have? Its hard to say, but its certainly concerning that there is going to be less support and less response available against cyber attacks.
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E-Commerce
Elon Musk’s work for President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has turned Tesla dealerships and showrooms into protest zones, and the recent wave of demonstrations has inspired the beginnings of a new visual language of protests in Trump’s second term. Protests were organized at more than three dozen Tesla locations over the weekend, where people spoke out against DOGE access to government data and cuts the agency has made to government programs. Turnout varied widely from a dozen or so protesters at some events to hundreds who showed up to a protest in San Francisco. These protests represent a more visible sign of anger at Musk, by using one of his most powerful and accessible visual proxies in the public domainthe Tesla brandas a platform for dissent. Decatur, Georgia. February 15th, 2025. [Photo: Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock] Messaging for higher stakes The signage at these recent protests stands in contrast to that of protests four years ago. When Trump first took office in 2017, protests like the Women’s March inspired a new generation of Instagram-friendly protest signs. “Protest is the new brunch” read one sign at a protest outside Trump’s then-Washington, D.C., hotel. “So bad, even introverts are here,” read another at a protest in New York City. For Millennial and Gen Z protesters who were too young to protest the Vietnam or Iraq wars, these cute, clever signs signaled a mass movement that was new and novel. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that more than a quarter of U.S. adults said they had attended a protest in the previous five years. Columbus, Ohio. February 9th, 2025. [Photo: Paul Becker/Becker1999/Flickr] Trump’s second inauguration, though, wasn’t met with another Women’s March. Even considering the higher turnout of protests during Trump’s first term, the tone of protest signs during that period are trivial by comparison. This time around, visuals indicate a rightful feeling among protestors that the stakes are much higherand protest signs in recent days outside Tesla dealerships and showrooms from Arlington, Virginia; Berkley, California; Seattle; as well as outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., show as much. Seattle, Washington. February 15th, 2025. [Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images] Images of Musk giving a straight-arm salute at Trump’s inauguration rally compared to a Nazi salute are popular, with messages like “Tesla Funds Fascists,” which appeared on a sign in Seattle. At a protest in Arlington, Virginia, one sign showed the Nazi symbol with a line through it and the words “Get Musk Out of Our Government.” Other signs feature pro-democracy messages or criticize Musk, the world’s richest man, for holding so much power despite the fact that the American public did not elect him, and the Senate did not confirm him. At a protest outside a Tesla showroom in San Francisco, signs read, “Uphold Our Constitution,” “Uphold the Rule of Law,” “Unelected, Greedy, Dangerous,” and “Defund Elon, No More Government Contracts.” At a protest in Manhattan, signs included “Friendly Reminder, Elon Musk is Not the President” and “Presidents Are Not Kings.” New York, New York. February 15th, 2025. [Photo: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg/Getty Images] Although many of the protest signs are serious in nature, humor isn’t completely out of the question, as seen in a sign that read “Bad DOGE.” One sticker that went viral on TikTok warns “Don’t Buy a Swasticar.” While some signs would work equally well in 2017 as 2025, there is less affinity for cringey puns, and the tone is less flippant. @everyonehateselon free stickers. link in bio #elon #peoplevselon #tesla original sound – People vs Elon Tesla protest’s business impact Musk’s businesses have come under attack for their owner’s politics. In addition to dealer protests, anti-Musk bumper stickers for Teslas rocketed up the Amazon sales chart after the election last year, and calls to boycott Musk’s companies growing. Singer Sheryl Crow announced she got rid of her Tesla. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sheryl Crow (@sherylcrow) The electric car company saw a sharp 16% drop in sales between December and January, although that could be attributable to a variety of factors, including a focus on end of year sales. Its still too early to see any (Musk backlash) in the Tesla numbers, Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights for Cox Automotive, told CNN. Protest may no longer be the new brunch, but a different visual language is emerging for a new era where protests are less of a fad. Criticizing Trump as fascist isn’t new, but Musk’s salute gives the line of attack a striking new visual while Trump’s attempts to expand his executive powers gives it a heightened sense of urgency. Messages on signs today are more pointed because the threat to democracy protesters are demonstrating against is less abstract, it’s things DOGE is doing right now.
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