Dave Bacon Moves to Google

I came across this: Dave Bacon, previously at the University of Washington, has moved on to Google. Is the commercialization of quantum computing on the horizon?

13th Workshop on Quantum Information Processing Presentations

I came across this on Dave Bacon's blog last week: the presentations from the 13th Workshop on Quantum Information Processing (QIP 2010). If you're interested in the field, you're sure to find something of interest to check out.

Quantum Algorithms Make Cover of Communications of the ACM

Quantum algorithms made the cover of this month's (February 2010) Communications of the ACM (CACM) in an article titled Recent Progress in Quantum Algorithms by Bacon and Van Dam. Having quantum computing make the cover of CACM shows that the field is moving more and more into the mainstream.

Not only is it exciting to see the article in CACM, but it is very well written and up to date. Many of the texts on quantum computing cover Grover's and/or Shor's. This article covered playing quantum games, simulation, and Shor's in addition to the more general finding hidden symmetries. They also explain quantum computing through the quantum coin toss (which I also did in my dissertation) and the drunkard's walk. At 10 pages I'd have to describe this article as an excellent intro to quantum algorithms and recent progress being made.