Computing

A new qubit platform: Electrons from a heated light filament (top) land on solid neon (red block), where a single electron (represented as a wave function in blue) is trapped and manipulated by a superconducting quantum circuit (bottom patterned chip). Credit: Courtesy of Dafei Jin/Argonne National LaboratoryA new qubit platform could transform quantum information science and technology.You are no doubt viewing this article on a digital device whose basic unit of information is the bit, either 0 or 1. Scientists around…

Elon Musk isn’t the only entrepreneur with big ideas about how to fix social media.A growing number of startups are emerging to challenge the status quo. Many of them are rooted in their founders’ experiences within the industry’s leading giant, Facebook’s parent company, now known as Meta Platforms Inc. FB 5.37% Nearly a decade ago, then-WhatsApp executive Neeraj Arora helped negotiate the $22 billion sale…

The drought in chip availability that has hit auto production, raised electronics prices and stoked supply-chain worries in capitals around the globe has a new pain point: a lack of chips needed for the machines that make chips, industry executives say.The wait time it takes to get machinery for chip-making—one of the world’s most complex and delicate kinds of manufacturing—has extended over recent months. Early in the pandemic it took months from placing an order to receiving the equipment. That time frame has stretched…

After earning an M.B.A. at Kent State University and working for International Business Machines Corp., Umang Gupta was tempted to return to his native India and start his own company. He went home for an extended visit in late 1977. Then he was lured back by two things, a girlfriend and a sense that Silicon Valley was his best career bet.He married the young woman, Ruth Pike, in 1980 and raised a family with her. He signed on as employee No. 17 at what became the software giant Oracle Corp.…

The precise movements of millions of users of the gay-dating app Grindr were collected from a digital advertising network and made available for sale, according to people familiar with the matter.The information was available for sale since at least 2017, and historical data may still be obtainable, the people said. Grindr two years ago cut off the flow of location data to any ad networks, ending the possibility of such data collection today, the company said. The commercial availability of the personal information, which…

In a securities filing Friday, Activision said Mr. Kotick would receive $14.4 million in severance if he is terminated or quits under a variety of circumstances within a year of a change of control at the company. It also said Mr. Kotick owns 4.3 million shares and has the right to acquire another 2.2 million—potentially worth just over $500 million combined at the $95-a-share deal price. Mr. Kotick received $826,549 in compensation in 2021, according to the filing. Friday’s disclosure, in Activision’s annual proxy…

Microsoft on Tuesday forecast double-digit revenue growth for the next fiscal year, driven by demand for cloud computing services, and its shares jumped about 4 percent.Microsoft forecast Intelligent Cloud revenue of $21.1 billion (roughly Rs. 1,61,695 crore) to $21.35 billion (roughly Rs. 1,63,611 crore) for its fiscal fourth quarter, driven by strong growth in its Azure platform. That compared with a Wall Street consensus of $20.933 billion (roughly Rs. 1,60,427 crore), according to Refinitiv data."If there is any macro…

Ukraine's two leading suppliers of neon, which produce about half the world's supply of the key ingredient for making chips, have halted their operations as Moscow has sharpened its attack on the country, threatening to raise prices and aggravate the semiconductor shortage.Some 45 percent to 54 percent of the world's semiconductor grade neon, critical for the lasers used to make chips, comes from two Ukrainian companies, Ingas and Cryoin, according to Reuters calculations based on figures from the companies and market…