Read Local: Bookshop.org has launched a new e-reading platform aimed at supporting third-party booksellers. The platform, which debuted five years ago with the goal of helping independent bookstores, is now extending that mission to the eBook market, despite Amazon's overwhelming dominance. According to recent data from research firm IBISWorld, Amazon controls over 80 percent of all online (e)book sales. The retail giant also owns the highly popular Kindle platform, making it even harder for readers to choose smaller, independent alternatives."No matter how much you love your local bookstore," Bookshop founder Andy Hunter said, "if you want to read an e-book, you have to go to Amazon" or any other online platform. eBooks are now a significant revenue source for publishers and writers, and they could also benefit independent bookstores if readers are willing to practice a form of "socially-conscious consumerism."Bookshop.org's new offering for eBook enthusiasts includes enhanced reading tools and the ability to purchase eBooks from local sellers. Readers can acquire their digital books in the same way they buy physical ones by choosing a specific local bookstore to support or allowing Bookshop to distribute the funds across all participating sellers.Once purchased, eBooks can be read using a dedicated mobile app on iOS or Android devices, with a web-based option available for desktop readers. However, Bookshop notes that the "full" reading experience, which includes advanced features like bookmarks, highlights, annotations, font and typeface customization, text search, and device syncing, is only accessible via the mobile app.Since its inception, Bookshop has raised over $35 million to support independent bookstores, according to official figures. Founder Andy Hunter explained that while there is no "real way" to make the eBook service profitable, profitability isn't the focus in this case. Bookshop's mission is to help smaller bookstores not just survive, but thrive, in an increasingly digital world. // Related StoriesAmazon's eBook service undoubtedly offers a seamless reading experience, and it is likely to remain dominant in the near future. However, Hunter and Bookshop are determined to offer an alternative.There's "no reason on Earth to give a billionaire your $9.99 for your e-book," Hunter said, criticizing the growing influence of Silicon Valley oligarchs. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can invest in, we can support our local community even when we're reading digital books," the entrepreneur added.

In context: Broadcom's management of VMware since the acquisition has led to widespread dissatisfaction among customers, with many considering reducing or eliminating their ties with the company. The pressure is mounting for customers to either commit to a VMware subscription, forgo VMware support, or transition away from VMware technologies entirely. In the wake of Broadcom's acquisition of VMware in late 2023, a growing number of customers have expressed discontent with the virtualization giant's new direction. The changes implemented by Broadcom have left many organizations at a crossroads, facing difficult decisions about their IT infrastructure.Ars Technica spoke with an IT vendor manager from a global food manufacturing company with approximately 5,500 employees. The manager, who requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, has been using VMware's vSphere since the early 2000s. "We love it," the manager told Ars Technica. "It's hard for us to figure out how we can live without it, but we're going to."The food manufacturer relies heavily on VMware, with about 300 virtual machines and every company application running on top of VMware. However, their five-year enterprise agreement expired in December, leaving them ineligible for VMware support unless they purchase a subscription. The IT manager revealed that costs associated with running vSphere are set to increase fourfold, largely due to Broadcom bundling unwanted VMware products together. "They wouldn't sell us what we need," the manager explained.The issue of support and pricing is not unique to this company. Martin Biggs, VP and managing director of strategic initiatives and EMEA at Spinnaker, a company now offering software maintenance support for VMware, told Ars Technica that organizations are reporting price increases of three to six times on average. The largest price hike Spinnaker has encountered is a reported twentyfold increase.While Broadcom has started offering some discounts reducing price increases from seven- or eightfold to three- or fourfold in some cases concerns persist. Michael Warrilow, a Gartner VP analyst, told The Register that Broadcom may raise VMware prices even further in the future. He also highlighted Broadcom's preference for two- or three-year subscriptions, which could leave customers facing even steeper costs sooner than anticipated. // Related StoriesRecent reports and discussions on Reddit suggest that customers are being pressured into three-year VMware subscriptions.Support has become a critical issue for many customers. The food manufacturer's IT manager reported that after Broadcom's acquisition, they were no longer able to contact VMware directly for support. Instead, they were directed to IT distributor Ingram Micro, with response times stretching to a week or longer. This change came after Broadcom informed the company it wasn't large enough to receive direct support.The diagram above showcases an integration of VMware and Citrix XenDesktop for virtual desktop provisioning and application management across various types of endpoint devices.Migrating away from VMware is not the easy option as it has many challenges. A January Gartner research note estimated that large-scale migrations, involving 2,000 or more VMs, could take 18 to 48 months. Even for midsize enterprises, untangling dependencies on VMware's server virtualization platform could take at least two years.For the food manufacturer, the biggest hurdle in moving away from VMware is internal rather than technical. "We just don't have enough internal resources and timing," the manager told Ars Technica. "That's what I'm worried about. This is going to take a lot of time internally to go through this whole process, and we're shorthanded as it is. It's such a big, heavy lift for us, and we're also very risk averse, so swapping out that piece of technology in our infrastructure is risky."The executive added: "We loved VMware. And then when Broadcom bought 'em, we hated 'em."In response to these complaints, Broadcom directed inquiries to a blog post by CEO Hock Tan outlining the company's VMware strategy. In the post, Tan claimed that Broadcom is "flexible and open" regarding subscriptions, stating, "Customers have choice when deciding the length of their subscriptions, whether they purchase directly from us at Broadcom or through channel partners. Either way, we will structure contract durations in alignment with our customers' journeys."However, despite Broadcom's assurances, a VMware customer contacted by Ars Technica confirmed the claims made in recent Reddit posts about being pressured into three-year commitments.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsWill it or wont it?Trusted sourcesSomeone is wrongThe judge rulesThats it, I dont care anymore. The speculation surrounding whether the forthcoming Apple iPhone SE 4 will have a notch at the top of its screen, or adopt the Dynamic Island format introduced on the Apple iPhone 14 series, has reached such a ridiculous point, I no longer want to hear about it until the phone is officially revealed.Lets talk about it.Recommended VideosWhat has got me to breaking point? Its the repeated flip-flopping. One day a report comes out saying the phone will have a notch, and the next theres another report claiming itll have the Dynamic Island. It wouldnt be so bad if it was just two reports spaced by weeks or even months, but instead, its multiple reports coming in the space of days, and over a long period of time.RelatedBased on what has been reported to me, the iPhone SE could have a design very similar to that of the current iPhone 16 still in development. The new iPhone SE will most likely have a single camera instead of the double one of the iPhone 16 models, otherwise it seems that the pic.twitter.com/Z1Gio4nBRu Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) February 8, 2024Let me illustrate it for you. It all traces back to February 2024, when the 4th generation iPhone SE was linked with the iPhone 16s shape and with the iPhone XRs dimensions, and the claim was that it would include a pill-shape cutout for the Dynamic Island at the top of the screen. Fast forward to January 28, 2025, after a whole lot of speculation on both sides of the fence, and were told the iPhone SE 4 will have a notch.Notch like iPhone 14 is correct Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) January 28, 2025Over a year weve seen multiple conflicting reports and various images and videos, each not really confirming the situation one way or the other, but appearing adamant their conclusion was the correct one. Once 2025 hit, talk of the notch and Dynamic Island reached fever pitch, with snippets of code apparently showing the Dynamic Island, and the source of the original rumor that started it all now saying the phone will have a notch. I know this is how the rumor mill works, but rarely is there such division.iPhone SE 4 mockup render Front Page Tech / Jon ProsserIts not like the reports are solely coming from anonymous sources, or can be marked down as idle speculation by fans. Most come from trusted industry watchers, known insiders, or individuals in the business of leaking details about unreleased devices, and with a good track record for accuracy. This makes it all even more infuriating because Id usually trust these sources, yet something is clearly amiss here.New iPhone models are always hotly anticipated, but the iPhone SE 4 seems to have risen above Apples previous SE models in terms of the buzz around it, and its surprising to see most of the talk centered on one aspect, and the opinions so opposite. Whats got phone pundits so sweaty and eager to chime in? The Dynamic Island is a delightful way to add functionality to the necessary cutout at the top of the screen and would be a big update for the SE line. However, its not what Id call transformative, and if it wasnt there I doubt Id really miss it.Apple iPhone X Julian Chokkattu / Digital TrendsThe notch looks old and has been controversial ever since it made its first appearance on the Essential Phone in 2017 and subsequently on the iPhone X in the same year. Few like the design, a lot hate the design, but most just tolerate it. Today it can be seen as an outdated way of dealing with the multiple cameras and sensors required on the front of our phones, and not an especially attractive one. No one wants the notch, but many expect the notch.Apple iPhone SE (2022) Andy Boxall / Digital TrendsWhat all this means is that the situation could go either way, and thats the impression weve been given by the endless speculation over the last 12 months too. It also means someone out there is wrong.The iPhone SE 4, or iPhone 16E depending on what Apple decides to call its next budget model, either has a notch or the Dynamic Island. It cant have both. Or can it? The Dynamic Island is really a hardware and software solution, enlarging the usable space around the pill-shaped cutout at the top of the iPhones screen for features like Live Activities. A notch shapes the screen around a cutout at the top of the device, and the software ignores it entirely. Apple could adapt the Dynamic Island for use with a notch, if the SE 4 ends up using one, technically making everyone right.Though possible, its probably unlikely. We must remember the iPhone SE 4 is Apples budget device, and compromises have to be made to keep the cost down. Using up supplies of notched screens would be one way to do it. On the other hand, the Dynamic Island would bring the iPhone SE 4 in-line with the iPhone 16s design (and presumably, the iPhone 17, but the Dynamic Island seems to be clouding that model too), and adapting the notch to include some of the Dynamic Islands functionality in iOS would give the SE 4 a modern feature to increase value.Nothing suggesting the iPhone SE 4s screen will do any of this has been seen in code for beta versions of iOS though, so its just speculation on my part.iPhone 12 Mini Andrew Martonik / Digital TrendsThe fact Im adding my own speculation to the speculation, which cant agree on the situation anyway, only makes me more angry about the whole thing. The will-it, wont-it back-and-forth about the iPhone SE 4s screen has reached the point where nothing new should be added to the conversation unless it has conclusive proof to back it up.Whether thats a leaked image of the actual device and not a render or mockup based on code, or Apple officially revealing it during an event, it doesnt matter. No more speculation, please. Weve seen and heard the arguments from both sides and now all thats left is for the judge to rule. Im the judge here, and Im throwing the whole thing out because the entire case is based on hearsay.I dont care what the iPhone SE 4s screen looks like anymore, or if it will feature the Dynamic Island or not, and I wont until Apple shows me.Editors Recommendations

Christopher Nolan loves to cast actors hes previously worked with on his new projects. The trend will continue for The Odyssey,as Benny Safdie is the latest actor to join the cast.Per The Hollywood Reporter, Safdie joins the all-star cast ofThe Odyssey, which includesMatt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyongo, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal. No character details have been revealed.Recommended VideosSafdie played Edward Teller in Nolans Oscar-winning drama, Oppenheimer. Safdie recently completed filming his role onHappy Gilmore 2. Safdies solo directorial debut, The Smashing Machine, will be released later this year by A24. The sports biopic stars Dwayne Johnson as former MMA fighter Mark Kerr.Please enable Javascript to view this contentAfter much speculation, Universal Pictures announced last month that Nolans next movie will be an adaptation of The Odyssey, based on the ancient Greek poem by Homer. Not to be confused with Homers other poem,The Iliad, The Odysseydepicts Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his treacherous journey home after the Trojan War. The epic poem is one of the seminal works in Greek mythology, as Odysseus encounters iconic creatures such as sirens, centaurs, and the Cyclops Polyphemus.Christopher Nolans next film The Odyssey is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homers foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhereon July 17, 2026. Universal Pictures (@UniversalPics) December 23, 2024The Odysseyis slated to begin filming in late February. Per Variety, Nolan plans to shoot off the coast of Sicily on the island of Favignana, known as goat island, the likely place where Homer pictured Odysseus landing in the story. Sicilys Eolian Islands are rumored to be another location where Nolan will film. Nolan will utilize new IMAX technology throughout the shoot.The Odysseyreportedly has a budget of $250 million, the most expensive movie of Nolans career.The Odysseyopens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.Editors Recommendations

Revenue grows to $48.4 billion, helping fuel the chief executives bets on augmented reality and artificial intelligence.

Microsoft reported that its flagship cloud computing business experienced a slowdown in growth amid constraints on data center supply.

Remote work The long-planned return of two astronauts from space is now a political issue This is all pretty bonkers for a lot of reasons. Eric Berger Jan 29, 2025 4:29 pm | 54 NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams wave to their families, friends, and NASA officials on their way to the launch pad June 5 to board Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams wave to their families, friends, and NASA officials on their way to the launch pad June 5 to board Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn Thursday NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are scheduled to don spacesuits to exit the International Space Station. However, despite a plea from President Trump to bring them home as soon as possible, the pair won't be coming home just yet. This will be a routine spacewalk outside the space station.In the meantime, NASA is struggling to contain the fallout from what appears to be a disingenuous political effort by Trump to shame the space agency and Biden administration for the fact that Williams and Wilmore, nearly eight months after they launched into orbit on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, are still there.The brouhaha began on Tuesday evening when SpaceX founder and Trump confidant Elon Musk posted on X that the president had asked SpaceX to bring the two "stranded" astronauts back to Earth. Musk added that SpaceX would do so, and, "Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long."A few hours later, Trump himself weighed in, saying, "I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to 'go get' the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration. They have been waiting for many months on Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck."This is off-nominalNow this is all pretty bonkers for a lot of reasons, but here are two of the biggest ones. First, Williams and Wilmore are not stranded. Their ride home, the Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft, has been docked to the station since September. They can come home at any time. In that sense, SpaceX has already "rescued" the two former Starliner astronauts.Second, the pair was due to come back in late Februarymere weeks from nowbefore an issue with a Crew Dragon spacecraft delayed the launch of the Crew-10 mission. This pushed the Crew-10 launch until late March, and because NASA wants a few days for a handover in orbit, this moved the return of Crew 9with Williams and Wilmore on boardto early April.So, to summarize, any talk about needing to "go and get" Williams and Wilmore in space is folderol. NASA had been planning, literally for months, to bring the crew home in February. Then a problem with a SpaceX vehicle delayed that return until April.NASA, which is part of the executive branch of the government, has been doing its best to hew to the requirements of the new Trump administration. However, in a statement released Wednesday, it seems clear the agency does not want to touch this issue with a 10-foot robotic arm."NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agencys SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions," spokesperson Cheryl Warner said.Screaming in spaceIt's unclear precisely what prompted Trump and Musk to bring this issue up, but it is possible the new administration wanted a near-term "win" in space. Since SpaceX was already slated to bring the crew back in April, someone must have decided it was clever to blame the Biden administration for the Starliner predicament, frame the astronauts as "stranded," and make Trump and Musk look like their saviors.Let's be clear: SpaceX and Crew Dragon currently offer NASA's only means of getting astronauts reliably to and from the International Space Station. This is, massively, to their credit. But for all of the bravado from Musk and Trump on this issue, the most likely outcome is that they're just going to follow the plans NASA has had in place for months.This plan, by the way, was never political. Last summer, as NASA debated internally about whether to fly Williams and Wilmore home on Starlinerwhich experienced some propulsion issues en route to the space station in June 2024I plumbed a lot of sources to determine whether the White House had intervened in the decision. After all, Vice President Kamala Harris led the National Space Council, and it would not look good to lose a crew with the impending election. During the course of that reporting I never found any evidence that the decision went above the head of NASA chief Bill Nelson.So the return of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore has never been a political storyuntil this week. And it's a good thing that the two will be in space tomorrow because, as attested to in the tagline for the movie Alien, in space, no one can hear you scream.Eric BergerSenior Space EditorEric BergerSenior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 54 Comments

packing a punch This mantis shrimp-inspired robotic arm can crack an egg Device can grab like a hand, crawl across the floor, or jump high, just by pulling on a simple muscle. Jennifer Ouellette Jan 29, 2025 2:00 pm | 4 Credit: Seoul National University Credit: Seoul National University Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn more An egg-cracking beam relies on a hyperelastic torque reversal mechanism similar to that used by mantis shrimp and jumping fleas. Credit: Seoul National University. We usually think of robots as being made out of hard, rigid materials, but soft robotics seeks to build robotic devices out of more flexible materials that mimic the properties of those found in living animals. Case in point: Korean engineers have built soft robots capable of rapid and powerful joint movements by employing the same mechanism that gives the mantis shrimp such a powerful punch, according to a new paper published in the journal Science Robotics.As we've reported previously,mantis shrimp come in many different varieties; there are some 450 known species. But they can generally be grouped into two types: those that stab their prey with spear-like appendages ("spearers") and those that smash their prey ("smashers") with large, rounded, and hammer-like claws ("raptorial appendages"). Those strikes are so fast (as much as 23 meters per second, or 51 mph) and powerful, they often produce cavitation bubbles in the water, creating a shock wave that can serve as a follow-up strike, stunning and sometimes killing the prey. Sometimes a strike can even produce sonoluminescence, whereby the cavitation bubbles produce a brief flash of light as they collapse.According toa 2018 study, the secret to that powerful punch seems to arise not from bulky muscles but from the spring-loaded anatomical structure of the shrimp's arms, akin to a bow and arrow or a mousetrap. The shrimp's muscles pull on a saddle-shaped structure in the arm, causing it to bend and store potential energy, which is released with the swinging of the club-like claw. It's essentially a latch-like mechanism (technically, Latch-mediated spring actuation, or LaMSA), with small structures in the muscle tendons called sclerites serving as the latch.This isn't the first time scientists have looked to the mantis shrimp as an inspiration for robotics. In 2021, we reported on a Harvard researcher who developed a biomechanical model for the mantis shrimp's mighty appendage and built a tiny robot to mimic that movement. What's unusual in the mantis shrimp is that there is a one-millisecond delay between when the unlatching and the snapping action occurs.The Harvard team identified four distinct striking phases and confirmed it's the geometry of the mechanism that produces the rapid acceleration after the initial unlatching by the sclerites. The short delay may help reduce wear and tear of the latching mechanisms over repeated use.New types of motion The operating principle of the Hyperelastic Torque Reversal Mechanism (HeTRM) involves compressing an elastomeric joint until it reaches a critical point, where stored energy is instantaneously released. Credit: Science Robotics, 2025 Co-author Kyu-Jin Cho of Seoul National University became interested in soft robotics as a graduate student, when he participated in the RoboSoft Grand Challenge. Part of his research involved testing the strength of so-called "soft robotic manipulators," a type often used in assembly lines for welding or painting, for example. He noticed some unintended deformations in the shape under applied force and realized that the underlying mechanism was similar to how the mantis shrimp punches or how fleas manage to jump so high and far relative to their size.In fact, Cho's team previously built a flea-inspired catapult mechanism for miniature jumping robots, using the Hyperelastic Torque Reversal Mechanism (HeTRM) his lab developed. Exploiting torque reversal usually involves incorporating complicated mechanical components. However, "I realized that applying [these] principles to soft robotics could enable the creation of new types of motion without complex mechanisms," Cho said.Now he's built on that work to incorporate the HeTRM into a soft robotic arm that relies upon material properties rather than structural design. It's basically a soft beam with alternating hyperelastic and rigid segments.Our robot is made of soft, stretchy materials, kind of like rubber," said Cho. "Inside, it has a special part that stores energy and releases it all at onceBAM!to make the robot move super fast. It works a bit like how a bent tree branch snaps back quickly or how a flea jumps really far. This robot can grab things like a hand, crawl across the floor, or even jump high, and it all happens just by pulling on a simple muscle. Using HeTRM, energy can be stored in a flexible joint and then released instantly, allowing it to wrap around objects, much like an octopus. Credit: Science Robotics, 2025 Making the soft robotic arm involved a combination of 3D printing and silicone molding, per the authors. The mold had a top and bottom part, with rigid segments fixed within the bottom mold; the top mold had corresponding holes to the cavities for the soft segments. The researchers used laser cutting to make acrylic sheet "slit molds" inserted between the rigid segments. They then poured silicone into the bottom mold, placed the top mold over it, and poured more silicone through the top mold's holes to create the soft segments.The molds and plate were removed after three hours of curing, and the team applied silicon adhesive to bond the rigid segments to the soft joints. They used a titanium wire as an actuating tendon, using Teflon grease to reduce friction. They also used 3D-printed markers along the rigid segments for image tracking.Cho et al. next tested the capabilities of their robotic arm by mounting it onto a platform, using a motor to pull the tendon and a three-pulley measurement system to measure the tendon force. When the motor pulled the tendon in one direction, the beam compressed. Tension was gradually increased until the beam snapped in the opposite direction, eventually returning to its original position.The team demonstrated the robotic arm both gently stroking an egg (without the HeTRM) and cracking the shell (with the HeTRM). The researchers built a two-legged robot that could crawl like a turtle and use the HeTRM and twining octopus-like tentacles comprised of six HeTRM joints arranged in pairs to propel itself across uneven wet sand. They also devised a soft gripper capable of grabbing a falling ping-pong ball or a tangerine or holding delicate objects like a piece of jelly or an origami box without crushing them.Science Robotics, 2025. DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.ado7696 (About DOIs).Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 4 Comments

Particles of light helped test a quantum paradoxArlume/AlamyResearchers created particles of light that effectively exist in 37 dimensions at once so they could test an extreme version of a quantum paradox.This experiment shows that quantum physics is more nonclassical than many of us thought. It could be [that] 100 years after its discovery, we are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg, says Zhenghao Liu at the Technical University of Denmark.He and his colleagues focused on the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox, which shows

Simulating turbulent air flow accurately is vital for weather forecastsEUMETSAT/ESAQuantum-inspired algorithms can simulate turbulent fluid flows on a classical computer much faster than existing tools, slashing computation times from several days on a large supercomputer to just hours on a regular laptop. This could improve weather forecasts and increase the efficiency of industrial processes, say researchers.Turbulence in liquid or air involves numerous interacting eddies that quickly become so chaotically complex that precise simulation is impossible for even the most powerful computers. Quantum counterparts promise to improve matters, but currently even the most advanced machines are incapable of anything but rudimentary demonstrations. AdvertisementThese turbulence simulations can be simplified by replacing precise calculations with probabilities. But even this approximation leaves scientists with computations that are infeasibly demanding to solve.Nikita Gourianov at the University of Oxford and his colleagues have now developed a new approach that uses quantum computer-inspired algorithms called tensor networks to represent turbulence probability distributions.Tensor networks originated in physics and came into common use in the early 2000s. They now offer a promising path to eke out much more performance from existing classical computers before truly useful quantum machines are available. The latest science news delivered to your inbox, every day.Sign up to newsletterThe algorithms and the way of thinking comes from the world of quantum simulation, and these algorithms are very close to what quantum computers do, says Gourianov. Were seeing quite a drastic speed-up, both in theory and in practice.In just a few hours, the team was able to run a simulation on a laptop that previously took several days on a supercomputer. The new algorithm saw a 1000-fold reduction in processor demand, and a million-fold reduction in memory demand. While this simulation was just a simple test, the same types of problem on a larger scale lie behind weather forecasts, aerodynamic analysis of aircraft and analysis of industrial chemical processes.The turbulence problem, which has data in five dimensions, gets extremely difficult without using tensors, says Gunnar Mller at the University of Kent, UK. Computationally, its a nightmare, he says. You could maybe do it in limited cases, when you have a supercomputer and are happy to run it for a month or two.Tensor networks work by, in effect, reducing the amount of data a simulation requires, drastically cutting the computational power required to run it. The amount and nature of the data removed can be carefully controlled by dialling the level of precision up or down.These mathematical tools have already been used in the cat-and-mouse game between quantum computer developers and classical computer scientists. Google announced in 2019 that a quantum processor called Sycamore had achieved quantum supremacy the point at which a quantum computer can complete a task that would be, for all intents and purposes, impossible for ordinary computers.However, tensor networks simulating the same problem on large clusters of conventional graphics processing units later achieved the same thing in just over 14 seconds, undermining Googles previous claim. Google has since pulled ahead once more with its new Willow quantum machine.Large and fault-tolerant quantum computers, once they are created, will be able to run tensors on much larger scales with much greater precision than classical computers, but Mller says he is excited by what might be achieved in the meantime.With a laptop, the authors of this paper could beat whats possible on a supercomputer, just because they have a smarter algorithm, he says. If you use this algorithm on a supercomputer, you may go way further than you could using any direct computational approach. It immediately has a tremendous benefit, and I dont have to wait another 10 years to have the perfect quantum computer.Journal reference:Science Advances DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads5990 Topics:quantum computing