Quantum Computers Becoming Reality?

We've all heard of bits and bytes.  Ever hear of a qubit?  So it goes like this.  Bits, as we traditionally know them, are either in a 1 or 0 state.  Right, well, a qubit exists in a quantum state. So for example, it can be either 1 or 0 or both or somewhere in between.  This is the crux of quantum computing.  Sufficiently confused?  What if we told you a quantum computer or a system built with a quantum computing 16 qubit engine could carry out 64,000 calculations simultaneously in parallel universes?  Oh and a machine built with a hundreds of qubits processing engine could calculate more operations than there are atoms in the universe... Neo, take the blue pill or the red pill, it's your choice...

A little company by the name of D-Wave is about to set the industry on its ear next week with the debut of their 16-qubit processor.

There are skeptics out there of course...

From a TechWorld interview - "Scientists in the world's many quantum science departments are looking anxiously at whether the demonstration - linked to a computer museum in Mountain View California, will vindicate their work or cast doubt upon it.

"This is somewhat like claims of cold fusion," said Professor Andrew Steane of Oxford University's Centre for Quantum Computing. "I doubt that this computing method is substantially easier to achieve than any other."

Let's just hope they have enough jigawatts in there quantum flux capacitors.