Hello Quantum serves up puzzles with a purpose

Can a puzzle game help make quantum computing less puzzling? Find out for yourself by playing Hello Quantum, a mobile game designed to teach introductory principles of quantum computing. Players can explore the building blocks of quantum mechanics through puzzles, then toggle between playing the game and exploring the IBM Q Experience. Quantum computing has always been fascinating, but Hello Quantum goes the distance to make it fun.

See if you have what it takes to master Hello Quantum ->

Serving Up Smarter Ways to Use Data  

It’s a data-powered world out there—especially at the US Open. For over 25 years, IBM has collaborated with the U.S. Tennis Association to leverage data in rewarding ways for fans, coaches and players alike. This year, we’re demonstrating how these rewards extend far beyond the court. Our onsite experience at the Open shows not only how IBM technologies are being used to change the way fans experience tennis, but also how this same tech is applied to solve real world problems. Did you know Watson Visual Recognition can help identify players’ gestures during matches, as well as defects on a factory floor. Another Watson API, Sound Analysis, can derive insights from the intensity of crowd noise, and also detect wear-and-tear in elevators and train tracks. From the world of tennis to the world at large, IBM understands that well-wielded data can help unlock better experiences for all.

Learn more about IBM and the US Open ->

Giving AI a lesson in humanity

AI is functional, but can it be friendly? Soul Machines believes so. They’re a company working to enhance the way we interact with systems like virtual tutors and digital assistants that are powered by AI. Soul Machines taps the talents of AI researchers, neuroscientists, psychologists, artists, and other innovative thinkers to help create personable “digital humans” that run on the backbone of IBM Watson—specifically, Watson Assistant, which powers the AI’s dialog interface. By creating approachable AI-powered helpers, Soul Machines is helping ensure you’ll walk away from machine interactions with a smile on your face.

Learn how Watson helps power approachable AI ->

The World’s Smartest Supercomputer

IBM and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently unveiled the world’s smartest, most powerful supercomputer, called Summit. At peak performance it can run 200 quadrillion calculations per second, or, in other words, if every person on Earth completed one calculation per second, it would take the world population 305 days to do what Summit can do in 1 second. Summit was built to meet the data-centric demands of the AI era, which can optimize the amount of simulation that needs to be done for faster results. Summit was designed with over 30 applications in mind, and it’s unveiling helps bring the computer industry even closer to supercomputing at scale.

Learn more about Summit here ->

A Mission to Better Manage Emissions with Blockchain

Heard of carbon credits? They’re permits that help manage carbon emissions. Countries and businesses receive credits from a governing authority allowing them to produce a given amount of carbon emissions. If they produce less carbon than they’re allotted, they can sell the remaining credits. In theory, this promotes cleaner, greener business practices, but managing carbon credits is a complex process, as there’s no central exchange for trading them. IBM is tackling the problem head-on, working with Veridium, an eco-minded coalition of industry leaders, to manage carbon credits on Stellar, a public blockchain network. IBM is committed to environmental stewardship, and by helping carbon credits work harder on blockchain, IBM is working to better protect our environment and make the world a better place for everyone in it.

Learn more about trading carbon credits with blockchain ->

Happy International Diamond Day!

Diamonds may be timeless, but today, they’re also timely. On International Diamond Day, IBM is proud to shine a light on TrustChainTM, a project with IBM Blockchain that is helping to trace the provenance of diamonds used in engagement rings. TrustChain’s goal is to instill trust in the origin and ethical sourcing of jewelry—a mission we can all celebrate.

Learn how TrustChain tracks diamonds on a blockchain ->

8/12: The Day Computing Got Personal

Happy birthday to IBM’s first Personal Computer! The IBM 5150 PC changed the way the world works upon its debut thirty-seven years ago. As the 5150 grew in popularity, “PC” became a household name, with computers moving into small businesses, home offices, and living rooms. And with a release year of 1981, the IBM 5150 is technically a millennial—an 80’s baby that makes us proud to this day.

Learn more about the IBM 5150 PC -> 

Mainframe masters

With mainframes storing a significant portion of the world’s data and acting as the backup system for most businesses, mainframe coders are in high demand. Master the Mainframe is a virtual coding competition sponsored by the IBM Z Academic Initiative in which high school and college students put their mainframe-specific programming skills to the test tackling real-world problems. This year, college student Anna McKee made history as the first woman to win the competition. The competition gives employers a firsthand look at some of the best young coders out there, and helps companies connect with––and hire––talented students via a new program called Talent Match.

Learn more about Master the Mainframe ->

Rockin’ out

IBM researchers have made a new breakthrough in the study of nanoparticles. Because of nanoparticles’ naturally erratic movement and small size (about 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair), they’re notoriously difficult to separate and control – and study. IBM researchers created a motor device for sorting, separating and moving nanoparticles without the need for water, which could eventually lead to lab-on-a-chip applications. Using a “rocking” motion and oscillating electrical field across the nano-landscape, the device can more precisely separate nanoparticle populations; a model suggests that it can separate nanoparticles ranging from 5 nanometers (nm) to 100 nm. This technology has major implications in the fields of material science, environmental science and biochemistry, such as potentially helping eradicate drinking water pollutants.

Learn more about rocking Brownian motors ->

Transparency From Farm to Cup

How do you know your coffee is fresh and fairly-sourced? Brooklyn Roasting Company recently collaborated with IBM to launch a pop-up coffee shop at Smorgasburg, a Brooklyn food festival—serving coffee tracked on the IBM Blockchain platform. When visitors scanned their coffee cup’s unique QR code, they gained access to documentation from the coffee’s global journey, such as a Fair Trade audit revealing how proceeds from the sale of past raw beans helped build classrooms for girls in the Ethiopian growers’ communities. It’s an exciting demonstration of blockchain’s power to connect consumers with growers and small producers behind the products they love.

Learn more about the Blockchain Bean ->

The Highlight Machine

FOX Sports has collaborated with IBM to create the Highlight Machine, a powerful platform that uses AI to archive and curate over 98,000 hours of video clips, game highlights and historical footage from soccer’s biggest tournament. Built with IBM Watson Media’s AI video technology and IBM iX’s user experience expertise, the platform is designed so that soccer fans don’t miss a single play, penalty kick, or goal. Fans can browse the massive archive and build their own personalized highlight reels, sorting and saving clips by year, team, player, match, and play type. And thanks to the processing power of Watson, the clips are available just seconds after the action ends in the match. It’s another way for fans all over the world to enjoy the Beautiful Game.

Learn more about the Highlight Machine ->

Pareidolia.

Momentum