Ishaan Tharoor, The Washington Post

The coronavirus pandemic has spiked tensions between China and the United States. In Washington, hard-line lawmakers in Congress are pushing punitive legislation against Beijing, while using their grievances over China's handling of the outbreak to justify a more sweeping transformation of the relationship between the world's two biggest economies.

Over the weekend, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of the most strident anti-Chinese voices on the Hill, argued that the thousands of Chinese students given visas to attend U.S. universities should be restricted from enrolling in science and technology programs. Instead, they should be allowed "to come here and study Shakespeare and the Federalist Papers, that's what they need to learn from America," Cotton said. "They don't need to learn quantum computing and artificial intelligence from America."

Chinese officials, meanwhile, keep stoking coronavirus counter-narratives. On Monday, the Twitter account of the Foreign Ministry spokesperson reiterated claims that the Trump administration is participating in a coverup and obscuring information about how the virus spread.

Also in a tweet, Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of the Global Times, an English-language state-run tabloid, argued that China is reckoning more responsibly with the virus than the United States, whose "ambitious politicians" are willing to risk the lives of the public by opening up the economy sooner than public health experts think wise.

Observers elsewhere are not impressed. China pursued "very authoritarian measures, while in the U.S., the virus was played down for a long time," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview earlier this month with Der Spiegel. "These are two extremes, neither of which can be a model for Europe."

Some European critics have bemoaned President Trump's divisive management of the crisis and abandonment of global leadership amid the pandemic. Nathalie Tocci, who advises E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, has likened this moment to the 1956 Suez crisis - an international standoff in Egypt that is remembered as an inflection point in Britain's decline as a global power. The 2020 pandemic may one day represent the same for the United States.

China, though, is hardly filling the void and may not want to - an argument often ignored in Washington, where an emerging bipartisan consensus casts Beijing as America's inexorable 21st-century great power competitor. "China has no desire to run the world in the way the Americans or the West have done," former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani told the Asian Nikkei Review. "The Chinese are happy to play their part, but most of all want to take care of China."

That may be for the best given how Beijing's recent soft power outreach, particularly with medical aid, has run into controversies over the quality of supplies distributed. And its attempts this month to diplomatically strong-arm the European Union into suppressing an internal report that documented Beijing's disinformation campaigns in Europe have hardly won it any more sympathy.

No matter the talk of a new "Cold War," the pandemic is a reminder that, for much of the world, neither American supremacy nor a newfangled Pax Sinica hold much appeal.

True, for nationalists and populists elsewhere, China's fiscal clout and growing political muscle does provide a counterbalance to the liberal system once championed by Washington. "Leaders, and populists especially, now increasingly see partnership with the United States - once viewed as an indispensable pillar of foreign policy - and its Western allies as overly constraining," wrote scholars Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon in Foreign Policy. "For example, [the Philippines' Rodrigo] Duterte, [Turkey's Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and [Hungary's Viktor] Orban all came to power in states that were fully integrated members of the U.S.-led security order. All three now point to potential security relations with Russia and China as providing the possibility of greater balance with, if not outright exit from, that order."

But even skeptics of the Pax Americana aren't eager to see it supplanted by the Chinese. "Like Beijing, the U.S. leveraged its pole position in the global economy, its military and industrial strengths, and its technological supremacy to build a world order that responded to its interests," Indian parliamentarian Jayant Sinha and Delhi-based scholar Samir Saran wrote in a piece that forecast a less free and open post-pandemic world. "There is, however, no equivalence between the two. U.S. society was largely open - individuals, communities and nations from around the world could engage, convince or petition its institutions; write in its media; and, often, participate in its politics. Its hegemony was constrained by a democratic society and conditioned by its electoral cycles."

There is consensus among many foreign policy experts that cooperation between the two countries is vital for the world's collective ability to deal with the coronavirus and prepare for future pandemics. But China and the United States, on their present course, are leading the world into a pandemic-fueled nationalist spiral.

"U.S.-China cooperation has been almost entirely absent during the early stages of this crisis, which now seems as likely to deepen the two nation's divisions as it is to bring them together," wrote James Crabtree in the Asian Nikkei Review. "The aftermath of the global financial crisis suggests countries facing recessions and anxious domestic populations also all too often resort to protectionism, worsening both their own economic circumstances and those of their neighbors."

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The world doesn't want to pick between the U.S. and China - The Advocate

Cisco acquires Fluidmesh for super-fast IoT networks:This week, Cisco said it had acquired New York-based Fluidmesh Networks, which makes a wireless backhaul technology that can deliver packets from devices moving at more than 300 km/h (186 mph). This makes the technology especially useful for tracking sensor data from trains, mining carts, and ships. While Cisco has been a leader in networking, it hasnt spent much time acquiring actual wireless network assets, signaling perhaps that the IoT in particular the industrial IoT needs specialized networking tech and that Cisco is willing to provide it. (Cisco) Stacey Higginbotham

Quantum security for the IoT: Im still feeling a little doubtful about the looming threat of quantum computers to our traditional cryptographic methods, but this article lays out several projectsto address the threat that such computers pose. The fear is that quantum computers could quickly and easily break traditional AES security, suddenly making it simple to obliterate the most difficult and common cryptographic security we currently have. Thus, chipmakers and computer scientists are trying to figure out alternatives for a world where quantum computing is more powerful and commonplace than it is today. Todays quantum computers are not quite powerful enough, and are so expensive and persnickety that they are held in large corporate and government labs, which makes the threat to traditional security low. But you can never be too sure. (EETimes) Stacey Higginbotham

Openpath offers up data on quarantine compliance: While Google is sharing anonymized location data from phones to track peoples movements during thequarantine, other companies are trying to see if they can provide similar insights. Openpath, which makes smart access products for offices, has released data showing how many people are coming into work. The idea is that someone can look at the data across states and industries and get a feel for how well a quarantine is working, along with which businesses might be essential. In most places, the data shows a steep drop-off from the end of February to now, with the exception of states such as Nebraska, which have yet to issue any orders for people to stay home. From an industry perspective, its clear that the government is still working, as are many manufacturing plants.(Openpath) Stacey Higginbotham

Why yes, I would like this smart kitchen in my near future: My favorite exhibits at CES outside of chip vendors booths, where I can find all kinds of goodies are the appliance makers future kitchen displays. As a consumer and a cook, I love seeing what craziness the kitchen has in store for me. Maybe its a connected vent hood with a display that can share recipes and see what Im cooking on the stove below. Maybe its an inductive countertop that powers my blender or can even heatupspecialty cookware. Im here for all of it. Which is why I loved reading this article, which tries to showcase how grocers and food delivery services could integrate into the digital kitchen of the near future. (Progressive Grocer) Stacey Higginbotham

Amber wants to update our electrical devices: This week, I spoke with a startup making a system on a chip that eliminates much of the bulk and infrastructure designed to protect appliances from electrical surges. The breakthrough could lead to electrical products (e.g., switches, outlets, and circuit breakers) that are slimmer and have more features than they do now.Well see. (StaceyonIoT) Stacey Higginbotham

Ring Home Alarm gets a second-gen refresh:Ring is now taking pre-orders for its updated Home Alarm security products, which will begin shipping onApril 29. Prices start at $199.99 for the basic, 5-piece kit, which includes a multi-radio base station, keypad, range extender, motion sensor, and contact sensor. The main difference I see is sleeker-looking products, including a smaller, square keypad that replaces the older, rectangular one. This keypad also has three dedicated buttons to contact police, fire, or emergency medical services in your area. (Ring) Kevin C. Tofel

Google wants to make it easier to link smart home device accounts: The big smart home news out of Google this week was about the Local Actions SDK coming out of preview for developers. But as I dug around a little more on the Google Developers site, I noticed something else coming soon in preview, called App Flip. The idea is to make the linking of third-party IoT apps and products to Google Home faster and easier, without a lot of back and forth between different apps. Color me intrigued. (Google Assistant Developer Docs) Kevin C. Tofel

I just bought a next-generation pair of hearables: After taking a hearing test on a mobile app this week, I got confirmation of what Ive essentially known for at least five years: My range of hearing is diminishing. Enter the small hearables sector of smart devices that we discuss from time to time on the podcast. For $359, I pre-ordered the Nuheara IQBuds2 Max, and should have them next month, so stay tuned for a review. These are personal sound amplification products, or PSAPs, that double as wireless Bluetooth headphones. They also provide one-touch access to the digital voice assistant on my phone. And for improved hearing ability in various environments, they can amplify specific frequencies and be tuned for specific spaces, such as a crowded room, outside, and more. Nuheara says these use the NAL-NL2 algorithm provided by Australias National Acoustics Laboratories and used by audiologists for hearing aid configuration. (Nuheara) Kevin C. Tofel

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In a show like "Westworld," the various names of characters are likely to have a larger symbolic meaning. For example, take another look at the name Dolores. It has roots in Spanish and Latin, and can be roughly translated to mean "pain" or "sorrows." Or how Caleb's name means "dog" or "loyal follower."

So when the new artificial intelligence (AI) system Rehoboam was introduced, many people sought out an explanation for the unique name choice. We thought we found the answer in Biblical history, since Rehoboam was the son of Solomon, and both men were Israelite kings.

"Well I spent nine years in Catholic school, but I'm ashamed to say it has actually nothing to do with the biblical reference," Jonathan Nolan, cocreator of "Westworld," told Insider over the phone in a recent interview. "It's an homage to a book called 'Stand on Zanzibar,' which is a seminal piece of science fiction. It's an absolutely terrific and frightening book."

Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan (the wife-husband duo who cocreated "Westworld") and the latest book cover for "Stand on Zanzibar." Getty/Macmillan

Brunner's "Stand on Zanibar," which won a coveted Hugo Award for best novel, follows an executive at a company called General Technics. The synopsis describes the sci-fi world as a place "where society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers, mass-marketed psychedelic drugs, and mundane uses of genetic engineering."

Those themes should sound familiar to "Westworld" fans, especially with its third season.

"That was a period in science fiction when we'd got out of utopian science fiction and into much more frightening imaginings about where the world might take us," Nolan said. "And in that book there is an AI owned by the General Technics corporation called Shalmaneser."

In our real history, Shalmaneser V was a King of Assyria and Babylon in the eighth century who subjugated Israel.

Not only did "Stand on Zanzibar" spark the idea for Serac's AI system in "Westworld" to be named for historical kings, but its physical structure was also inspired in part by the Shalmaneser AI in Brunner's novel.

"Shalmaneser is literally in the lobby of the General Technics incorporation an idea that I love," Nolan said. "And that's the reason why Rehoboam is in the lobby of Incite. It has this delicious subversive idea to it that they would put this thing in full display, that they would put it right there."

"Westworld" season three, episode five, "Genre." HBO

"So much of what [companies like] Google or Facebook does is in part hidden by design, because it requires thousands of diesel generators or a hydroelectric plant," Nolan said. "All of that hardware is out of sight."

"With the advent of quantum computing and Rehoboam is a quantum computer we will come to a moment where you don't hide the hardware anymore," Nolan continued. "This is just good PR. You put it front and center and you let school kids literally walk around it, right? Because that doesn't mean f------ anything"

In the first episode of "Westworld" season three, Dolores sees Rehoboam for the first time while visiting the Incite headquarters. And indeed, just as Nolan says, there are schoolchildren in the background of that scene.

The Rehoboam system at Incite's Los Angeles office building. HBO

"You could look at this thing and say, 'Look, here it is in the lobby of our building. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's right there,'" Nolan said. "What it's doing, however, is something that only a handful of human beings might even understand."

Nolan series, which he cocreated with his wife Lisa Joy, is based on the 1973 movie of the same name, which was written and directed by Michael Crichton. Though many people may know Crichton best for his other theme-park-gone-wrong novel, "Jurassic Park," he was another sci-fi writer who dealt with early concepts of computer power.

"There's this lovely line in Crichton's original movie that we come back to again and again as a source of inspiration," Nolan said. "It's when the chief scientist in the film is trying to figure out what the f--- is going on, and he turns to one of his colleagues and says, 'In some cases, these computers have been designed by other computers and we don't even understand how they work.'"

Alan Oppenheimer played the Chief Supervisor of the Delos company in the original "Westworld" movie. MGM

"As usual with Crichton who is a deeply brilliant person, a polymath, and someone who really had his finger on the pulse of where technology could take us in both good and bad ways [he had] the idea that we would reach this inflection point where the machines are making the machines," Nolan continued. "We have only second hand control and a second hand understanding of how they even work."

This idea, again, carries over right into the HBO adaptation of "Westworld." In season three, we learned about Rehoboam and how it powered Incite a company which was dictating the lives of nearly every person on Earth without them knowing it.

Liam Dempsey, the CEO of Incite, was a mere figurehead. He confessed to Dolores that he had no idea what the system was actually doing, or how it worked. Only its creator, Serac, knew for certain.

Vincent Cassel as Enguerrand Serac in "Westworld." John P. Johnson/HBO

"What's so frightening and interesting about the moment we're in right now is we just turned off the engine of our economy," Nolan said. "And the question is going to be does anyone actually understand how to turn it back on again? Or is the machine we've built, the machine of our society, too complicated that no one knows what happens when we turn it back on? I think we're pretty clearly at that moment."

Though Nolan was referring to the current global pandemic of COVID-19, this anecdote is again paralleled in "Westworld." The latest episode, "Genre," showed Dolores wreaking havoc on the structured society Incite and Rehoboam had built. She cut the cord on the system by revealing Rehoboam's life profiles to everyone.

Like a flip switching, everything seemed to freefall. But what now? The next step in her plan isn't clear yet, and neither is Serac's counter move.

"In 'Stand on Zanzibar' things do not end well for most folks," Nolan said. "But they do [end] OK for Shalmaneser."

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'Westworld': Rehoboam name inspired by sci-fi book 'Stand on Zanzibar' - Insider - INSIDER

Microsoft has been working on quantum computers for several years now. Last year, Microsoft announced Azure Quantum, a full-stack, open cloud ecosystem that will bring the benefits of quantum computing organizations.Microsoft launched Quantum Network, a global community of individuals and organizations working together to advance quantum computing. The Microsoft Quantum Network members will work with Microsoft to learn about, research, and launch quantum computing applications and hardware supported with access to the Quantum Development Kit, vital research and experts, exclusive access to Azure services, and workshops on quantum programming and algorithm development.

Yesterday, Telegraph reported that Microsofts venture capital arm M12 invested in PsiQuantum, a startup with the goal to build the worlds first useful quantum computer out of conventional silicon chips that process information using individual photons as well as electronics. This means that every single component of the quantum computer is made by the same factories and assembled on the same production lines as your laptop or smartphone. PsiQuantum have assembled a team of more than 100 engineers with expertise across all aspects of silicon manufacturing and error corrected quantum computing.

Its worth noting that PsiQuantums approach is different from Microsofts efforts in topological qubits (Microsofts approach would enable error correction in hardware via topological protection from local noise). PsiQuantum and Microsoft have different sets of engineering challenges to address with their distinct approaches, but the companies share the vision for a scalable, fault tolerant quantum computer, said Samir Kumar from M12.

Source: PsiQuantum

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Microsoft invests in PsiQuantum, a startup which is building the worlds first useful quantum computer - MSPoweruser - MSPoweruser

MILAN, April 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Prysmian Group (PRY: IM), a global leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry and the largest manufacturer of cables in the world, has selected IBM Services (NYSE: IBM) to help expand and manage its global technological infrastructure. The three-year agreement engagement is designed to addresses Prysmian's need to better integrate their presence in 50 countries around the world. Managed by IBM Services, Prysmian will integrate its IT infrastructure with IBM Cloud and adopt a hybrid cloud strategy.

With the acquisition of American cable manufacturing company, General Cable, in 2018, Prysmian Group has made it a priority to fully integrate the information systems of the two companies, to support flexible, efficient and secure digitization of processes and products that drive the international growth of the business. As part of this effort, Prysmian Group will migrate its SAP workloads to IBM Cloud to leverage higher value technology, including AI, IoT and human augmentation. The agreement with IBM also includes services for the management of the global Prysmian IT environment. With the new infrastructure in place Prysmian Group anticipates high levels of service in terms of availability and reliability, as well as enterprise-grade security.

IBM will provide and manage a modern IT infrastructure with a global delivery model and service levels. Under the agreement, IBM Services will also manage the integration of the existing legacy IT infrastructures and move Prysmian Group's SAP S/4HANA, the company's ERP platform, onto SAP certified physical and virtual appliances on IBM Cloud to further support its digital business transformation.

"The important acquisition of General Cable required focus on the integration of processes and the digitalization of products. This represents our differentiation from our competitors", says Stefano Brandinali, CIO and Chief Digital Officer Prysmian Group. "To tackle this challenging task we have chosen IBM as our global technology provider to help drive ongoing transformation within the organization. IBM brings its industry experience to support the development of a modern IT infrastructure based on IBM Cloud.

"IBM is pleased to help facilitate the next step forward in support of Prysmian's business, which has always been committed to providing its customers with products and services with a high level of innovation", states Stefano Rebattoni, Vice President Enterprise Sales of IBM Italy. "The adoption of IBM Cloud will help support a solid digital transformation path towards continuous improvement of service quality and operational efficiency".

For this implementation, Prysmian will leverage the IBM Services data center and the IBM Cloud data center in Milan.The three-year contract will be managed by IBM Services, with also the responsibility for the disaster recovery services for the Group's IT infrastructure.

IBM and Prysmian Group signed this transaction in IBM's 2Q of 2019.

About Prysmian GroupPrysmian Group is world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. With almost 140 years of experience, sales of over 11 billion, about 29,000 employees in over 50 countries and 106 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies and know-how. It operates in the businesses of underground and submarine cables and systems for power transmission and distribution, of special cables for applications in many different industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors.For the telecommunications industry, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a public company, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index.

About IBM CloudWith over$20Bin annual cloud revenue, IBM has built a leading enterprise hybrid cloud business. This includes a comprehensive range of as-a-service offerings, software, hardware and professional services that enable IBM to advise, move, build and manage cloud solutions across public, private and on-premises environments. Through its global network of more than 60 cloud data centers across 19 countries and 18 availability zones across 6 regions, IBM public cloud helps enterprises in all industries to meet security, resiliency, performance, and global deployment requirements. Built on an open source, multitenant environment, clients have secured access to an enterprise-grade IaaS and a leading PaaS that provides them with the latest developer capabilities and ready-to-go innovation engines. This includes more than 190 cloud-native APIs, such as AI, blockchain, IoT, serverless and quantum computing, and consistent function all the way to the edge. For more information, visithttps://www.ibm.com/cloud/public

For more information on IBM Cloud, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud

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Prysmian Group Selects IBM To Help Accelerate Digital Transformation With Adoption of IBM Cloud - PRNewswire