Mind boggling stuff

I read this article in FT.com about the photonic chip this morning and was just blown away by it. I thought computers were pretty fast already - simply consider how quickly Google comes back with search findings but this will be nothing as to the speed of a new generation of computers which is on the way and use light rather than electricity. Look at this quote from the director of the UK's centre for quantum photonics, Jeremy O'Brien

“However, we can say with real confidence that, using our new technique, a quantum computer could, within five years, be performing calculations that are outside the capabilities of conventional computers,” he told the British Science Festival, as he presented the research.