NASA backs quantum computing demonstration {Engadget}

Mar 13th 2007 9:29PM Let's debunk some of this.

"Quantum computing will, if it works as advertised, be able to compute ALL permutations of an equation instantly"
Totally false. This is one of the common misconceptions of quantum computing. Certainly you can encode a linear combination of all "permutations" as you say. But your result will be a linear combination of ALL the results. That is you won't be able to distinguish one answer from the next with only one run.

"If you had a 512-qubit quantum processor, you would be capable of breaking a 512-bit encryption instantly."
Close, but you're still way off. You need 512-qbits to encode the number you want to factor but you need some extra memory to do the computation. Also "instantly" is meaningless. You cannot get it in one shot, you'll need to run the algorithm several times since there is just over a 40% chance you'll get each bit correct in your answer.

"the number of calculations per cycle that can be achieved goes up exponentially with each new bit"
Astoundingly absurd. There is only a performace increase when there exists a quantum algorithm more efficent than any known classical algorithms.
A QUANTUM COMPUTER RUNNING A CLASSICAL ALGORITHM HAS NO INCREASE IN PERFORMACE.

"Even a 16 qubit proc is amazing, performing 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 (that's 18.5 quintillion) operations in one go."
Site your source?