News of Note for the Internet-Minded – 12/10/15

Stories of interest this week include Google’s quantum computer (and bucket-load of patents), an AR-based visual browser, concerns over spying and toys, and more.

• • Google proclaims its quantum computer a 100 million times faster than a regular computer chip. (Jordan Novet, VentureBeat)

 

• • MIT introduces a text messaging system that encrypts your metadata, too. (Emma Woollacott, Forbes)

 

• • Blippar looks to augmented reality to build a visual browser, a “Wikipedia of the physical world.” (Matt Burns, TechCrunch)

 

• • Is the creator of bitcoin actually a 44-year-old Australian named Craig Steven Wright? (Andy Greenberg & Gwern Branwen, Wired)

 

• • Twitter experiments with the timeline of your Tweets. (Karissa Bell, Mashable)

 

• • The UK considers whether children’s toys could be used as spying devices. (Brian Wheeler, BBC.com)

 

• • In an earlier roundup, we saw WWE dabble in virtual reality. Now Showtime takes VR to the boxing ring. (Drew Olanoff, TechCrunch)

 

• Google’s got plenty of patents. (Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review)