They probably won't be able to teleport people EVER.

I can partially explain the article. If anyone on this board knows more about quantum physics (fatbooy perhaps?) they should PLEASE weigh in.

A discrete unit inside a regular (or "classical") computer is called a bit. It is a piece of data that represents a 1 or a 0, and by combining bits together you can represent much more complicated data and do lots of interesting math. At the most fundamental level, a computer processor is doing simple logic operations to combinations of bits.

A classical computer is limited by the number of simultaneous logic operations it can perform and also by the fact that there is a finite number of possible combinations of 1 and 0 with the logic operators available.

A quantum computer's discrete unit of data is called a qubit. It has more possible states than 1 and 0, although I forget how many, and you can combine qubits to make even more possible states. This greatly increases the number of logic operations that can be done in one cycle of a processor.

Also, quantum computers operate on the principle that two qubits that are separated by physical space can be changed simultaneously because of entanglement, as described in the article. Somehow, one qubit is signalling another to change states although there is no apparant physical connection, such as a copper/silicon pathway in a computer processor. The signal appears to go instantaneously, which is faster than the speed of light.

Quantum computers are so ****ing cool.

I'm such a nerd.