Most of today's quantum computers are operated by researchers in labs. However, IBM announced on May 4, Wednesday, it will connect a quantum computer to the web and let anyone try it out, according to The Economist.

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Quantum computers provide the ability to do several kinds of number crunching faster than traditional CPUs. This is due to "superposition" and "entanglement."

Superposition converts a CPU's bit into a "qubit." A classic computer's is switched on/off represented by 1/0. A qubit is a blend of both, and could allow 4 qubits to exist in 16 different states at one time, instead of one at a time.

Meanwhile, entanglement gives quantum computing its real power. As the number of qubits increases the number of states a quantum computer can exist in rises exponentially. For example, a 300-qubit computer would have a number of possible states greater than the number of atoms in the entire universe.

This could give computers the ability to easily process colossal amounts of data. Examples of applications include simulating molecular chemical reactions and hacking complex codes.  

IBM's quantum computer contains a 5 qubit processor on a chip. It is hanging at the bottom of a big helium refrigerator at the company's research center in Yorktown Heights, New York.   

The fridge chills close to the lowest possible temperature of absolute zero. Each qubit responds to different frequencies of microwaves that are zapped into the super-cold refrigerator.

However, Internet users who test IBM's quantum computer will see five horizontal lines that represent each of the device's qubits. They can drag symbols that represent quantum operations onto the musical staff. The program then plays the "score."   

In related news, IBM and Bausch & Lomb are developing a new app for cataract surgeons, according to CNET. The goal of the app is to process a patient's cataract surgery data before, during, and after the medical procedure.