[imagesource:takealot]

Iranian Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari was all smiles when he showcased the Iranian military’s new “Quantum Device” during a recent ceremony.

Sayyari proudly hailed the device as the result of impressive work by the Imam Khomeini Naval University of Nowshahr and indicated that the military will be deploying it to detect disturbances on the surfaces of bodies of water.

But the cutting edge of Iranian hardware turned out to be less cutting edge, and more off the shelf, or in this case available for delivery by Amazon.

Vice was quick to notice that the so-called ‘quantum device’ was in fact a $589 (R10,900) development board under the ZedBoard brand that can be bought off Amazon.com.

Fars News, a media agency managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, might also have been misled as their footage clearly shows the board’s branding next to the smiling Sayyari. Maybe next time, take the label off your top-secret military hardware.

Needless to say, the board does not feature any advanced quantum capabilities and is mostly used for video processing, reconfigurable computing, motor control, and software acceleration. Quantum devices are indeed being tested for sea navigation and ship locating, but the hardware is far more complex and bigger than a Takelot Daily Deal will offer.

Or as one review for the device on Takelot.com notes: It’s a great device for beginners. At least it got 5 stars…

Vice was however quick to note that they can’t confirm whether Iran somehow managed to take a shelf item and tweak it into a quantum thingamabob, so we’ll have to wait and see if it becomes available on Takelot in the near future.

For now, behold my time machine that looks like an old Nokia 5210. It has quantum processing and a cup holder.

[source:mybroadband]