>My comment isn't useful, but I really can't get a handle on anything "quantum" related.

That is probably because you have tried to read "applications" papers/articles (some of them of dubious scientific value, and more sci-fi/futurology) without properly understanding the fundamentals first. I strongly recommend "Quantum Mechanics", Cohen-Tannoudji et al. The first two chapters are the best introduction to quantum mechanics I've read: concise and to the point, starting from experiment and explaining the key ideas of quantum theory, and then the mathematical formulation.