Thanks to recent improvements in internet connectivity and the emergence of numerous global big-hitters, South Africa has finally made a name for itself in the technological space. But while one might expect the country's'next big thing' to be found in tech-centric cities like Stellenbosch, it's in fact in an unassuming corner of Bloemfontein where the foundations for South Africa's own Silicon Valley are being laid. Founded in 2014, Bloem-based performance marketing company Xineoh is making waves internationally thanks to its unique vectorization algorithm, which has already generated in excess of $30 million in revenue for clients across the globe, attracting the interest of investors, with $2million received in backing to date in 2017. A pioneer in the AI and machine learning space, Xineoh's distinctive algorithm bears similarities to those used by the likes of Amazon.com and Netflix, tapping into user behaviour to predict potential purchasing behaviour and serve users bespoke information likely to incite conversion. Yet unlike these tried and tested models, Xineoh's algorithm relies on available rather than inputted information, creating associations based on the way other users have interacted with the same product or service, thus enabling it to be used across a wide variety of industries and generate uncannily accurate recommendations.

The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif speaks with media members at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films." Iran fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif speaks with media members at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films."

Chatbots are great for customer service, ordering tickets, or just giving you weather updates, but others have nobler goals for their bots. Here are 6 bots, developed using a variety of technologies and APIs, and delivered via different interfaces, that are helping improve the world for everyone. DoNotPay started out as a cheeky service to help drivers get out of parking tickets. Stanford student Joshua Browder became more interested in bots after the online tool automatically challenged over 160,000 of them. People began contacting him asking for help with other legal issues relating to evictions, bankruptcies, and repossessions, so he decided to expand the capabilities of the bot to help homeless people.

When Ubisoft announced last year that the Assassin's Creed series would take a year off, retool, and return in 2017, I anticipated huge sweeping differences. The series needs huge sweeping differences--with a grueling yearly release schedule, Assassin's Creed has suffered from consumer and critical malaise more than perhaps any Ubisoft property. But after playing Assassin's Creed: Origins for 20 or so minutes during E3, I don't think we're getting huge sweeping differences. Assassin's Creed: Origins has been tweaked in places, and its Cleopatra-era Egypt setting is certainly the most creative we've seen in years, but it doesn't feel like a true rebirth or a reimagining. First and foremost, the usual disclaimer applies: We played 20 minutes of an hours-long experience, so maybe the seeds of Assassin's Creed's redemption come later in the game.

WeRobotics Global has become a premier forum for social good robotics. The feedback featured below was unsolicited. On June 1, 2017, we convened our first, annual global event, bringing together 34 organizations to New York City (full list below) to shape the global agenda and future use of robotics in the social good sector. WeRobotics Global was kindly hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation, the first donor to support our efforts. They opened the event with welcome remarks and turned it over to Patrick Meier from WeRobotics who provided an overview of WeRobotics and the big picture context for social sector robotics.

Powers planned by the Government aiming to pave the way for commercial space flights in Britain will be included in the Queen's Speech alongside a raft of investments in transport infrastructure. The legislation, according to Department for Transport (DfT), will allow the launch of satellites from the UK for the first time, horizontal flights to the edge of space for scientific experiments and the establishment of spaceports in regions across Britain. The Queen's Speech, which has been delayed by two days due to the current instability in British politics, will also include measures to improve conditions for the 100,000 drivers of plug-in vehicles by "removing barriers that are preventing more drivers switching to electric". "As things stand, those wanting to use publicly-accessible charging points may need to register with several different companies that run them," the Department for Transport added. "The planned legislation will include measures to ensure drivers need register only once to make full use of the existing infrastructure."

Innovation in the business world is accelerating exponentially, with new, disruptive technologies and trends emerging that are fundamentally changing how businesses and the global economy operate. To adapt, thrive, and innovate, we all need to be aware of these evolutionary technologies and trends and understand the opportunities or threats they might present to our organizations, our careers, and society on a whole. With this in mind, I recently had the opportunity to compile 99 Facts on the Future of Business in the Digital Economy. This presentation includes facts, predictions, and research findings on some of the most impactful technologies and trends that are driving the future of business in the digital economy. To make it easier to find facts for specific topics, I have grouped the facts into six subsets; in this post I'll share the second subset.

By now you probably know that the people who make our clothes, chocolate, and diamond rings often suffer in the process. With growing consumer consciousness and stricter regulations putting pressure on companies to clean up their act, one company has devised a machine learning system it says will sift through data and locate forced labor in the manufacturing process. SAP Ariba, a for-profit software and IT company based in California, works with millions of large and small-scale companies to streamline their supply chain, the system through which their products are sourced, made or delivered. It works with companies that deal with fashion and food, but also technology. "The fact that every country in the world has made forced labor illegal, the acknowledgement alone has made companies realize they cannot take this lightly," said Padmini Ranganathan, the vice president of products and innovation at Ariba.

The ability to recognise faces was thought to be too complex for a fish, but a new study suggests that this might not be the case. Scientists have found that the tiny striped Masked Julie, which lives among the rocks of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa, can distinguish a friend from a foe. The species detects patterns around the eyes to distinguish individual faces, a skill thought to be limited to mammals and birds. Scientists have found that the tiny striped Masked Julie (pictured) can distinguish a friend from a foe by detecting unfamiliar patterns around the eyes. Eight adult male Masked Julie fish were placed them in a tank by researchers at Osaka City University.

Machine learning is fuelling the current artificial intelligence boom and, to allow computer systems to process the vast amounts of data required, a new breed of computer chips is being created. UK chip designer ARM has revealed its latest line of CPUs and GPUs specifically designed for these AI devices. Called Cortex-A75, Cortex-A55, and Mali-G72, the processors use the firm's DynamIQ technology. It's claimed the A75 allows for a "massive single-thread compute uplift," Nandan Nayampally, the firm's vice president and general manager for compute products said, while the A55 is designed for a greater processing efficiency, and the G72 GPU was created for VR, gaming, and machine learning processes. DynamIQ technology is claimed to create "energy-efficient CPUs" and increases what the processors are capable of.