I was recently consulting for an organisation that was looking to implement a framework to govern the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Like many organisations in their sector, they had been running various'lab' experiments for some time, and had seen positive results; but there was still something holding them back from wholesale investment. A major consulting firm had encouraged them to'accelerate' their innovation by using a framework to govern the roll-out. I asked them where they felt it needed more focus, and they responded saying that it felt somewhat vanilla, a re-hashing of any-old IT project management best practice. "Surely there is something different about AI", they asked?

There are over 950 active startups utilizing or developing AI technologies, of which 445 startups have raised one or more funding rounds. Over the last five years, an average of 140 startups are established annually. AI startups raised $1.94 billion funds in 2017, up 70% from 2016, and have already raised $1.5 billion for the 2018 year to date, tracking almost identically from the previous period. Deal volume peaked at 207 investments in 2017, up 19% from 2016, but is tracking lower as of the 2018 year to date at 133 deals, down from 158 over the previous period. Deal volume for B and A rounds exhibited the most growth, up 64% and 32% respectively from 2016 to 2017.

The Japanese space agency will land two robots on an asteroid next month – the latest step in historic plans to explore its surface and bring samples back to Earth. The mission to the 1km-wide space rock, known as Ryugu, could provide clues not only to the asteroid's formation but to the formation of our solar system. The Japanese space agency have now selected dates for the deployment of smaller crafts from Hayabusa-2 . From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station.

The Chinese government has announced plans to intensify its crackdown on video gaming in order to counter worsening short-sightedness among minors. Regulators are directed to limit the number of new online games, restrict playing time and develop an age-restriction system in the industry, according to a statement posted on the Education Ministry website late on Thursday. The authority justified the new curbs as a way to counter worsening visual impairment among minors, after President Xi Jinping earlier this week called for greater national attention on optical health. Beijing is tightening government oversight of the country's booming video games industry But the move adds to perceptions that there is a broader campaign to rein in China's fast-growing video game sub-culture after authorities already made clear their concerns over gaming addiction and the violent content of many shoot-em-up titles. The education ministry statement, also endorsed by seven other ministries, said they will'implement regulations and controls' on the number of games that can be played online, limit new releases, explore an age-restriction system for games, and take steps to reduce playing time by minors. No specifics or timeframe were given.

Changing the channel on your television with only a spoken command will soon be possible for the owners of a new range of Toshiba televisions. Starting in 2019, the Japanese firm's OLED, 4K HDR, and Full HD Smart TV products will boast access to Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. Viewers will be able to request channel changes, volume increases and decreases and more by starting their spoken command with'Alexa'. This signals to the always-listening voice assistant that you are about to issue an instruction, which is recorded and parsed in the cloud by Amazon. Toshiba sets will have access to all 45,000 skills already available for Alexa, allowing television viewers to control smart lightbulbs, buy items from Amazon, order takeaways, and check the latest news and weather updates.

The company's vision is to develop consumer-like applications that bring more transparency and information to workplace issues such as leadership, pay equity, hiring and health-and-wellness, said Jennifer Morgan, president of SAP's global customer operations for the Americas and Asia Pacific Japan regions. "With AI and machine learning, there's a perfect opportunity to really help companies understand the data so they can make changes as necessary," said Ms. Morgan. Some apps are being developed by in-house employees, while others are being developed through partnerships with startups such as health-and-wellness company Thrive Global, founded by Arianna Huffington. Other companies are trying to modernize corporate management with apps for improving employee performance and retention. At PricewaterhouseCoopers, annual performance reviews have been replaced by a proprietary app that gives employees real-time feedback about how they're doing.

Digital Enterprises generate voluminous data from transactional and operational activities. Billions of connected things are also generating data at a massive scale which is harnessed for real time analytics. The future belongs to those who harness data opportunities. Growth and competitiveness depend on your ability to collect, integrate, manage and transform data into business insights and outcomes. Big Data will converge with other technologies like Artificial Intelligence technologies to support ever growing data sources and to harness raw data into real time insights.

The objective of India Tech Conclave is to highlight how AI and Automation will be the norm and break away from being a novel tool in core business processes especially for pharmaceutical and FMCG manufacturing companies in the near future. When AI becomes the industry standard domestically and internationally, the need to carefully compile and curate data will be the driving force to successfully implement Automation enabled by AI. Variables selected by companies today are what will set the tone for AI efficacy in the long run, and the aim to achieve industry 4.0 will be the need of the hour for Indian Pharmaceutical and FMCG companies. This will be possible only when AI and Automation are implemented efficiently in various business processes. India Tech Conclave will look at various components that are essential to the making of a good manufacturing process enabled by AI and Automation technologies.

Between 2009 and 2010, every fifth smartphone sold was a Blackberry. By 2017, Blackberry was making headlines for failing to claim even 0.0 per cent of the global smartphone market (it managed just 0.04 per cent that year), but such a dramatic decline was not enough to deter it completely. Without the same level of fanfare that comes with the unveiling of a new iPhone – or even a Samsung smartphone – most people may have missed the launch of the latest BlackBerry device, though according to its makers, it's "an icon reborn". The BlackBerry Key2 LE is actually a cheaper version of the BlackBerry Key2, a high-spec smartphone released earlier this summer. What makes both phones "iconic" is the inclusion of a physical keyboard.

"A new iOS update is now available," the message reads. "Please update from the iOS 12 beta." It will pop up repeatedly, as people use the phone, and even when it is dismissed it will come back. What's more, there is not actually a new iOS update, so the notification is impossible to act on or make go away. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.