Flying robots that can travel dozens of kilometres without stopping could be the next big thing for power companies. Utilities in Europe are looking to long-distance drones to scour thousands of miles of grids for damage and leaks in an attempt to avoid network failures that cost them billions of dollars a year. However the technology faces major safety and regulatory hurdles that are clouding its future in the sector. Snam and EDF's network subsidiary RTE have tested prototypes of long-distance drones that fly at low altitudes over pipelines and power lines. Italy's Snam, Europe's biggest gas utility, told Reuters it is trialling one of these machines - known as BVLOS drones because they fly'beyond the visual line of sight' of operators - in the Apennine hills around Genoa. It hopes to have it scouting a 20 km stretch of pipeline soon.

Last September, the world welcomed Juggalos (or Juggalettes, depending on which you prefer) to The Resistance when they marched on Washington en masse to protest the policies of the Trump administration. As if they weren't already doing the absolute most, the die-hard fans of the rap group Insane Clown Posse have become accidental heroes for people concerned about facial recognition tech: According to Twitter user @tahkion, a computer science blogger for WonderHowTo, Juggalo makeup outmatches the machine learning algorithms that govern facial recognition technology. In a series of follow-up tweets, @tahkion explained that facial recognition works by pinpointing the areas of contrast on a human face--for instance, where a nose is located, or where the chin becomes the neck. As it happens, juggalo makeup often involves applying black paint below the mouth, but above the chin. That makes facial recognition vulnerable to misidentifying the placement of the jaw.

I've been reading a new book by AI expert Kai-Fu Lee with great interest. The book, AI Superpowers, which is due out this September, underscores a race between China and the U.S. for AI's development. It delves into the tech innovation upgrade and entrepreneurial energy that are leading China to catch up to the U.S. leadership position in AI at an astonishingly rapid rate. This insightful book by Lee who is both an AI pioneer and a China venture capitalist as head of tech-savvy Sinovation Ventures in Beijing, lays out how China is set to dominate the AI era due to having more data. It's a wake-up call for Silicon Valley, a message I understand well as the author of Silicon Dragon, published a decade ago when most Sand Hill Road VCs did not want to hear that the Chinese are coming.

Amazon workers across Europe are leaving their jobs in the middle of Prime Day. The event – this year held from 16-17 July – has been promoted by Amazon and quickly become an important part of the company's year. The site offers a range of deals and sales, and the offers have made the event bigger than Black Friday. But this year workers across Europe will take part in a strike to demand better work conditions. Workers in Germany, Spain and Poland have all committed to leave their jobs over the period.

Sabio, the Leaders in App Science, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jike Chong, Chief Data Scientist at Acorns, to its advisory board. Dr. Chong brings, to Sabio, extensive experience advising companies on how Artificial Intelligence can help solve the problems facing multiple industry verticals. Commenting on the appointment, Aziz Rahim, CEO of Sabio, stated, "Adding someone of Dr. Jike Chong's caliber to our advisory board further validates our business and approach to helping companies exceed their marketing goals through improved data analytics and insights. Dr. Jike Chong's contributions will enable us to continue empowering our clients with predictive business intelligence that gives a competitive advantage to today's mobile savvy marketers. We look forward to the strategic guidance Dr. Chong will provide Sabio's rapidly growing customer base and business."

The ban was in response to the deaths of a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy who reportedly killed themselves after playing the so-called "Blue Whale" social media game, though the agency did not say what the connection was.

When Gary Reiner was the chief information officer of General Electric for parts of two decades, ending in 2010, he had an unusual purview in that role even for today. He led mergers & acquisitions, sourcing, IT, operations, and quality teams for the company. Armed with an MBA from Harvard University, and having spent time as a partner at the consultancy, Boston Consulting Group, he brought an unusual degree of business savvy to the role of CIO. Since then, Reiner has made the unusual leap from CIO to venture capital, joining the growth equity firm, General Atlantic immediately after his tenure at General Electric. In that role, he has joined the boards of a number high growth companies (Box, Mu Sigma, Appirio, SnapAv), while also joining the boards of mature companies such as Citigroup and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Amazon Prime Day 2018 is here, with the 36 hour extravaganza of online deals expected to be the biggest shopping event in the retail giant's history. But consumer group Which? has warned that not all of the offers for TVs, laptops, cameras and other electronics represent the value they claim to. On Monday 16 July, discounts on a range of goods will appear on Amazon's website, however some of the items may actually be cheaper outside the promotion period. Last year, Amazon Prime Day became the retailers biggest ever event, with more purchases than Black Friday and Cyber Monday. At its peak, Amazon customers reportedly ordered 398 items per second.

AI has moved a step closer to achieving human-like thought, after a new project developed machines capable of abstract thought to pass parts of an IQ test. Experts from DeepMind, which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet, put machine learning systems through their paces with IQ tests, which are designed to measure a number of reasoning skills. The puzzles in the test involve a series of seemingly random shapes, which participants need to study to determine the rules of that dictate the pattern. Once they have worked out the rules of the puzzle, they should be able to accurately pick the next shape in the sequence. DeepMind researchers hope that developing AI which is capable of thinking outside the box could lead to machines dreaming-up novel solutions to problems that humans may not ever have considered.

Asia is fast become the home of the chatbot, as millions of consumers with billions of queries swamp traditional customer support and sales tools. Follow what's happening in Asia and you will see why companies both local and global should be chatbot-enabled. For every high-profile test launch in the west, there are a dozen full roll-outs of working chatbots to handle customer inquiries across banks, airlines, hotels and other markets. Asia needs chatbots now, while western business still tinkers with the possibilities. But getting ahead of the game could give your company a major competitive edge.