In its simplest terms, a blockchain is a new means of structuring and distributing data. The technology enables financial companies and other institutions to create a digital ledger guarded by cryptography, which can be shared among participants during transactions. This allows authorised participants to alter the ledger without awaiting approval from a central authority, often resulting in faster and more secure transaction that saves financial institutions time and money. Since the mysterious origins of Bitcoin in 2009, numerous cryptocurrencies have been thrust upon the marketplace, allowing transactions to take place directly between users and can be exchanged – as regular currency can be – for goods and services. This year has commenced with a lot of turmoil in the cryptocurrency world.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a moment in the national security space. While the public may still equate the notion of artificial intelligence in the military context with the humanoid robots of the Terminator franchise, there has been a significant growth in discussions about the national security consequences of artificial intelligence. These discussions span academia, business, and governments, from Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom's concern about the existential risk to humanity posed by artificial intelligence to Telsa founder Elon Musk's concern that artificial intelligence could trigger World War III to Vladimir Putin's statement that leadership in AI will be essential to global power in the 21st century. What does this really mean, especially when you move beyond the rhetoric of revolutionary change and think about the real world consequences of potential applications of artificial intelligence to militaries? Artificial intelligence is not a weapon.

Facial recognition technology will be deployed at major airports in fiscal 2019 to screen foreign visitors as they leave Japan, a Justice Ministry official said Monday. Similar gates are being used at Tokyo's Haneda airport to screen returning Japanese, but the new plan will allow the Immigration Bureau to allocate more human resources to the processing of foreign arrivals, shortening waiting times, the official said. They also said it would allow more immigration staff to be tasked with counterterrorism duties ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The gates scan faces and compare the images with the photographic data encrypted on microchips in passports. The gates automatically open if the computer verifies a match.

TOKYO – Major Japanese construction company Shimizu Corp. has developed robots that can weld, lift and bolt for use at building sites. The company on Monday demonstrated robots that can pick up a pile of boards and take them to an elevator. It says the Robo-Welder and Robo-Buddy, with twisting mechanical arms, will be deployed at construction sites later this year, though because of safety concerns they will be used during night shifts when most human workers are not around. The company said that most construction work is so delicate and complex that the robots can handle only about 1 percent of the work. Japan is undergoing a construction boom but lacks enough workers to do the jobs -- a problem seen in many regions of the world, including the U.S.

AGADEZ, Niger – On the scorching edge of the Sahara Desert, the U.S. Air Force is building a base for armed drones, the newest front in America's battle against the growing extremist threat in Africa's vast Sahel region. Niger Air Base 201 is expected to be functional early next year. The base, a few miles outside Agadez and built at the request of Niger's government, will eventually house fighter jets and MQ-9 drones transferred from the capital Niamey. The drones, with surveillance and added striking capabilities, will have a range enabling them to reach a number of West and North African countries. Few knew of the American military's presence in this desperately poor, remote West African country until October, when an ambush by Islamic State group-linked extremists killed four U.S. soldiers and five Nigeriens.

From cloud infrastructure and cloud applications to multi-cloud ecosystems, Indian enterprises' cloud journey has seen tremendous disruptions. Today, organizations across all sectors get triggered - in a good away at the mention of automation, intelligent insights, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). Gartner predicts that by 2020, 85 percent of CIOs will be piloting AI programs through a combination of buy, build and outsource. Though tech like AI and smart insights is not new, the enterprise fan base is exploding like never before. Enter born-in-cloud players like Salesforce, whose expertise involves storing large amounts of data and turning it into desired outcomes for the customer. The idea behind Salesforce was to get rid of the complexity in enterprise applications, says Deepak Pargaonkar, senior director of solutions engineering at Salesforce India.

CIA's Next Super Spy Could be Artificial Intelligence Contrary to what is depicted in Hollywood's spy blockbusters, much of the intelligence work could be very boring. This is the bit which could majorly be handed over to Artificial Intelligence. New Delhi: The USA's secret service, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is pursuing close to 140 projects to increase the role of Artificial Intelligence in surveillance, especially scanning hours and hours of videotapes from various closed circuit and spy cameras. A report published in CNN quotes Dawn Meyerriecks, Deputy Director of CIA's science and Technology Division, as saying that Digital surveillance, including closed-circuit television and wireless infrastructure, in about 30 countries is so good that physical tracking is no longer necessary. In this, US could be following Singapore, which has been using digital surveillance effectively for years.

You are in a driverless private hire vehicle that's ferrying you to work. As the vehicle drives itself, you take a nap in the backseat. Suddenly, you are awakened by a loud thud and the sound of glass shattering. You come to your senses, and realise that the car has hit a pedestrian who is now lying motionless. All this happened while you were asleep, without any human input on how the vehicle manoeuvred or behaved.

There is a lot of talk about how machine learning, AI, and big data can be used to help B2B companies improve their efforts. While there's no disputing this, there is a large misconception that B2C businesses cannot be helped in the same way. This is, of course, quite false. B2C companies operate quite differently from B2Bs because of who their customers are. B2C focuses on the individual, rather than an organization.

Carly -- helps you manage phone calls ETCH -- helps you manage your networks into a searchable database Findo -- Your smart search assistant across email, files & personal cloud Leap -- recommends companies to apply for based on your skills Lomi -- identifies sales leads Mosaic -- helps you write better resumes Newton -- helps you find a dream job Notion -- helps with email overload, organisation and communication Robby -- a better and smarter calendar Stella -- scans for jobs and helps manage your application process Woo -- helps you make smarter decision for your career, anonymously Aloe -- replaces your notes books, diary and meeting preparation material Wade&Wendy -- your career advisor Nudge.ai Brightcrowd -- helps you find meaningful professional connections Capsule.ai Abi --a health assistant which connects people to doctors for quick advice Ada -- can help if you're feeling unwell Airi -- personal health coach Alz.ai -- helps you care for loved ones with Alzheimer's Amélie -- ...