Over the last 12 months, we've seen some incredibly stirring and thoughtful conversations from our members on LinkedIn about hot topics like the opioid crisis, immigration reform, the U.S. tax bill, healthcare coverage and harassment cases. These events sparked hundreds of thousands of insightful comments from professionals on LinkedIn around the world -- and will certainly have lasting consequences for years to come. Amazon has become a kind of corporate obsession in 2017. Companies big and small are watching the retailer: A review of last quarter's earnings calls shows that Amazon's name came up almost four times as often as President Trump's, and six times as often as wages. Amazon's moves this year proved that it's corporate tentacles are expanding, from purchasing Whole Foods to searching for its HQ2, a $5 billion project that promises to bring 50,000 high-paying jobs to the winning locale.

Continuing their quest to make me feel even worse about being a lazy human, robots can now do sit-ups and push-ups and something called a back extension, which I had to look up because that's how lazy I am. Today in Science Robotics, researchers from the University of Tokyo show off a humanoid that is strikingly lifelike not just in how it looks, but how it moves. The machine is a radical departure from the stiff, bumbling humanoids that have so far done a whole lot of falling on their faces. Kengoro is its name, and badminton is its game, even though it's not super great at it. Oh, also, it can sweat.

What will be the top technology priorities and trends in the banking industry in 2017? New technology innovations and shifting competitive landscape due to the entry of fintech start-ups, payment players and challenger banks will change how transactions will be carried out in the future. All of these changes are forcing banks to relook at their technology capabilities and operating and service delivery models to retain wallet share. While technology transformation is inevitable (and will probably be rapid), few areas emerge as distinct priorities of financial institutions and hot trends for 2017. Technology priorities of banks in 2017 A survey across some of the leading banks in Asia Pacific on their key priorities in technology investment in 2017 highlights following focus areas (Figure 1). Improving mobile and digital experience remains a key priority for financial institutions in 2017.

People are constantly coming up with new and intelligent ways to use the Cloud. As a consequence, Cloud Architecture designs and developments are constantly being tweaked, adjusted, and improved upon. Today's businesses need to be flexible, move quickly, and understand their customer's desires and expectations. To do this, businesses are relying on the Cloud to provide a private communication system, a data storage system, and a Big Data processing system. As Cloud technologies evolve, organizations continue to find more and more uses.

Theresa May has defended the use of drone strikes against British citizens, saying the killing of Islamic State's Reyaad Khan in 2015 was "necessary and proportionate" and that she would authorise such strikes in the future. The prime minister said there had been no alternative to the killing of Khan in a precision airstrike in Syria because "a direct and imminent threat was identified by the intelligence agencies". There was "a clear legal basis for action in international law", she added. May was responding to the publication on Wednesday of a series of reports on counter-terrorism, cyber-security and other intelligence issues. The legality of drone strikes against a country's own citizens is controversial both in the UK and the US.

LG first laid the foundation for its AI efforts at CES 2017 when it announced DeepThinQ followed by the initiative to include Wi-Fi in its entire line of premium appliances launched this year. Advancing the company's innovations in AI, LG opened the Artificial Intelligence Lab in Seoul in June under company's CTO to tie together all its diverse AI research in technologies that recognize, deduce and learn from voice, video and sensors. LG's AI Lab has contributed to the development of the world's first space-learning air conditioner as well as intelligent refrigerators, washing machines and robot vacuum cleaners. "Our new ThinQ platform for LG's intelligent products is the latest way that LG is delivering innovations that make consumers' lives easier and more enjoyable," said David VanderWaal, vice president of marketing for LG Electronics USA. "LG ThinQ enables deep learning technology and connectivity across household products, delivering even greater capabilities and convenience." In the United States, LG already offers the most extensive range of Wi-Fi enabled appliances available* today featuring its LG SmartThinQ Wi-Fi connectivity.

Yokohama, December 20, 2017 – Socionext Inc., a leader in advanced SoC solution for video and imaging systems, has signed a strategic partnership agreement for the development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform with Silicon Valley, California-based Gyrfalcon Technology Inc. The combination of Gyrfalcon's proprietary AI accelerator chip and Socionext's high-efficiency parallel processor system will create a high-speed, high-density, low-power system to perform image and video analysis, recognition and segmentation in surveillance systems, live-streaming and other video applications. Socionext expects to start sales of the jointly-developed solution with AI capabilities in mid-March, 2018. Turkish electronics maker Bilkon Ltd, which provides surveillance systems for a public agency in Turkey, will be one of Socionext's first customers to apply the AI solution. Requirements for a similar solution are growing, and Socionext and Gyrfalcon will work together to expand the business in the global market.

Tech giants love to tout how good their computers are at identifying what's depicted in a photograph. In 2015, deep learning algorithms designed by Google, Microsoft, and China's Baidu superseded humans at the task, at least initially. This week, Facebook announced that its facial-recognition technology is now smart enough to identify a photo of you, even if you're not tagged in it. But algorithms, unlike humans, are susceptible to a specific type of problem called an "adversarial example." These are specially designed optical illusions that fool computers into doing things like mistake a picture of a panda for one of a gibbon.

Sony has announced that it is strengthening its video and audio technologies through artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics by fusing its core offerings with the latest in technology. Together with its partner companies and research institutes, Sony is combining the traditional techniques of Japan with new technologies. The Sony Innovation Fund, a corporate venture capital which facilitates collaboration with leading external researches and start-up companies around the world, is focusing on AI and robotics to support the growth of investee businesses. This has resulted in investment in over 10 firms from Japan, the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. Sony's investment in Cogitai, an American start-up that specialises in AI, has also resulted in the development of AI technologies that use deep reinforcement learning and prediction technology as the basis for the next generation of AI applications and products.

DEC 3 marked the opening of the annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. The global techfest was attended by the CEOs of some of the world's largest companies, including Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai, alongside Alibaba Group Holding's Jack Ma, Tencent Holdings' Pony Ma and Baidu's Robin Li, as well as the top names in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, digital payments and cybersecurity. The opening session on the first day was aptly titled "Artificial Intelligence: Smarter World, Better Life". That a small Chinese town 90 minutes' drive from Shanghai would host the world's biggest annual internet event, or that CEOs of global tech giants and the world's top robotics experts would flock there, should not surprise anyone. China is where the action is across an array of powerful internet-enabled technologies such as AI, robotics, fintech and e-commerce as well as virtual and augmented reality.