Intel Capital, the investment arm of the processor giant, is today announcing its latest tranche of investments, a total of nearly $60 million going in to 15 startups that are working on solving different problems in the bigger area of big data (with a full rundown below). The investments come on the back of a big year for the group: In 2017 so far, Intel says that it's invested $566 million in startups in its portfolio. The focus on big data in this latest group of startups comes out of a new turn for Intel and how it's been making strategic investments in recent times. Intel Capital is one of the bigger names when it comes corporate tech investing. In total, it has invested $12.2 billion in 1,500 companies since 1991.

The second largest economy of the Arab world is quietly switching from oil to Artificial Intelligence. In a world first, the UAE on Thursday appointed a minister of Artificial Intelligence, which is also the first such acknowledgement by the Arab world that these indeed are the technologies that are going to shape economies around us. Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, 27, will spearhead UAE's ambition to be at the forefront of the global technological revolution, which will see it planning to build homes on the planet Mars by 2117. The UAE plans to have a fully functioning city of 600,000 people on Mars. "We aspire in the coming century to develop science, technology and our youth's passion for knowledge," tweeted Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the country's vice president and prime minister, when he announced the project -- known as "Mars 2117" -- earlier this year.

Operators in the travel industry in the Asia-Pacific region should prepare themselves to maximise business from voice searches online, one of Australia's leading tourism strategists has cautioned. Simply optimise your digital online presence by building reputation, trust, authority and relevance and the voice recognition algorithms of Google, Apple, Amazon and others will do the rest for you – mostly. That was the recommendation by Bronwyn White, co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com, when she was addressing an audience of tourism marketers at the Tourism Marketing Rockstar Convention in Sydney last month. Ms White explained that voice search and chatbots were the latest digital marketing outcomes of the artificial intelligence revolution currently transforming the travel industry by stealth. Apple Siri, Google Now, Windows Cortana and Amazon Alexa are the leading voice activated chatbots helping consumers search without typing," she said. "They all use artificial intelligence algorithms to drive voice search.

Toyota has announced that it will begin integrating artificial intelligence into its road-going cars from 2020 and has previewed the technology on the Concept-i model, which will make an appearance at the 2017 Tokyo motor show. The AI on the four-seat concept will be able to assess the passenger's wellbeing, mood and personal preferences, before adjusting how it operates to better suit them. The Japanese brand claims that the ability of the car to automatically adjust the way it drives in autonomous mode and control the AC unit to suit passenger preferences can reduce fatigue and improve overall well-being. Toyota plans to test the AI system for road-going models by the start of 2020, indicating that the technology could trickle down into product ion-spec models sometime after. The manufacturer will also showcase the two-seat Concept-i Ride, which is 2500mm long and 1300mm wide and the three-wheeled Concept-i Walk model, which can be used on pavements, alongside the AI autonomous Concept-i.

From smartphones to drones, the evidence is in our pockets, in the sky, at the office, and in the streets. The pace of technological evolution, though, can be even harder to keep up with than the Kardashians. When asked to think about cutting-edge tech, I'll be the first to admit that vending machines aren't the first innovation to come to mind. However, the technology behind today's most advanced vending machines is some of the most disruptive in the book. Like today's smartphones, which barely resemble the clunky, tethered machines of yesteryear, vending machines have undergone massive upgrades since holy water dispensing in the first century and their official debut in the 1880s.

The software industry lobby Nasscom is setting up centres of excellence on artificial intelligence (AI) and data sciences for a better understanding on the emerging technologies, a top official has said. With the tech world getting divided between whether or not to regulate AI, the body feels that technologies should be freely allowed to mature first before any regulation comes in, its president R Chandrasekhar has said. "We are setting up a centre of excellence on AI and data sciences in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. They will look at mapping the resources available in the country, promoting startups in that area and also best practices globally, including regulatory aspects," he told PTI recently. He, however, did not offer the investment that will go into these proposed centres nor a timeline as to when the first centre of excellence will be functional.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is changing the world, is making its presence felt in the healthcare sector. The rapid pace at which the scientific innovations are taking place, the expansion of AI into various healthcare verticals and the fact that the efficiency of systems can be improved using AI are some of the factors that are currently driving the market, believe researchers. The use of artificial intelligence in the medical and healthcare sector has revolutionized the industry with artificial intelligence being used in several practices such as diagnostics, personalized medicine, the development of drugs, and continuous monitoring and care of the patients. Numerous companies have invested in the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. IBM's Watson is being used for oncology and cancer treatment in the hospitals.

The UAE has just appointed Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama as the country's first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Arabian Business reported.The new minister, who is just 27 years old, was appointed a part of the UAE's mission to be at the forefront of the global technological revolution that, among other things, plans to build homes in Mars by 2117. The decision by the Gulf state comes just days after announcing the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI), a major part of the UAE Centennial 2070 objectives, which set off to improve government performance through investing in AI.The Gulf nation estimates that by 2030, AI will have a global market value of $15.7 trillion, boosting the UAE's GDP by 35 percent and reducing government costs by 50 percent. Sheikh Mohammed said: "The new Government is a Government for the new Emirati percentage. Sheikh Mohammed announced in February last year that the UAE planned to outsource most government tasks to the private sector and cut the number of ministries, forming a single education ministry, abolishing the ministry of higher education, and fusing several other state bodies into related ministries. The decision also comes shortly after Dubai established its own cryptocurrency, called emCash.

Technology has modernized the system of education for students with various disabilities, making it easier for them to keep up with academic curriculums and even compete with their peers in classrooms. According to Open Colleges, most of the common disabilities can be categorized into any of the following classification -- Physical (students using wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, or dealing with diseases such as muscular dystrophy, Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc), Sensory (students lacking in normal visual, hearing or speaking abilities), Cognitive (students with weaknesses when it comes to memory, self-expression, information processing, and other learning disabilities), Psychiatric (students may suffer from an array of challenges, ranging from social phobias, bipolar and/or other personality disorders), Health-related (students who have chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes or epilepsy) A Palestinian child reads braille during a class at Al-Nour, which translates'we have seen,' Rehabilitation Center for the Visually Impaired, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, May 7, 2006. Students who suffer from any form of disability might find it difficult to attend classes regularly, keep up with everything that is being taught and compete at the same level with children who are not plagued by the same impairments that they have. These students often need some extra assistance when it comes to performing academically. One of the best forms of assistance in today's times is the gift of technology.

The transport ministry will speed up work to develop snow removal vehicles with self-driving technology so trials can be carried out on expressways starting this winter, officials have said. The ministry plans to test the vehicles on other public roads from fiscal 2018, using data from the Michibiki quasi-zenith satellite network behind Japan's version of the Global Positioning System set to debut in April. The use of snow removal vehicles requires skilled drivers, but most are getting too old, and the shortage is generating concerns. In fiscal 2015, people over 61 accounted for 19 percent of the drivers, up from 3 percent in 1998. Snow removal vehicles with self-driving technology will detect obstacles with sensors and warn drivers when they deviate from lanes or approach guardrails.