South Korea has introduced what is being called the world's first tax on robots amid fears that machines will replace human workers, leading to mass unemployment.

Knowledge that doesn't serve is knowledge wasted. And for knowledge gained from experience and research to be useful, IT enterprises need to organize, manage and offer it in the best way possible. Fortunately, the best way isn't a Herculean task when you employ simple tricks to build a profound knowledge base (KB). A sound knowledge base eliminates the need to rediscover or reformulate knowledge and improves the support process. With that in mind, consider these best practices to help build a successful knowledge base.

Pre-sales for the Baojun E100 began on July 10, and already more than, 5,000 people have registered for the first 200 cars. Another 500 vehicle will be available starting tomorrow, with sales initially limited to Guangxi. The $5,300 cost is after local and national subsidies. The car was developed in conjunction with state-owned SAIC, one of the largest manufacturers in China, which GM has been working with since 2001. Together, the two firms have been selling cars (including 1.5 million last year alone) under the Wuling and Baojun brand names, creating a pairing known as SGMW. With a wheelbase of only 5.25 feet and a height of only 5.48 feet, the Baojun E100 is truly tiny The lithium-ion battery can charge fully in 7.5 hours and is also capable of capturing energy through a regenerative braking system

Intel isn't wasting any time now that it officially owns Mobileye. The Mobileye team has unveiled plans to build a fleet of 100 or more self-driving vehicles to conduct tests in both its native Israel as well as the US and Europe. They'll meld Mobileye's sensor, mapping and driving technology with Intel's computing platforms, data center tech and 5G wireless to make Level 4 autonomous cars (they can do all the driving themselves but may ask for intervention) that talk to the cloud. They won't be tied to any one brand -- sorry, BMW. As Intel explains, it's as much about selling the concept as actual experimentation.

Reading Stephen Buranyi's article (Rise of the racist robots, G2, 8 August) reminded me of a discussion 30 years ago with a sixth-form class (following a viewing of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey) on whether daily contact with computers would make us more machine-like. "No," said one girl: "Since humans contaminate everything they come in contact with, we'll end up by infecting machines with our irrationalities. Percipient students are always ahead of their time. If Gatlin had not been there, Bolt would still have lost. In all the press and TV commentary, Christian Coleman, who came second, was hardly mentioned.

There are over 800,000 drones registered in the United States. Of those, around 70 percent come from Chinese dronemaker DJI, whose Phantom series is essentially the Model-T of hobbyist UAVs. For the Pentagon, this poses two challenges: the ubiquity of the cheap crafts is a potential risk to base security, and also raises questions about the reliability on the drones themselves as a military tool. In response, the Pentagon announced that bases are authorized to use force to disable drones near bases, and also ordered troops to stop using drones from China's DJI. There are, at present, 320,000 registered non-drone aircraft in the United States, according to the FAA.

An unarmed Iranian drone buzzed an American Super Hornet fighter jet as it circled an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. A statement released by the military's Central Command said that despite repeated radio calls demanding that Iran keep the drone clear of American flight operations in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier Nimitz, the Iranian vehicle came within 100 feet of the fighter jet, which had to swerve to avoid a collision. At the time of the incident, the jet had been in a holding pattern and was planning to land on the carrier, the statement said. "The dangerous maneuver created a collision hazard and is not in keeping with international maritime customs and laws," the statement said. The American military said this was the 13th "unsafe" or "unprofessional" interaction between American and Iranian maritime forces this year.

Anker, the China-based accessory maker, blew up on Amazon with a simple plan: make decent-quality versions of everyday gadgets lots of people want, and sell them for less than Apple or Samsung. They don't have fancy TV ads or cool packaging, but they do have a pile of good reviews and Prime shipping. The company started with portable chargers, but now its Bluetooth headphones, portable speakers, dash cams, and Lightning cables are all among the best-reviewed and most popular products in their category. If that strategy sounds familiar, by the way, it should: It's straight out of the Amazon Basics playbook. Anker's latest Amazon-conquering move goes even further.

Rewind a year, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) was touting its mobile-first and cloud-first vision in its annual report. First spotted by CNBC, in its report to shareholders the Redmond, Wash., software giant named AI as a major focus, with CNBC counting six different references to the burgeoning technology compared to zero just a year ago. "Our strategic vision is to compete and grow by building best-in-class platforms and productivity services for an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge infused with AI," the company said in the annual report, which came out Wednesday. "We believe a new technology paradigm is emerging that manifests itself through an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge where computing is more distributed, AI drives insights and acts on the user's behalf, and user experiences span devices with a user's available data and information," the report went on to say. It's not surprising Microsoft is drawing a line in the sand when it comes to AI.

A company can have the best technology in the world. It can have the strongest talent. It can have the coolest product ideas. But to train the algorithms that will deliver the intelligence to transform our cities, it needs data. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter. That's why earlier this year, after leaving Microsoft the previous fall, legendary engineer Qi Lu headed to Beijing to become Baidu's chief operating officer. At his former job, he was, among other things, CEO Satya Nadella's top deputy in helping to lead the company's AI strategy. Clearly, he saw more opportunity across the Pacific: In China, 731 million people--nearly twice the entire population of the United States--are online.