More than six years after the core meltdowns triggered by March 2011 mega-quake and tsunami, Tokyo Electric said Saturday that the robot probing reactor 3 at the defunct Fukushima No. 1 power plant had likely spotted fuel debris for the first time at the bottom of its primary containment vessel. Some of the debris looks like rocks and sand, and was accompanied by scaffolding and other objects from the reactor that had formed a pile about a meter high. On Friday, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. announced that the same robot had found what appeared to be melted fuel at the bottom of the pressure vessel, which holds the core. On Saturday, images released by the utility showed black, lava-like objects discovered by the so-called mini sunfish robot. "It's natural to assume that the debris melted and dropped," said a Tepco official who briefed reporters.

System makers Fujitsu and Huawei Technologies reportedly are both planning to develop processors optimized for artificial intelligence workloads, moves that will put them into competition with the likes of Intel, Google, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. Tech vendors are pushing hard to bring artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning capabilities into their portfolios to meet the growing demand generated by a broad range of workloads, from data analytics to self-driving vehicles. Microsoft, Google, IBM and others are creating AI business units and building out products and services that can leverage the technologies. Chip makers also are making the move. Intel last week unveiled its latest generation Xeon server chips that, among other improvements, deliver 2.2 times the performance for deep learning training and inference tasks than their predecessors.

Around 47% of the AI companies acquired since 2012 have had VC backing. Corporate giants like Google, IBM, Yahoo, Intel, Apple, and Salesforce are competing in the race to acquire private AI companies, with Ford, Samsung, GE, and Uber emerging as new entrants. Over 250 private companies using AI algorithms across different verticals have been acquired since 2012, with 37 acquisitions taking place in Q1'17 alone. That quarter also saw one of the largest M&A deals: Ford's acquisition of Argo AI for $1B. Baidu has been particularly aggressive in its AI acquisitions in 2017, with 3 M&A deals so far this year, including its acquisition of Amazon Alexa Fund-backed Kitt.ai this quarter.

We'll take a look back at some of the big stories from earlier this week, plus key updates like NASA's tips for viewing a solar eclipse. Getting the weekend started early.DC security robot says everything is fine, throws itself into pool Don't read too much into this, but a security robot face-planted into an indoor fountain inside of a Washington, DC office building. Important information.NASA doesn't want you to go blind during the solar eclipse Please, for the love of god (and your eyesight), do not try to make your own eclipse glasses. Buy a pair, and make sure they're less than three years old with lenses that are in good shape. The much-celebrated full solar eclipse is just one month away for those in the continental United States, and NASA really does not want you to go blind when it finally happens.

Speaker Bio Dan Florea, Director of Product Management at Tintri, is a 20 year Silicon Valley veteran. He has worked in VMware and Cisco before joining Tintri to spearhead the efforts on OpenStack and Cloud. He received an MBA from University of Pennsylvania - Wharton business school and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University. Your homes and cars can be automated and self-serviced. From simply asking questions to analyze and troubleshoot your infrastructure, to provisioning storage with snapshots, recovery and replication, your wildest sci-fi dream has come true.

On This Day – also known as Facebook Memories – is one of the social network's most divisive features. For some, it's a fun daily reminder of something silly, important or embarrassing that you or somebody close to you considered worthy of being published online. It can even put you back in touch with old friends. For others, however, it can resurface unpleasant memories, such as pictures of lost friends or posts about relationships that broke down in difficult circumstances. Here's how to control what you see on Facebook Memories.

SHIZUOKA – Central Japan Railway Co. on Saturday unveiled a new robot tasked with the job of using its multiple brush-tipped arms to prepare the distinctively shaped nose of the shinkansen for repainting. The robot -- used to prepare the outer surface of the cockpit area before it is repainted -- has cut the time needed for the procedure to one-fifth of what workers would take to accomplish the same task manually, according to the railway operator, which is also known as JR Tokai. The robot's dexterity was shown off at the company's Hamamatsu plant in Shizuoka Prefecture during an event for train enthusiasts held to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line operator as a private company. "The way its long arms moved was really cool," said Shinichi Ito, 8, who came to the event with his father from Mie Prefecture. At the event, visitors were also able to get a look inside the cockpit of "Dr. Yellow" -- a yellow-liveried bullet train that is used to test tracks and associated infrastructure.

The explosive growth of structured and unstructured data, along with the availability of new technologies such as cloud computing and machine learning algorithms, have made the expanded use of artificial intelligence (AI) in banking possible. According to Goldman Sachs, AI will enable $34 billion to $43 billion in annual "cost savings and new revenue opportunities" within the financial services sector by 2025. With more data accessible than ever before, banks are actively working on opportunities to better integrate machine learning into their businesses. However, this does not have to mean a less personalized experience for customers. Rather, it is crucial for customer loyalty that, even with decreasing face-to-face interactions, customized interactions are the norm.

My name is Alex, and I go to school at Virginia Tech. I'm 21, and I work at the greenhouses here, I really love it. I live alone with my dog. It's a nice little life that I have here. I like everything about plants. I like having a bunch of living things around me all the time, just life in my house, and in my workplace, and I like to learn about them.

Artificial intelligence may have been invented in the West, but China seems determined to own its future. Its rising AI community just got a tremendous shot in the arm, in the form of a massive new government investment plan. The State Council of the People's Republic of China has announced a bold scheme (link in Chinese) meant to build an AI industry worth $150 billion, and to make China the global leader in the field by 2030. Details of the plan are sure to cause consternation among policymakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs in the U.S., especially as funding for research is slashed by a science-averse Trump administration. It will also, inevitably, stoke concerns about China's military ambitions, given the role AI is expected to play in the evolution of warfare. In truth, however, China's AI ascendancy is already well under way.