Activision Blizzard had been seeking a $20 million franchise fee from Overwatch League team owners, with no revenue sharing until after 2021, ESPN has reported. Blizzard Entertainment released the "Overwatch" multiplayer shooter title in May 2016, and it's already attracted more than 30 million players, according to the company. The Overwatch League, currently set to launch its first season before the end of 2017, is the first city-based pro esports league, with initial teams in the U.S. as well as China and Korea. Activision Blizzard expects to announce more teams for the league before the beginning of the first season, with the long-term goal of teams in the world's 28 largest media markets. "It's the first league -- ever -- that's global," said Pete Vlastelica, CEO of Activision Blizzard's Major League Gaming eSports division.

WhatsApp's users are not being kept safe properly, according to a major new report. Pressure group the Electronic Frontier Foundation has released its rankings of how tech companies are keeping their users' data secure and private. And the popular chat app was singled out for specific criticism for potentially letting governments look at people's private messages. In general, the group said that it was encouraged by the work that had been done to protect users, and to be more transparent about how they were keeping people safe. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

Streaming app Mobdro has been hailed as the "new Kodi", as legal issues continue to cast doubt over the future of illicit third-party addons. While Kodi has gone mainstream, Mobdro is unfamiliar to many. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. Japan's On-Art Corp's CEO Kazuya Kanemaru poses with his company's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' and other robots during a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan Singulato Motors co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin poses in his company's concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China A picture shows Singulato Motors' concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.

Microsoft released a new app for iOS devices called Seeing AI. The app uses computer vision to provide verbal description for users who are blind or visually impaired. The Seeing AI app was developed by Research AI, an incubation hub inside Microsoft Research. Microsoft actually first showed off a prototype of the app back in March of last year during its Build conference. The Seeing AI app is very simple to use.

'Han the Robot' (R) speaks while chief scientist of Hanson Robotics, Ben Goertzel (C), listens during a discussion about the future of humanity in a demonstration of artificial intelligence (AI) by Hanson Robotics at the RISE Technology Conference in Hong Kong on July 12, 2017. Artificial intelligence is the dominant theme at this year's sprawling RISE tech conference at the city's harbourfront convention centre, but the live robot exchange took the AI debate to another level.

"The eyes are the window to the soul," the adage goes, but these days our eyes could be better compared to our ethernet connection to the world. According to a 2006 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, the human retina is capable of transmitting 10 million bits of information per second. But for as potent as our visual capabilities are, there's a whole lot that can go wrong with the human eye. Cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are three of the leading causes of blindness the world over. Though we may not have robotic ocular prosthetics just yet, a number of recent ophthalmological advancements will help keep the blinds over those windows from being lowered.

It was supposed to be a rival to Elon Musk's Tesla and even had a giant factory almost next door. However, Chinese firm Faraday Future has said it will move production of its planned luxury electric SUV to a new site, virtually scrapping a stalled $1 billion Las Vegas factory amid deepening financial woes of key investor Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting. Faraday is part of a network of young electric vehicle (EV) firms in China and the United States backed by Jia, who has said his company LeEco - that grew from a Netflix-like video website to a business empire spanning consumer electronics to cars within 13 years - is facing a severe shortage of cash after expanding too fast and in too many directions. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval looks at a model for a Faraday Future factory in North Las Vegas, Nev. Electric car maker Faraday Future said Monday, July 10, 2017 that it is deserting its plan to construct a $1 billion manufacturing plant in southern Nevada eight months after suspending the project and sinking at least $120 million into it. Faraday Future halted work on the project outside Las Vegas last November, at the time calling the stoppage a'temporary adjustment' that would not affect plans to begin production in 2018.

It was a spooky sight, two life-like disembodied robot torsos discussing the pros and cons of humans in front of a nervously laughing audience in Hong Kong. Artificial intelligence is the dominant theme at this year's sprawling Rise tech conference and the live robot exchange took the AI debate to another level. As part of a wide ranging conversation, the creepy pair offered some sinister thoughts when it came to the future of humanity. Two lifelike disembodied robot torsos have discussed the pros and cons of humans in front of a nervously laughing audience eat this year's sprawling Rise tech conference in Hong Kong. Two lifelike disembodied robot torsos have discussed the pros and cons of humans in front of a nervously laughing audience in Hong Kong.

By Madhavi Lall As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more sophisticated, the threat that this automation will displace a wide number of jobs is very real. This obviously creates a distressing picture for many of us. However, evidence shows that if technology really destroyed jobs, there would have been no work today for anyone. The technological revolution we have seen in the past 30 years has been unparalleled and exponential, and yet there are more jobs today and probably better salaries than before. Therefore, we need to shift the dialogue from the type of jobs that can be protected to a conversation about jobs that can and will be created.

Booking.com, a brand within Priceline Group, is planning to begin using artificial intelligence (AI) to create personalized travel options for customers. According to Seeking Alpha, Booking.com will begin using AI within its mobile apps to provide travelers with instant recommendations for local events and attractions once they've reached a destination. Booking Experiences tool, which has been launched on its iOS and Android apps in Amsterdam with planned rollouts in Dubai, London, Paris, and New York over the next few months, makes suggestions based on a user's personal experience and from having analyzed millions of personal likes and dislikes and how these experiences impact the buying decisions for various venues. For instance, chatbots powered by AI are able to field and answer questions from customers on a variety of subjects, from generating recommendations on gift purchases to locating the nearest Chinese restaurant. As with other forms of automation, some have questioned whether AI will replace customer service reps and people in other types of customer-facing roles.