Samsung could be joining the smart assistant-powered speakers market in the future. The tech giant headquartered in Seoul, South Korea has recently been awarded a design patent for a mysterious "audio device," and it won't come as a surprise if this would turn out to be another Amazon Echo rival. Last Tuesday, Patently Mobile learned that Samsung was granted two design patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. While one is for a new "Note"-branded smartphone, another is for a digital assistant device that could be the tech giant's response to the successful Amazon Echo and the similar devices that have been popping up on the market recently. When Samsung introduced Bixby alongside the new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 in late March, it mentioned its plan of making the digital assistant available to a range of devices including smart home appliances, connected devices and possibly other gadgets that have yet to be introduced to the public.

From zombies to an asteroid impact and nuclear missiles, there are a range of catastrophic events that could wipe humanity from the face of the earth – but what are the odds of them actually happening? A UK-based betting site has carried out research to learn that top 10 ways the world could end, which also included the probability in which each is likely to occur. Although the firm shared numerous scenarios that could spark the apocalypse, the sun consuming the earth, Judgment Day and a pandemic as the most likely ways the world would perish. Although the firm shared numerous scenarios that could spark the apocalypse, it has listed the sun consuming the earth (pictured), Judgment Day and a pandemic as the most likely ways the world would perish. The report was created by the 888Poker, which investigated different scenarios of how the end could come about and put them together in an informative infographic.

Bird strikes can cause costly damage at airports and are dangerous to aircraft, and the effect of a collision with an aircraft can even be fatal. But a Canadian airport hopes to resolve this problem by using'Robird' - a drone that mimics the flight of a falcon. The lifelike falcon drone can be used to chase off birds, convincing them that it's a real life predator. 'This is a historic step for the Robird and our company,' says Nico Nijenhuis (pictured), the CEO of Clear Flight Solutions, the company that makes the Robird The Robird will scare real birds away from Edmonton International Airport, Canada's largest airport in terms of surface area, starting at the end of May. Flocks in the vicinity will be scared off by the combination of silhouette and wing movement.

Dr. Yoshua Bengio, one of the key researchers credited with establishing the field of deep learning, announced today that he will serve as a strategy adviser for legal tech company Botler AI, a Montreal-based startup that runs a free chatbot to assist users as they navigate the legal procedures required for immigration. "I knew this was an idea that we needed to take to the next level," Bengio said in today's press release. "I want AI to be developed towards positive social impact and this is one place where beneficial AI must happen." The techniques pioneered by Bengio and others have led to breakthroughs in natural language comprehension and translation, abilities that are critical to this kind of chatbot. "Deep Learning could help provide affordable or even free legal services to people who might otherwise not be able to have access," he said.

Microsoft is all set to kickstart Build 2017, its annual developer's conference, with CEO Satya Nadella spearheading important announcements for the developer community. The conference taking place in between May and 12, will set the tone for what Microsoft aims to achieve with its core products. As usual, the conference will not focus much on hardware products. Microsoft had recently launched its Surface Laptop along with Windows 10S operating system which aims to deliver better performance with low-end hardware. It had also showcased the Cortana voice assistant powered Invoke speaker by Harman Kardon.

For investors trying to understand the opportunity and the size of the market, a report from Statista says that, "In 2017, the global AI market is expected to be worth approximately 1.25 billion U.S. dollars. Some current major uses of artificial intelligence include image recognition, object identification, detection and classification, as well as automated geophysical feature detection. The largest proportion of revenues come from the AI for enterprise applications market." Featured Company: Gopher Protocol, Inc. (OTCQB: GOPH) is a development-stage company developing Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence enabled mobile technology. The Company has a portfolio of Intellectual Property that when commercialized will include smart microchips, mobile application software and supporting cloud software.

While the world watches anxiously for signs of US President Donald Trump's next move vis-a-vis China, Chinese leaders remain focused on the next stage of their country's ongoing economic transformation. What they do should interest everyone ― especially US policymakers. China's industrialization process, like that of other successful East Asian economies, has combined profit-led investment, active industrial policy, and export discipline. But that approach has its limits, exemplified in the numerous developing countries that have attempted to climb the same development ladder, only to become stuck on the middle rungs or even to fall back, owing to what Harvard University economist Dani Rodrik has called "premature deindustrialization." China hopes to avoid this fate, with the help of "China Manufacturing 2025" (CM2025), a roadmap released by Premier Li Keqiang in 2015 to guide the country's industrial modernization.

Earlier this year, engineers at Wal-Mart Stores who track rivals' prices online got a rude surprise: the technology they were using to check Amazon.com Inc's data was no small matter. Like most big retailers, Wal-Mart relies on computer programs that scan prices on competitors' websites so it can adjust its listings accordingly. Amazon's mastery of the complex, behind-the-scenes technologies that power modern e-commerce allows it to see what its rivals are doing, but increasingly to keep them in the dark. In the world of e-commerce, retailers update prices with ease, sometimes multiple times a day, helped by algorithms that consider inventory levels, sales forecasts and rivals' pricing data.

Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster had an impact on every single person on Earth, according to scientists. The meltdown hit everyone on the planet with a dose of radiation, but fortunately, not enough to have a real impact. "We don't need to worry," said Nikolas Evangeliou, according to New Scientist. He is part of the team at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research that conducted the survey. Read: Fukushima's Nuclear Radiation So Destructive, Not Even Robots Can Survive The average person was dosed with 0.5 millisieverts of radiation from the accident. For those in the immediate vicinity of Fukushima, the amount was much higher, at about one to five millisieverts.

Microsoft has officially announced the next major update to Windows 10, just weeks after the Creators Update started rolling out. The Fall Creators Update will arrive later this year, most likely in September. It's expected to have a more immediate impact on day-to-day users than the Creators Update, which was released in April and mainly focused on improving security. 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.