You can now put on a virtual reality headset with sensors which will predict your facial expressions before you even make them and have them instantly mirrored on an avatar. MindMaze unveiled MASK on Wednesday, a lightweight foam with sensors that can be applied to VR headsets, which brings human emotion to VR gaming and social networking. MindMaze, a Switzerland based company, has developed products to help stroke victims and amputees using virtual reality, computer graphics, brain imaging & neuroscience -- and now it's bringing that technology to gaming. "There's a lot of technology but none of it is human," CEO and founder of MindMaze, Tej Tadi, told International Business Times about the VR world. MindMaze unveils MASK, which predicts facial expressions and mirrors them on VR avatars.

Facebook uses satellite imagery machine learning and AI to prepare maps for locating unconnected communities across the world. Maps tell us so much more than how to get from A to B, or where C is in relation to D. They can be tools of power and snapshots of history; they can give urban planners the information to plan infrastructure. After a disaster, population density and crisis maps help to direct aid and aid workers. Throughout time, different cultures and industries have produced radically different images of the world. Today there are more than 7 billion humans sprawling across Earth.

If you have seen the latest Wolverine movie, Logan, you might have noticed a crucial scene where automated trucks speed up and down the highways of the United States. Experts say artificial intelligence (AI) is coming sooner than you think and robotics will soon replace the work now being done by humans. And they will not just replace truck drivers -- think taxis, trains and even your local salad maker. In Australia, the jobs most at risk include those involving driving, according to Toby Walsh, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the CSIRO's technology unit, Data61. "There's a real financial imperative for developing autonomous cars," Mr Walsh said, adding the industry was currently worth around $1 trillion.

The term "selfie drones" may suggest an added level of convenience, but in reality, these machines still share one common pain point with conventional offerings: they need to be connected to a mobile device for initiation, mode selection and landing. The folks over at Zero Zero Robotics, however, are tackling this issue with a software update for their Hover Camera Passport. As we previewed back at CES, this foldable, fully-enclosed drone is finally getting an "Owner Mode," in which it can follow and record its owner without ever having to turn on the smartphone. Of course, in order to get the drone to recognize its owner, there is a one-time setup in the app for it to remember one's face. After that, it's simply a matter of booting up the device, let it fly in place, and once it spots its owner it'll automatically start recording video while following around.

Here are the latest featured articles from IoT Central members and contributors. In this issue we look at 5 cities that are doing right in smart city development, a fascinating infographic that will get you up to speed on the history of autonomous vehicles, explore who will survive the era of robots, and much more. Reminder: All members are free to post on IoT Central. We feature the best content and share across our social networks and other channels. If you like what you're ready, considering forwarding this to a friend and encourage them to join our community here.

KOLKATA: Interface between artificial intelligence and humans will have to be meaningfully leveraged to generate jobs in future, according to Alice P Gast, president of Imperial College, London. In Kolkata to deliver a keynote address at a CII meet on Monday, Gast - an acclaimed researcher, scholar and academic leader - pointed out that computers will soon have to be turned into collaborators for work rather than mere tools to carry out tasks. Graduates must now be trained for'jobs that don't yet exist', she felt. "Artificial intelligence and robotics have already started replacing people, particularly in manufacturing type jobs. We should now look into new areas where there could be an interaction between the two. Human-machine interface will have to be seriously explored and university courses should be now designed to meet that challenge. Jobs in future will perhaps be more analytical and collaborative. Computers will be something you won't just be working with, but collaborating with," said Gast.

Burger King has released a new TV advert designed to make viewers' Google Home voice assistants advertise the company's burgers. The device, which only launched in the UK last week, listens to and quickly processes spoken commands, before firing the answers back at you. It's activated by the phrase, "Okay Google", which the fast food company has decided to hijack. In the ad, a person tells the camera that 15 seconds isn't enough time to "explain all the fresh ingredients in the Whopper sandwich". 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.

Europe is often viewed as a digital laggard, running far behind the frontier-pushing United States and Asia. In fact, according to a new report by the London venture capital firm Atomico, European startups are now taking the lead in artificial intelligence, building new tech hubs, and drawing investment from traditional industrial stalwarts. Last year, a record-setting $13.6 billion was invested in Europe's tech sector, compared with $2.8 billion in 2011. Gone are the days when Europe's "tech" sector largely comprised consumer-oriented e-commerce businesses – often blatant knockoffs of successful US companies. Today, Europe is the home of real pioneering innovation, led by what Atomico calls "deep tech" – the kind of artificial intelligence developed by Google's DeepMind.

Police are raising awareness of an app that's been likened to Tinder for teenagers, and have warned that sex offenders could use it to target children. Yellow, which describes itself as "an easy and free way to make new friends and chat with them", is free to download from Google Play and the App Store, where it's rated 12 for: "Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity and Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humour." It works in a very similar manner to dating app Tinder. Users can match with each other by swiping right on a series of profiles that pop up on their screen. When two people match on Yellow, they can exchange messages and pictures and add each other on Snapchat, which is a completely separate app.

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting UK workers files and data, and the Metropolitan Police have warned that "no one is safe". The FBI, Metropolitan Police, and security experts all agree that cyber ransoming has fast become one of UK's biggest economic crimes. Unpredictable, unstoppable and potentially fatal to a business, the rapid emergence of ransomware has become a threat to people across the nation. August Graham, the editor of the Sentinel, arrived at work one morning last summer to find a note pop up on one of the computer screens. It informed him that all the files on the firm's server had been encrypted and were being held ransom.